Bowmanville: A Small Town at the Edge

William Humber's Bowmanville: A Small Town at the Edge is an extraordinarily detailed, often affectionate and occasionally critical account of a modern small town on the edge of a rapidly expanding metropolitan region. The book recounts stories from the time of Charles Bowman, the potential ambition of railroads from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay, the legacy of grand pianos found in every corner of the world and the fateful decision of a rural businessman which gave General Motors to another community.

A treat for small-town enthusiasts, urban designers and community activists, Humber's book provides a fresh look at the present life of small towns and how their character can be recreated in future decision making.

When I first started broadcasting baseball, I read everything and anything related to the game. I kept encountering the name William Humber. When I finally met him in person I understood his passion and love for and knowledge of the game is indeed genuine. That passion obviously extends beyond baseball and is evident in his writing on his adopted hometown of Bowmanville, Ontario.

- Brian Williams, CBC television sports announcer

A Sporting Chance follows in a line of groundbreaking stories written by William Humber about Canada's sports past, including histories of baseball and bicycling in Canada. Acknowledged on their broadcasts as one of Canada's leading sports historians by, among others, the CBC, TV Ontario and TSN, he has spoken at sports history conferences in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as in Canada. Bill has taught a credit subject on Canadian sports history for the last ten years at Seneca College in Toronto where he is the chair of the college's Centre for the Built Environment, a North American leader in providing education on urban sustainability for technologists.

Humber is a selector for Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as his hometown Clarington Sports Hall of Fame, and was an honorary inductee into Saskatchewan's Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004. He is included in the Canadian Who's Who, was a recipient of a Queen's Golden Jubilee medal in 2003, and lives with his family in Bowmanville, Ontario, where he is active in many aspects of his community's character and future growth.

This is Humber's tenth book and second with Natural Heritage Books, his first being Bowmanville: A Small Town at the Edge (1997).