Alumni Book Nook: Dr. Matthew R. Anderson (BA’81)
Dr. Matthew R. Anderson’s latest book is The Good Walk: Creating New Paths on Traditional Prairie Trails
University of Saskatchewan (USask) graduate Dr. Matthew R. Anderson (BA’81) earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political studies from USask’s College of Arts and Science in 1981. He went on to complete the Master of Divinity program at Saskatoon’s Lutheran Theological Seminary in 1985 before earning his PhD at McGill University in 1999. For more than 20 years, Anderson taught religious studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Que. He currently lives in Antigonish, N.S., where he teaches at St. Francis Xavier University.
Anderson is the author of several books, including Prophets of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023); Our Home and Treaty Land, with Dr. Ray Aldred (revised and expanded version, Friesen Press, 2024); and Pairings: The Bible and Booze (Novalis, 2021). Anderson’s latest non-fiction book is The Good Walk: Creating New Paths on Traditional Prairie Trails, which was released in April 2024 by University of Regina Press.
What is the focus of your new book, The Good Walk: Creating New Paths on Traditional Prairie Trails?
Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and manifesto, The Good Walk recounts the adventures of settler and Indigenous ramblers who together retrace the earliest historical trails of the prairies, and the histories that made those trails important then, and now.
What inspired you to write this book?
In 2015 I instigated walks on traditional prairie trails in coordination with the Saskatchewan History & Folklore Society. The experience of walking for hundreds of kilometres on traditional prairie trails in danger of being forgotten was both exhilarating and challenging.
Did your education at USask play a role in researching and/or writing this book?
My undergrad degree in political studies was helpful in providing the research skills that have served me my whole life long.
What are five adjectives that you would use to describe your book?
Challenging, deeply researched, funny, thoughtful, and unsettling.
Why would you recommend your book to USask alumni?
If you’ve lived in Saskatchewan, you’ve been close to these old Indigenous or settler trails that played such an important role in the history of the prairies. This book is a chance to walk them with us.