Lively, illustrated and guaranteed to be controversial, The Essentials: 150 Great BC Books & Authors serves as an unprecedented guide to books from and about British Columbia — culled from Alan Twigg's unrivalled knowledge of more than 200 years of BC literary history. It also identifies 100 essential authors, such as Alice Munro, Earle Birney and Eric Nicol, who did not have one particular book that is outstanding but have enjoyed outstanding careers.