In these loosely connected travel essays, Ferguson (Why I Hate Canadians) writes of odd, amusing and characteristic touchstones of Canadian history from the west coast, across the prairies to Churchill and its famous polar bears and onto Viking ruins at L'Anse aux Meadows. In the opening chapters he skewers Victoria and its British pretensions, life in the remote north of Alberta, and the titular town of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where he reluctantly visits a health spa.  (CND236, $14.95)