R. G. MacBeth’s Policing the Plains chronicles the origins and exploits of the North-West Mounted Police, the famed force that brought order to Canada’s western frontier. The narrative follows the Mounties from their celebrated march west across the prairies through decades of service among settlers, traders, and Indigenous peoples.
MacBeth recounts the suppression of the whisky trade, the management of the Riel rebellions, and the police role in the Klondike gold rush, treating these as a quasi-military campaign of frontier law enforcement. Written in an admiring, patriotic spirit, the book celebrates the discipline and endurance of the red-coated riders. It serves as a popular history of an organization that became a national symbol and a distinctive force in the story of the Canadian West.