Book excerpt: This captivating examination of immigration in rural Canadian towns analyzes the essential components that smaller municipalities and counties must consider to attract and sustain meaningful settlement of newcomers. With the research compiled and presented in three parts - setting the context, promising principles and practices, and case studies - the book offers important information that will be helpful to all participants in the rural immigration process.The analysis presented by the authors systematically makes one point clear - populations are continuously declining across many rural communities due to a variety of reasons, including urban migration and declining birth rates. Promoting immigration for these rural centres offers "optimism that strategies can be embraced that will help to avoid population decline through a thoughtful approach to attracting and retaining newcomers."