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Natural Killer: A Memoir
by Harriet Alida Lye"I need people to know that I exist, that their experiment worked, that by some combination of luck and science, I'm alive."In this harrowing and intimate memoir, Harriet Alida Lye explores how, at just fifteen years old, she was diagnosed with a form of leukemia called Natural Killer, named "the rarest and worst malignancy." The average survival time of patients with this diagnosis is fifty-eight days. There are no known survivors. There were no known survivors. Fifteen years after Harriet's diagnosis, she became pregnant, despite having been told that her chemotherapy treatment would likely make conception impossible. To be a mother is to make a death, as death is bound up in life. She knew her body had the ability to create death. She never trusted, was told to not even imagine, that it also had the power, that magical banality, to create life. Weaving in source material from the year she spent in hospital, written by both of her parents and her teenage self, this personal reflection is told through a seamless blend of narrative, snapshots, journal entries, and blog updates posted for friends and family. With probing lyricism and searing honesty, Natural Killer explores what it's like to live with a life-threatening illness and survive it; what it means for a body to turn against itself, to self-destruct from within; and what it takes to regain trust in a body that has committed the ultimate betrayal.
Trudeau: The Education of a Prime Minister
by John IvisonFrom one of Canada's most popular and connected political journalists, an unblinkered warts-and-all look at Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government's record in power. A must-read as we head into the 2019 federal election.Canadians are becoming increasingly skeptical about their chameleon prime minister. When he entered politics, Justin Trudeau came across as a person with no fixed principles. Now, he presents himself as a conviction politician. What motivated his metamorphosis—belief or opportunism? Either way, in 2019’s election he will be judged on results—results that have so far been disappointing for many, even those in his own party. From the ballooning deficit to the Trans Mountain purchase to the fallout of his disastrous trip to India to the unpopular implementation of a carbon tax, Justin Trudeau has presided over his share of controversy. Most damaging, his egregious missteps during the SNC-Lavalin scandal and the subsequent resignation of two top ministers, his principal secretary, and the clerk of the Privy Council have raised serious questions about Trudeau’s integrity. As a political columnist for the National Post since 2003and Ottawa bureau chief for Postmedia for the past three years, John Ivison has watched Trudeau evolve as a politician and leader, a fascinating transition that has not been fully captured by any writer. Trudeau traces the complexities of the man himself, now barely visible beneath the talking points, virtue signalling, and polished trappings of office. Ivison concludes that while Trudeau led a moribund Liberal Party to victory in the 2015 election, the shine of his leadership has been worn off by a series of self-inflicted wounds, broken promises, and rookie mistakes. One of the central contentions of Trudeau is already apparent: the prime minister’s greatest strengths are also his greatest weaknesses; the famous name, high-handedness, and impulsiveness are as liable to hurl him from office as they were to get him there in the first place. With unprecedented access and insight, John Ivison takes us inside one of the most contentious first terms of any prime minister in our history.
README.txt: A Memoir
by Chelsea ManningAn intimate, revealing memoir from one of the most important activists of our time. In 2010, Chelsea Manning, working as an intelligence analyst in the United States Army in Iraq, disclosed classified military documents that she had smuggled out via the memory card of her digital camera. The army sentenced Manning to thirty-five years in military prison, charging her with twenty-two counts relating to the unauthorized possession and distribution of classified military documents. The day after her conviction, Manning declared her gender identity as a woman and began to transition. In 2017, President Barack Obama commuted her sentence and she was released from prison. In README.txt, Manning recounts how her pleas for increased institutional transparency and government accountability took place alongside a fight to defend her rights as a trans woman. She reveals her challenging childhood, her struggles as an adolescent, what led her to join the military, and the fierce pride she took in her work. We also learn the details of how and why she made the decision to send classified military documents to WikiLeaks. This powerful, observant memoir will stand as one of the definitive testaments of the digital age.
Peace and Good Order: The Case for Indigenous Justice in Canada
by Harold R. JohnsonAn urgent, informed, intimate condemnation of the Canadian state and its failure to deliver justice to Indigenous people by national bestselling author and former Crown prosecutor Harold R. Johnson."The night of the decision in the Gerald Stanley trial for the murder of Colten Boushie, I received a text message from a retired provincial court judge. He was feeling ashamed for his time in a system that was so badly tilted. I too feel this way about my time as both defence counsel and as a Crown prosecutor; that I didn't have the courage to stand up in the court room and shout 'Enough is enough.' This book is my act of taking responsibility for what I did, for my actions and inactions." --Harold R. JohnsonIn early 2018, the failures of Canada's justice system were sharply and painfully revealed in the verdicts issued in the deaths of Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine. The outrage and confusion that followed those verdicts inspired former Crown prosecutor and bestselling author Harold R. Johnson to make the case against Canada for its failure to fulfill its duty under Treaty to effectively deliver justice to Indigenous people, worsening the situation and ensuring long-term damage to Indigenous communities. In this direct, concise, and essential volume, Harold R. Johnson examines the justice system's failures to deliver "peace and good order" to Indigenous people. He explores the part that he understands himself to have played in that mismanagement, drawing on insights he has gained from the experience; insights into the roots and immediate effects of how the justice system has failed Indigenous people, in all the communities in which they live; and insights into the struggle for peace and good order for Indigenous people now.
God Is in the Crowd: Twenty-First-Century Judaism
by Tal KeinanA bold proposal for discovering relevance in Judaism and ensuring its survival, from a pioneering social activist, business leader, and fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force.God Is in the Crowd is an original and provocative blueprint for Judaism in the twenty-first century. Presented through the lens of Tal Keinan's unusual personal story, it a sobering analysis of the threat to Jewish continuity. As the Jewish people has become concentrated in just two hubs--America and Israel--it has lost the subtle code of governance that endowed Judaism with dynamism and relevance in the age of Diaspora. This code, as Keinan explains, is derived from Francis Galton's "wisdom of crowds," in which a group's collective intelligence, memory, and even spirituality can be dramatically different from, and often stronger than, that of any individual member's. He argues that without this code, this ancient people--and the civilization that it spawned--will soon be extinct. Finally, Keinan puts forward a bold and original plan to rewrite the Jewish code, proposing a new model for Judaism and for community in general.Keinan was born to a secular Jewish family in Florida. His interest in Judaism was ignited by a Christian minister at his New England prep school and led him down the unlikely path to enlistment in the Israel Air Force. Using his own dramatic experiences as a backdrop, and applying lessons from his life as a business leader and social activist, Keinan takes the reader on a riveting adventure, weaving between past, present, and future, and fusing narrative with theory to demonstrate Judaism's value to humanity and chart its path into the future.
Rez Rules: My Indictment of Canada's and America's Systemic Racism Against Indigenous Peoples
by Chief Clarence LouieA common sense blueprint for what the future of First Nations should look like as told through the fascinating life and legacy of a remarkable leader.In 1984, at the age of twenty-four, Clarence Louie was elected Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band in the Okanagan Valley. Nineteen elections later, Chief Louie has led his community for nearly four decades. The story of how the Osoyoos Indian Band—&“The Miracle in the Desert&”—transformed from a Rez that once struggled with poverty into an economically independent people is well-known. Guided by his years growing up on the Rez, Chief Louie believes that economic and business independence are key to self-sufficiency, reconciliation, and justice for First Nations people. In Rez Rules, Chief Louie writes about his youth in Osoyoos, from early mornings working in the vineyards, to playing and coaching sports, and attending a largely white school in Oliver, B.C. He remembers enrolling in the &“Native American Studies&” program at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College in 1979 and falling in love with First Nations history. Learning about the historic significance of treaties was life-changing. He recalls his first involvement in activism: participating in a treaty bundle run across the country before embarking on a path of leadership. He and his band have worked hard to achieve economic growth and record levels of employment. Inspired by his ancestors&’ working culture, and by the young people on the reserve, Chief Louie continues to work for First Nations&’ self-sufficiency and independence. Direct and passionate, Chief Louie brings together wide-ranging subjects: life on the Rez, including Rez language and humour; per capita payments; the role of elected chiefs; the devastating impact of residential schools; the need to look to culture and ceremony for governance and guidance; the use of Indigenous names and logos by professional sports teams; his love for motorcycle honour rides; and what makes a good leader. He takes aim at systemic racism and examines the relationship between First Nations and colonial Canada and the United States, and sounds a call to action for First Nations to &“Indian Up!&” and &“never forget our past.&” Offering leadership lessons on and off the Rez, this memoir describes the fascinating life and legacy of a remarkable leader and provides a common-sense blueprint for the future of First Nations communities. In it, Chief Louie writes, &“Damn, I&’m lucky to be an Indian!&”
The Incest Diary
by Anonymous“In the fairy tales about father–daughter incest—‘The Girl Without Hands,’ ‘Thousand Furs,’ the original ‘Cinderella,’ ‘Donkey Skin,’ and the stories of Saint Dymphna, patron saint of incest survivors—the daughters are all as you would expect them to be, horrified by their father’s sexual advances. They do everything in their power to escape. But I didn’t. A little child can’t escape. And later, when I could, it was too late.” Throughout her childhood and adolescence, the anonymous author of The Incest Diary was raped by her father. Beneath a veneer of normal family life, she grew up in and around this all-encompassing secret. Her sexual relationship with her father lasted, off and on, into her twenties. It formed her world, and it formed her deepest fears and desires. Even after she broke away—even as she grew into an independent and adventurous young woman—she continued to seek out new versions of the violence, submission, and secrecy she had struggled to leave behind. In this graphic and harrowing memoir, the author revisits her early traumas and their aftermath—not from a clinical distance, but from deep within—to explore the ways in which her father’s abuse shaped her, and still does. As a matter of psychic survival, she became both a sexual object and a detached observer, a dutiful daughter and the protector of a dirty secret. And then, years later, she made herself write it down. With lyric concision, in vignettes of almost unbearable intensity, this writer tells a story that is shocking but that will ring true to many other survivors of abuse. It has never been faced so directly on the page.
True North
by Bernie FinkelsteinOne of the all-time greats in Canadian music recounts his life and times in the business from the 1960s to the present. Whether acting as a producer, record label owner, or manager of great singer/songwriters and bands, Bernie Finkelstein, recipient of the 2006 Juno Special Achievement Award, has played a pivotal role in bringing great Canadian music to the rest of the world. Bernie Finkelstein has been a prominent figure in the Canadian music industry for nearly five decades. Now, a couple years after selling his beloved True North label and only recently stepping down from his role at MuchFACT, which has given out more than $63 million in grants to Grammy-winning acts like Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado and Arcade Fire, Bernie is finally ready to talk. In this wildly entertaining and outspoken memoir, the producer, label owner, and artist manager opens up about his childhood, breaking into the Greenwich Village scene with The Paupers at age 19, discovering Bruce Cockburn, producing the "loudest band in the world," Kensington Market, managing and producing Murray McLauchlan, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, and Rough Trade, winning 40 Junos, and much more.From the Hardcover edition.
Stephen Harper
by John IbbitsonThe authoritative biography of Stephen Harper, to be published on the eve of the next election. As one of the important prime ministers in the life of our nation, Stephen Harper has reshaped Canada into a more conservative country, a transformation that his opponents tacitly admit will never be reversed. He has made government smaller, justice tougher, and provinces more independent, whether they want to be or not. Under its 22nd prime minister, Canada shows the world a plainer, harder face. Those who praise Harper point to the Conservatives' skillful economic management, the impressive new trade agreements, the tax cuts and the balanced budget, the reformed immigration system, the uncompromising defence of Israel and Ukraine, and the fight against terrorism. Critics--pointing to punitive punishments, muzzled scientists, assaults on the judiciary, and contempt for parliament--accuse the Harper government of being autocratic, secretive and cruel. But what about the man? In this definitive new biography, the Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson explores the life of the most important Canadian of our times--his suburban youth, the crisis that caused Stephen Harper to quit university for three years, the forces that shaped his tempestuous relationship with Reform Leader Preston Manning, how Laureen Harper influences her husband, his devotion to his children--and his cats. Ibbitson explains how this shy, closed, introverted loner united a fractured conservative movement, defeated a Liberal hegemony, and set out to reshape the nation. With unparalleled access to sources, years of research and writing, and a depth of insight that has made him one of the most respected voices in journalism, John Ibbitson presents an intimate, detailed portrait of a man who has remained an enigma to supporters and enemies alike. Now that enigma is revealed, in a masterful exploration of Stephen Harper, the politician and the man.
The Goal of My Life: A Memoir
by Roger Lajoie Paul HendersonPaul Henderson will forever be recognized and remembered for his goal with 34 seconds remaining in the 8th game of the 1972 Summit Series. This goal gave Canada the lead and won them the series and with that the team became known as "the Team of the Century." And Paul's goal as, "the Goal of the Century." But there is more to Paul Henderson than just that one goal and in The Goal of My Life, Henderson opens up about scoring both on and off the ice. A family man and man with deep faith, Henderson lives each day with tremendous appreciation for the gifts life has rewarded him and has not allowed his recent diagnosis with cancer to alter his positive demeanor. Henderson takes fans back to the moment 1972 when Canada won the Summit Series, though additionally shares memories from his entire life and his early days playing hockey through to his retirement from the game and his personal challenges with Leukemia. Henderson is a hero and his book is one that all fans of hockey and life will enjoy.
The Measure of a Man
by Jj LeeTaking as its starting point a son's decision to alter his late father's last remaining suit for himself, this is a deeply moving and brilliantly crafted story of fathers and sons, of fitting in and standing out -- and discovering what it means to be your own man.For years, journalist and amateur tailor JJ Lee tried to ignore the navy suit that hung at the back of his closet -- his late father's last suit. When he decides to finally make the suit his own, little does he know he is about to embark on a journey into his own past.As JJ moves across the surface of the suit, he reveals the heartbreaking tale of his father, a charismatic but luckless restaurateur whose demons brought tumult upon his family. He also recounts the year he spent as an apprentice tailor at Modernize Tailors, the last of Vancouver's legendary Chinatown tailors, where he learns invaluable lessons about life from his octogenarian master tailor. Woven throughout these two personal strands are entertaining stories from the social history of the man's suit, the surprising battleground where the war between generations has long been fought.With wit, bracing honesty, and great narrative verve, JJ takes us from the French Revolution to the Zoot Suit Riots, from the Japanese Salaryman to Mad Men, from Oscar Wilde in short pants to Marlon Brando in a T-shirt, and from the rareified rooms of Savile Row to a rundown shop in Chinatown. A book that will forever change the way you think about the maxim "the clothes make the man," this is a universal story of love and forgiveness and breaking with the past.From the Hardcover edition.
I Love Your Laugh
by Jessica HolmesThe three years I spent in prison taught me to hate. Fork fights and throat punches were my pastimes. But that's how it goes when you've raised yourself on spite and envy.OK, that wasn't me. Not all comedians come from a dark place. . . .In this hilarious memoir, Jessica Holmes, a fan favourite on the hit shows The Holmes Show and Royal Canadian Air Farce, offers her witty observations on everything from her eclectic upbringing by a right-wing, Mormon father and a feminist mother, to her experiences as a missionary in Venezuela, to her own trial-and-error adventures in childrearing. Delving into personal experiences never discussed before, Holmes reveals her struggle to find laughter off-stage and spins comedy gold from her fumbles. The combination makes for an inspirational, heartwarming, and thoroughly side-splitting treat.From the Hardcover edition.
All Things Consoled: A daughter's memoir
by Elizabeth HayFrom Elizabeth Hay, one of Canada's most beloved novelists, comes a startling and beautiful memoir about the drama of her parents' end, and the longer drama of being their daughter.Jean and Gordon Hay were a colourful, formidable pair. Jean, a late-blooming artist with a marvellous sense of humour, was superlatively frugal; nothing got wasted, not even maggoty soup. Gordon was a proud and ambitious schoolteacher with a terrifying temper, a deep streak of melancholy, and a devotion to flowers, cars, words, and his wife. As old age collides with the tragedy of living too long, these once ferociously independent parents become increasingly dependent on Lizzie, the so-called difficult child. By looking after them in their final decline, she hopes to prove that she can be a good daughter after all. In this courageous memoir, written with tough-minded candour, tenderness, and wit, Elizabeth Hay lays bare the exquisite agony of a family's dynamics--entrenched favouritism, sibling rivalries, grievances that last for decades, genuine admiration, and enduring love. In the end, she reaches a more complete understanding of the most unforgettable characters she will ever know, the vivid giants in her life who were her parents.
Nothing But the Truth: A Memoir
by Marie HeneinAn intimate and no-holds-barred memoir by Canada's top defence lawyer, Nothing But the Truth weaves Marie Henein's personal story with her strongly held views on society's most pressing issues, legal and otherwise.With Nothing But the Truth, Marie Henein, arguably the most sought-after lawyer in the country, has written a memoir that is at once raw, beautiful, and altogether unforgettable. Her story, as an immigrant from a tightknit Egyptian-Lebanese family, demonstrates the value of strong role models--from her mother and grandmother, to her brilliant uncle Sami who died of AIDS. She learned the value of hard work, being true to herself and others, and unapologetically owning it all.Marie Henein shares here her unvarnished view on the ethical and practical implications of being a criminal lawyer, and how the job is misunderstood and even demonized. Ironically, her most successful cases made her a "lightning rod" in some circles, confirming her belief that much of the public's understanding of the justice system is based on popular culture, and social media, and decidedly not the rule of law. As she turns 50 and struggles with the corrosive effect on women of becoming invisible, Marie doubles down on being even more highly visible and opinionated as she deconstructs, among other things, the otherness of the immigrant experience (Where are you really from?), the pros and cons of being a household name in this country, opening her own boutique law firm, and the likes of Martha Stewart and her commoditization of previously unpaid female labour. Nothing But the Truth is refreshingly unconstrained and surprising--a woman at the top of her game in a male-dominated world.
Operation Medusa: The Furious Battle That Saved Afghanistan from the Taliban
by Major General Fraser Brian Hanington Gen. Lord David RichardsFrom the Canadian in charge of the joint military command in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan, this is the real on-the-ground story of one of NATO's bloodiest, most decisive and misunderstood operations: The battle of Panjwayi, the defining moment of "Operation Medusa."In 2006, David Fraser was the Canadian general in charge of the joint military command in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Like the troops under his command, he was in no way ready for what happened on Friday, September 1st of that year. He had been woken the night before by his intelligence officers who informed him that the Taliban were amassing on all fronts for an all-out battle. The NATO Alliance was about to engage the enemy in the greatest and bloodiest battle of their 70-year history. And they were grossly outnumbered. At first the facts of Operation Medusa were deliberately withheld as classified, then muddied by imprecise and isolated personal accounts, exaggerated by rumour, misstated by ambition, or just rejected outright as irrelevant, the details of these events are still unknown by citizens of Canada and her allies. And yet the truth about those 15 agonizing days between September 2 and 17 is astounding. The secret agreements made in those two weeks, the expected death toll of Canadian soldiers, the wholesale changes to tactics made after the first engagement, the strafing of Charles Company by an American A-10, the contribution of the Afghan police, the discovery of drugs, the extent of unreported civilian casualties, and even Canadian and Allied reliance on the insights of village elders were classified and kept from public knowledge. And yet in international military circles, the Battle of Panjwayi was quickly hailed as the defining moment of Operation Medusa. Canadians were credited with nothing less than saving Afghanistan from falling under Taliban rule. Our military's strategy and tactics were soon studied in warfare colleges in the U.S., and practiced by Nato troops in exercises around the world. There is no one architect of Operation Medusa, but if anyone really had to point to the one person who could tell this incredible story, it is the Canadian General in charge of the joint military command.
No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton
by Christopher HitchensIn No One Left to Lie To, a New York Times bestseller, Christopher Hitchens casts an unflinching eye on Bill Clinton and his presidency and offers a searing indictment of a president who sought to hold power at any cost. With blistering wit and meticulous documentation, the incomparable Christopher Hitchens masterfully deconstructs Clinton's terms as President of the United States, studying his abject propensity for pandering to the Left while delivering to the Right, and arguing that the personal transgressions that plagued Clinton's reputation and presidency were ultimately indistinguishable from his political corruption. Hitchens dexterously questions what so few have, from the former president's refusals to deny accusations of rape, to the shortsightedness of so many of his political maneuvers -- the welfare bill, his "ludicrous" war on drugs, and his abandonment of homosexuals with the enactment of the Defense of Marriage Act, among others.
Master of Persuasion: Brian Mulroney's Global Legacy
by Fen Osler Hampson James A. BakerBased on unprecedented access--interviews with key players, diaries, memos, etc.--the first book to document Brian Mulroney's impressive foreign policy record, from NAFTA to the collapse of the Soviet Union, climate change to the release of Nelson Mandela.Brian Mulroney led and lifted Canada's voice and influence in world affairs to unprecedented heights. Through negotiation and the deliberate cultivation of close personal links with other world leaders, there were significant achievements that serve Canadian interests to this day. Mulroney's bold initiatives on trade, the environment, and human rights turned the tradition and history of his party on its head and gave distinct emphasis to the "progressive" adjective in the party name. The pursuit of Free Trade ran completely counter to his party's history. Efforts to combat acid rain, repair the ozone layer, and to champion climate change long before it became fashionable, surprised and satisfied many of the most ardent advocates on the environment. In an even more turbulent world, Mulroney's determination to act for Canada and his strong record of achievement offer compelling lessons for the Canadian public and, especially, for Canadian leaders as they struggle to punch above their weight and make their voices heard in a world which is not necessarily waiting for "more Canada." Prime Minister Brian Mulroney understood better than many of his predecessors that Canada's power and influence derive from a solid grasp of Canada's vital national interests and a purposeful commitment to pursuing those interests and values on the world stage. This book will tell valuable stories about how Canada succeeded in advancing its national interests on trade, the environment, national security, and the advancement of democracy and human rights under Brian Mulroney's leadership. It will explore how he built "teams of rivals" both at home and abroad in pursuit of those interests, and a more prosperous, stable, and just international order, while underscoring the importance of his personal interventions and the trust and respect these reflected. Perhaps, most important of all, Brian Mulroney put to bed that long standing myth that Canada could not be a respected international player if it was seen as being too close to the United States. He showed that a "special relationship" with Washington was in fact the sine qua non to project Canada's interests and global influence. In sharp contrast to his predecessor, the path for global influence for Canada began with a principled and trusted dialogue with Washington, one that other world leaders noticed. As Canada's new Liberal government navigates its own course in choppy international waters, there is much to be learned from Canada's finest hour on the international stage some three decades ago under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Spies of No Country: Behind Enemy Lines at the Birth of the Israeli Secret Service
by Matti FriedmanFrom the award-winning and critically-acclaimed author of Pumpkinflowers, the never-before-told story of the mysterious "Arab Section": the Jewish-"Arab" spies who, under deep cover in Beirut as refugees, helped the new State of Israel win the War of Independence.In his third non-fiction book, Matti Friedman introduces us to four unknown young men who are caught up in the fraught events surrounding the birth of Israel in 1948 and drawn into secret lives, becoming the nucleus of Israel's intelligence service. The tiny, amateur unit known as the "Arab Section" was conceived during WWII by British spies and by Jewish militia leaders in Palestine. Consisting of Jews from Arab countries who could pass as Arabs, it was meant to gather intelligence and carry out sabotage and assassinations. When the first Jewish-Arab war erupted in 1948 and Palestinian refugees began fleeing the fighting, a small number of Section agents disguised as refugees joined the exodus. They fled to Beirut, where they spent the next two years under cover, sending messages back to Israel over a radio antenna disguised as a clothesline. Of the dozen men in the unit at the war's beginning, five were caught and executed. Espionage, John le Carré once wrote, is the "secret theater of our society." Spies of No Country is not just a spy story, but a surprising window into the nature of Israel--a country that sees itself as belonging to the story of Europe, but where more than half of the population is native to the Middle East. Starring complicated characters with slippery identities moving in the shadow of great events, Spies of No Country tells a very different story about what Israel is and how it was created.
Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game That Saved Me
by Stacey May FowlesA passionate ode to baseball, its culture, and its community, which both celebrates and challenges the game – and reminds us why it really matters. What is it about a man hitting a small white ball with a slim wooden bat out of a park that’s so beautiful? In this entertaining and thoughtful book, Stacey May Fowles gives us a refreshingly candid and personal perspective on subjects ranging from bat flips to bandwagoners, from the romance of spring training to the politics of booing, from the necessity of taking a hard look at players’ injuries and mental health issues to finding solace at the ballpark. Fowles confronts head-on the stereotype that female fans lack real knowledge about the game, and calls out the “boys will be boys” attitude and its implications both on and off the field. She also offers exhilarating snapshots of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2015 and 2016 seasons. With remarkable humanity, intelligence, and an unabashed enthusiasm for the game, Fowles explores how we can use the lens of baseball to examine who we are. A must-read for both diehard and casual fans.
Dispatches from the Front
by David HaltonAs senior war correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during the Second World War, Matthew Halton reported from the front lines in Italy and Northwest Europe and became "the voice of Canada at war." His gripping, passionate broadcasts chronicled the victories and losses of Canadian soldiers and made him a national hero.Born in Pincher Creek, Alberta, in 1904, Halton was to achieve the fastest ever ascent in Canadian journalism. A year after joining the Toronto Daily Star as a cub reporter, he was in Berlin to write about Adolf Hitler's seizure of power and - long before most other correspondents - to begin a prophetic series of warnings about the Nazi regime. For more than two decades, he witnessed first-hand the major political and military events of the era. He covered Europe's drift to disaster, including the breakdown of the League of Nations, the Spanish Civil War, the sellout to Fascism at Munich, and the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia. Along the way he interviewed Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hermann Göring, Neville Chamberlain, Charles de Gaulle, Mahatma Gandhi, and dozens of others who shaped the history of the century.In Dispatches from the Front, acclaimed former CBC correspondent David Halton, Matthew's son, also examines his father's often tumultuous personal life. He unravels the many paradoxes of his personality: the war correspondent who loathed bloodshed yet became addicted to the thrill of battle; the loner who thrived in good company; and, in some ways most puzzling of all, the womanizer with a deep and enduring love for his wife. Drawn from extensive interviews and archival research, this definitive biography is a captivating portrait of the life of one of Canada's most accomplished journalists.
Missed Connections: A Memoir in Letters Never Sent
by Brian FrancisAn entertaining and moving memoir about coming out, looking inwards, and the search for connection, inspired by the responses to a personal ad. A Loan Stars Top 10 Pick of the Month and one of Daily Hive's 10 Essential LGBTQ2+ Books to Celebrate Pride. In 1992, Brian Francis placed a personal ad in a local newspaper. He was a twenty-one-year-old university student, still very much in the closet, and looking for love. He received twenty-five responses, but there were thirteen letters that went unanswered and spent years tucked away, forgotten, inside a cardboard box. Now, nearly thirty years later, and at a much different stage in his life, Brian has written replies to those letters. Using the letters as a springboard to reflect on all that has changed for him as a gay man over the past three decades, Brian's responses cover a range of topics, including body image, aging, desire, the price of secrecy, and the courage it takes to be unapologetically yourself. Missed Connections is an open-hearted, irreverent, often hilarious, and always bracingly honest examination of the pieces of our past we hold close -- and all that we lose along the way. It is also a profoundly affecting meditation on how Brian's generation, the queer people who emerged following the generation hit hardest by AIDS, were able to step out from the shadows and into the light. In an age when the promise of love is just a tap or swipe away, this extraordinary memoir reminds us that our yearning for connection and self-acceptance is timeless.
Pumpkinflowers
by Matti FriedmanFrom an award-winning Canadian-Israeli writer comes the true story of a band of young soldiers, the author among them, charged with holding one remote outpost in Lebanon, a task that changed them forever and foreshadowed today's unwinnable conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.It was small hilltop in a small, unnamed war in the late 1990s, but it would send out ripples that continue to emanate worldwide today. The hill was called the Pumpkin flowers was the military code word for "casualties." Friedman's visceral narrative recreates harrowing wartime experiences in a work that is part frontlines memoir, partjournalistic reporting, part military history. The years in question were pivotal ones, and not just for Israel. They saw the perfection of a type of warfare that would eventually be exported to Afghanistan and Iraq. The new twenty-first century war is one in which there is never any clear victor, and not enough lives are lost to rally the public against it. Eventually Israel would come to realize that theirs was a losing proposition and pull out. But, of course, by then these soldiers--those who had survived--and the country had been wounded in ways large and small. Raw, powerful, beautifully rendered, the book will take its place among classic war stories such as those by George Orwell, Philip Caputo, and Vasily Grossman. Pumpkinflowers is an unflinching look, like the works of Jon Krakauer and Sebastian Junger, at the way we conduct war today.From the Hardcover edition.
On the Outside Looking Indian
by Rupinder Gill"There's a phenomenon in Amish culture called Rumspringa, where Amish adolescents are permitted to break free from their modest and traditional lifestyles to indulge in normally taboo activities. They dress how they want, go out if and when they please, smoke, drink and generally party like it's 1899. At the end they decide if they will return and join the Amish church."I am 30 years old. I wore my hair in two braids every day until I was 12. I dressed more conservatively than most Amish, barely left my house until I was 18 and spent the last 12 years studying and working hard on my career like a good little Indian girl. The time has come; you are witness to the dawning of my Indian Rumspringa, a Ram-Singha if you will. But instead of smoking and drinking Bud Lights in a park while yelling 'Down with barn raising!' I plan to indulge in a different manner -- by pursuing everything I wish had been a part of my youth. Things I always felt were part of most North Americans' adolescent experience. I will learn to swim, go to summer camp, see Disneyworld, take dance lessons, have sleepovers and finally get the pet I longed for my whole life."This is the story of the ultimate New Year's resolution, more akin to a new life resolution. Will it all be fun? Will my friends and family support my walk down memory-less lane? Will it all matter in the end? I don't know yet but much like my young Rumspringaed-out counterpart, I will decide whether or not there is any going back."From the Hardcover edition.
Four Strong Winds
by John EinarsonAn acclaimed music historian brings us the long-awaited story of Ian & Sylvia - marking the first time that the legendary folk duo has endorsed a biography of their groundbreaking career.Their classic "Four Strong Winds" is widely considered to be one of the great songs of all time. Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and Joni Mitchell count among their admirers. Their music, including hits like "You Were On My Mind" and "Someday Soon," has been recorded by everyone from Dylan, Joan Baez, and Johnny Cash to Sarah McLachlan and The Tragically Hip. Their influence on music - both in Canada and the United States - has endured over generations and surpassed genres. Yet until now, we have known little of the story behind the folk sensations Ian & Sylvia. In Four Strong Winds, John Einarson takes us back to Ian & Sylvia's early days in Toronto coffeehouses, to their experiences at the heart of the vibrant 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene, and beyond, as their personal and musical partnership continued to change and evolve. Based on Ian and Sylvia Tyson's own personal reflections as well as on the recollections of contemporaries, associates, and admirers, Four Strong Winds is the definitive account of this iconic musical duo and a window on a fascinating period in music history.From the Hardcover edition.
The Christopher Hitchens 4-Book Collection
by Christopher Hitchens"Christopher Hitchens is the greatest essayist in the English language." —Christopher Buckley Christopher Hitchens has long been considered on of the most compelling and intelligent writers and orators on our time. In this four-volume eBook bundle, no subject is left unconsidered in Hitchens's hands: from the case against god and religion in God Is Not Great; to various "Amusements, Annoyances, and Disappointments" in Arguably -- the Ten Commandments, the concept of "funny"; from a memoir tracing his storied life in Hitch-22 to a raw and honest meditation on life and death in Mortality, his last book before his death in 2011. Provocative and perceptive, unabashed and polemical, The Christopher Hitchens 4-Book Ebook Collection is the essential reader for any Hitchens fan. GOD IS NOT GREAT: HOW RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING HITCH-22: A MEMOIR ARGUABLY: ESSAYS MORTALITY