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The legendary Boss Tweed effectively controlled New York City from after the Civil War until his downfall in November 1871. A huge man, he and his Ring of Thieves appeared to be invincible as they stole an estimated $2 billion in today's dollars. In addition to the New York city and state governments, the Tweed Ring controlled the press except for Harper's Weekly.

The Boy on the Lake is the inspirational story of how one teenager faced down two bullies: brain cancer and an emotionally abusive father. Born into a family of professional baseball and big macs, his courageous journey leads him from a small town in the mountains of Idaho to the biggest stage of all: the United States Congress where a bill he helped create awaits passage. It is called Trevor’s Law.

Hooten—one of radio's most successful on-air personalities—battled alcoholism his entire life. With this work, he hopes to reach those "functioning" alcoholics who want a better life for themselves and their families.

Glenn Gould (1932-1982) was a prodigy who loathed the word, a brilliant pianist who disliked performing, and a public figure who craved solitude. With his recording of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach, Gould became an international celebrity. Gould's unusual interpretations, quirky stage mannerisms, and teasingly contrarian pronouncements fascinated and annoyed audiences and critics. He gave concerts in Canada, the United States, and abroad for several years.

Sandford Fleming knew fame and many honours later in life, but the path was not always easy. His beginnings are revealed in these early diaries that record his thoughts as an eighteen-year-old leaving his family home in Scotland for Canada. After unsuccessful attempts to get work as a surveyor, he finally made important contacts in Toronto, and through involvement with the Mechanics' Institute and the (Royal) Canadian Institute, became connected to the leading architects and engineers in the community.

Born in Scotland and trained as a sugar broker in London, England, Sir George Simpson (1792-1860) was unexpectedly appointed in 1820 as governor of Rupert's Land and the Indian territories, an area encompassing all of Canada from Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean. By his friendliness of manner, strict discipline, and vigorous and constant travel, he brought peace and prosperity to the vast empire under his control.Simpson's explorations opened Canada from Labrador to British Columbia and from Yukon to Nunavut.

Born in 1934, Peter Gzowski covered most of the last half of the century as a journalist and interviewer.

By the time he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in 2007, Mischa Weisz had all he needed to face the fight of his life. A child of Holocaust survivors, he felt distant from his parents and had no idea of his own heritage until he was well into his teens - too late to adopt it as his own. When Mischa and his first wife split, he battled for custody of their son and daughter, emerging as an unlikely but devoted single father living on unemployment insurance as he plotted his move into independent business.

In 1607, Henry Hudson was an obscure English sea captain. By 1610, he was an internationally renowned explorer. He made two voyages in search of a Northeast Passage to the Orient and had discovered the Spitzbergen Islands and their valuable whaling grounds. In the process, Hudson had sailed farther north than any other European before him. In 1609, working for the Dutch, he had explored the Hudson River and had made a Dutch colony in America possible.

Presenting three titles in the Quest Biography series that profiles prominent figures in Canada's history. In these three books we explore the cultural heritage that is at the roots of Canada's present-day multicultural society. In the lives of abolitionist Underground Railway hero Harriet Tubman; Metis revolutionary Louis Riel; and frontiersman Simon Girty, who adopted and respected Native culture long before the vast majority of white people, we discover that the struggle for inclusion and human rights has existed since the dawn of Canada's modern history.