Biographies and autobiographies
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Abstract
Alexander Young Jackson (1882-1974) is a name that instantly conjures up images of our rugged northern landscape and the controversial Group of Seven. This is the first-ever full-length biography of one of Canada’s most beloved characters, and the first to examine in one book the artist, outdoorsman, soldier, teacher, debater, writer, and outspoken defender of modern art. Jackson spent nearly seventy years travelling Canada on a lifelong quest to, rendering his impressions of its diverse character on canvas and promoting a vibrant, uniquely Canadian style of painting.
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Abstract
When it comes to Q&A trivia, Doug Lennox has no peer. Sir Isaac Brock, Tecumseh, Laura Secord, Norman Bethune, Terry Fox, and Roberta Bondar are all Canadian icons we’ve come to cherish. Doug gives the dope on all those famous heroes and many more, but you’ll also discover the amazing courage, pluck, and accomplishments of Upper Canada Rebellion heroine Elizabeth Barnett, privateer Joseph Barss, the Angel of Long Point Abigail Becker, the First Lady of Labrador Mina Hubbard, and Second World War pilot Charley Fox - genuine heroes all! Who was the "musketeer in petticoats"?
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Abstract
Si l’on se fie à tous les principes de la guerre et à la logique militaire, le soutien logistique de la force opérationnelle Orion du Canada aurait dû s’écrouler en juillet 2006. Peu de pays posent un défi logistique aussi important que l’Afghanistan, et pourtant les soldats canadiens l’ont relevé avec brio, en 2006, dans ce dangereux théâtre international. Cette réussite représente un accomplissement militaire monumental.
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Abstract
Originally published in the early 1950s, The Scalpel, the Sword celebrates the turbulent career of Dr. Norman Bethune (1890-1939), a brilliant surgeon, campaigner against private medicine, communist, and graphic artist. Bethune belonged to that international contingent of individuals who recognized the threat of fascism in the world and went out courageously to try to defeat it.
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Abstract
David Wingfield joined the Royal Navy in 1806, at the age of fourteen. His service took him to the Great Lakes during the War of 1812. Captured, he was a POW in the United States for nine months. Following his release, Wingfield had some intriguing adventures on the Upper Great Lakes before returning to England.
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Abstract
For thousands of young British girls, the influx of Canadian soldiers conscripted to Britain during the Second World War meant throngs of handsome young men. The result was over 48,000 marriages to Canadian soldiers alone, and a mass emigration of British women to North America and around the world in the 1940’s. For many brides, the decision to leave their family and home to move to a country thousands of miles away with a man they hardly knew brought forth ensuing happiness.
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Abstract
At a turning point in his life, George Fetherling embarked on an adventure to sail round the world on one of the last of the tramp freighters. The four-month voyage carried him 30,000 nautical miles from Europe via the Panama Canal to the South Pacific and back by way of Singapore, Indonesia, the Indian Ocean, and Suez. Written with dash, colour, and droll humour, Fetherling’s narrative is peopled by a rich cast of characters, from the Foreign Legionnaires of French Polynesia to the raskol gangs of Papua New Guinea.
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Abstract
Short-listed for the 2010 Banff Mountain Book Festival Competition The Mountain Knows No Expert epitomizes George Evanoff’s philosophy towards the outdoors, while presenting an intriguing contrast with the man himself. Widely regarded as an "expert," he was a knowledgeable, experienced, and practical outdoorsman, teacher, and mentor, yet ironically lost his life in the mountains in an encounter with a grizzly.
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Abstract
Born in Manitoba of Icelandic parents, Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962) became one of Canada’s most famous and controversial Arctic explorers. After graduate studies in anthropology at Harvard University, Stefansson lived with and studied Inuit in the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories in the winter of 1906-07.
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Abstract
Born in Thamesville, Ontario, a student at Queen’s University in Kingston in the 1930’s, and editor and later publisher of the Peterborough Examiner from the 1940s to the mid-1960s, playwright, essayist, critic, professor, and novelist Robertson Davies (1913-1995) was one of Canada’s pre-eminent literary voices for more than a half-century. Davies, with his generous beard and donnish manner, was the very epitome of the "man of letters," a term he abhorred.