Biographies and autobiographies

  • Mythologizing Norval Morrisseau : art and the colonial narrative in the Canadian media

    Creator

    Robertson, Carmen

    Abstract

    Mythologizing Norval Morrisseau examines the complex identities assigned to Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau. Was he an uneducated artist plagued by alcoholism and homelessness? Was Morrisseau a shaman artist who tapped a deep spiritual force? Or was he simply one of Canada’s most significant artists? Carmen L. Robertson charts both the colonial attitudes and the stereotypes directed at Morrisseau and other Indigenous artists in Canada’s national press. Robertson also examines Morrisseau’s own shaping of his image.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Winnipeg, MB, University of Manitoba Press

    Not specified
  • Inside the mental : silence, stigma, psychiatry, and LSD

    Creator

    Parley, Kay

    Abstract

    Before she became a psychiatric nurse at "The Mental" in the 1950s, Kay Parley was a patient there, as were the father she barely remembered and the grandfather she'd never met. Part memoir, part history, and beautifully written, Inside The Mental offers an episodic journey into the stigma, horror, and redemption that she found within the institution's walls. Now in her nineties, Parley looks back at the emerging use of group therapy, the advent of patients' rights, evolving ethics in psychiatry, and the amazing cast of characters she met there.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Regina, SK, Canada, University of Regina Press

    Not specified
  • A brush full of colour : the world of Ted Harrison

    Creator

    Ruurs, Margriet

    Gibson, Katherine

    Abstract

    A Brush Full of Colour is the story of a boy whose passion for learning would save him from a life in the coalmines. The books by the American writer Jack London and Canadian poet Robert Service fired his imagination with scenes of the wilderness and the Klondike Gold Rush. He trained as an artist, and a stint in the British Intelligence Service allowed him to travel. But Ted never stopped dreaming of the North, and when he saw an advertisement for teachers in Northern Alberta, he jumped at the chance to emigrate to Canada, where the biggest adventure of his life would begin.

    Audience
    Juvenile**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Pajama Press Inc.

    Not specified
  • How come I'm dead?

    Creator

    McDonald, Glen

    Abstract

    Covers the highlights of 26 years in the career of Judge Glen McDonald, who was the colorful and often controversial Vancouver Coroner from 1954 to 1980 and supervisory coroner for the province of British Columbia from 1969 to 1980.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Surrey, B.C.

    Hancock House

    Not specified
  • Waiting for first light : my ongoing battle with PTSD

    Creator

    Dallaire, Roméo

    Abstract

    At the heart of Waiting for First Light is a no-holds-barred self-portrait of a top political and military figure whose nights are invaded by despair, but who at first light faces the day with the renewed desire to make a difference in the world. Roméo Dallaire, traumatized by witnessing genocide on an imponderable scale in Rwanda, reflects in these pages on the nature of PTSD and the impact of that deep wound on his life since 1994, and on how he motivates himself and others to humanitarian work despite his constant struggle.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto, Random House Canada

    Not specified
  • Confessions of a Mountie : my life behind the red serge

    Creator

    Pitts, Frank

    Abstract

    "Confessions of a Mountie is the dramatic memoir of retired RCMP Officer Frank Pitts from Bell Island, Newfoundland and Labrador. His story begins with a terrifying standoff between him and a machete-wielding suspect. As his life flashes before his eyes, Frank Pitts recalls his enlistment, training, and cases both solved and unsolved that have led to this moment.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    St. John's, Flanker Press Limited

    Not specified
  • The Muslimah who fell to earth : personal stories by Canadian Muslim women

    Abstract

    These are twenty-two personal stories, told by women from practically all backgrounds and persuasions--devout and not-so devout, professionals and housewives, westernized and traditional, wearing jeans, hijab, or niqab, and originally from Africa to North America to Pakistan to the Middle East--revealing in their own ways what it means to them to be a Muslim woman (a "Muslimah"). What we get is a complex of stories, all united by two simple ideas--faith and nationality (Canadian).

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto, Ontario

    Mawenzi House

    Not specified
  • The night we stole the mountie's car

    Creator

    Braithwaite, Max.

    Abstract

    Max Braithwaite has the unique capacity to be both tender and caustic – both nostalgic and uncompromisingly honest. He is also one of Canada’s few original humorists. All these qualities are present in his latest bittersweet recollections of life on the Prairies during the early Thirties. It was a time of depression and drought; but for Max, a young schoolteacher, it was also a time for courtship and marriage, for those hilarious episodes in Wannego, Saskatchewan, which did much to belie the grimness of the era.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto, Ont.

    McClelland & Stewart

    Not specified
  • Montcalm and Wolfe : two men who forever changed the course of Canadian history

    Creator

    Carrier, Roch

    Abstract

    "The story of Wolfe and Montcalm and the Plains of Abraham. In September 1759, a small band of British troops led by James Wolfe scaled the tall cliff overlooking a farmer's field owned by Abraham Martin and overpowered the French garrison that protected the area, allowing the bulk of the British army to ascend the cliff behind and attack the French who, led by Louis-Joseph Montcalm, were largely unaware of Wolfe's tactics. The battle that ensued on what would become known as the Plains of Abraham would forever shape the geography and politics of Canada.

    Audience
    Adult**
    Publisher (Source)

    Toronto : HarperCollins Canada, 2014

    Not specified