In the early to mid-nineteenth century, Isaac Brown, a slave, was accused of the attempted murder of a prominent plantation owner, despite there being no evidence of his guilt. Brown, after enduring two brutal floggings, was shipped to a New Orleans slave pen. From there the resourceful Brown was able to make a daring escape to Philadelphia in the free state of Pennsylvania. His biggest error was writing a note informing his free wife and eleven children in Maryland of his whereabouts. The...

Award-winning author Bryan Prince portrays the experiences of slaves and former slaves in these compelling histories of the Underground Railroad and American Civil War. This special two-book collection includes:My Brother’s Keeper: African Canadians and the American Civil WarThe stirring story of African Canadians who had fled slavery and oppression in the United States but returned to enlist in the Union forces in the American Civil War.One More River t...

The story of African Canadians who fled slavery in the United States but returned to enlist in the Union forces during the American Civil War.On New Year’s Eve in 1862, blacks from across British North America joined in spirit with their American fellows in silent vigils to await the enactment of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The terms declared that slaves who were held in the districts that were in rebellion would be free and that blacks would now be allowed to en...

The extraordinary story of one couple’s determination to free themselves and their children from slavery and make a new life in CanadaPrior to abolition in 1865, as many as 40,000 men, women, and children made the perilous trip north from enslavement in the United States to freedom in Canada. Many were aided by networks that came to be known as the Underground Railroad. And the stories that emerge from the past about these journeys are truly remarkable.In A Shadow o...

The end of the War of 1812 brought with it great political, economic, and social upheaval.The sixth and final book of the Upper Canada Preserved — War of 1812 series, The Ashes of War examines in detail the closing stages of the war on the Northern Frontier, including the two-month siege of Fort Erie, the engagement at Cook’s Mills, the American attempt to recapture Michilimackinac (Mackinac), the tale of the Nancy, and the American raids into southwestern Upper Canada. It...

Winner of the National Award for Arts Writing: “If there were a course in Chelsea Hotel-iana, this would be the textbook” (The New York Times).It’s where Dylan Thomas lived his last days, Bob Dylan wrote Blonde on Blonde, and Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is memorialized by many of its famous inhabitants: Andy Warhol filmed Chelsea Girls there, and Leonard Cohen wrote Chelsea Hotel #2 about his tryst w...

This "monumental" portrait of the man, his music, and the world in which he lived is "a truly remarkable biography" ( The Christian Science Monitor).Jan Swafford's biographies of Charles Ives and Johannes Brahms have established him as a revered music historian, capable of bringing his subjects vibrantly to life. His magnificent new biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, more than a decade in the making, peels away layers of legend to get to the living, breathi...

Evocative and superbly rakish, these essays are a generous diagnosis of the often offbeat worlds of family, writing, travel, sex and death as interpreted through the real life adventures of Susan Musgrave. Equally at home recounting the lore of her outlaw husband Stephen Reid, or interpreting the arcane rituals of her teenage girls, Musgrave brings to her literary essays that same invigorating freshness for which he has become known in her fiction and poetry. In settings ranging from the a...

From the Battle of Chippawa to Lundy’s Lane, A Crucible of Fire focuses on the period of the War of 1812 leading up to the siege on Fort Erie in September 1814.Following their invasion at Fort Erie and decisive victory at the Battle of Chippawa, an American army of over 5,000 men seemed poised to sweep across the Niagara frontier to Lake Ontario, link up with the American fleet, and complete the final expulsion of the British allied forces from Upper Canada. However, only ...

Who are we? In Canadians, one of Canada’s most intelligent and beloved writers maps our national psyche in a wonderful and ambitious work. Canadians is an entertaining portrait of this country and its people, through its history, popular culture, literature, sport, landscape, and weather. In his pursuit of the Canadian national identity, MacGregor has travelled far and wide, taking our pulse, telling our stories. A sparkling blend of historical, anecdotal, and reflective ...

Corner Boys is Robert Hunt’s memoir of growing up on the mean streets of St. John’s in the 1950s and ’60s. Within the working-class neighbourhoods that are central to this tale, trouble seemed to lurk behind every corner, ready to be found by those who were looking for it. This dark yet humorous coming-of-age story follows a young and mischievous boy along the sidewalks and into the backyards of a turbulent—and sometimes violent—city.

Winner! 2012 American Alpine Club Literary Prize (USA)Winner! 2011 Munday Award, Banff Mountain Festival (CANADA)Winner! 2011 Boardman Tasker Prize, Kendal Mountain Festival (UNITED KINGDOM)Freedom Climbers—the most honoured book of mountaineering literature published in Canada—tells the story of a group of extraordinary Polish adventurers who emerged from under the blanket of oppression following the Second World War to become the world's leading Himalayan...