Private Jack Poolton was among the Canadians landing at the disastrous raid on Dieppe. Fortunate to have survived, Jack was taken to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. In Destined to Survive: A Dieppe Veteran's Story, Jack Poolton relates the story of his training, capture, and experiences in the POW camp. We follow Jack's three escape attempts, and his subsequent punishment. And we share his elation when Jack and his fellow prisoners are liberated by American soldiers.Poo...

InParty of One,investigative journalist Michael Harris closely examines the majority government of a prime minister essentially unchecked by the opposition and empowered by the general election victory of May 2011. Harris looks at Harper’s policies, instincts, and the often breathtaking gap between his stated political principles and his practices.Harris argues that Harper is more than a master of controlling information: he is a profoundly anti-democratic figure. In the F-35 debac...

Black round rock faces escape from months of imprisonment below the ice and snow. Heat radiates back from the smooth rock “mountain” that provides the backdrop for the tiny village of Coppermine which is located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Small hands escape from mittens and crowd together on the warm dry surface of the rock, giggles escape from childish lips. Into winter weary palms the heat from the black stone creeps.The warmth carries with it memories of days without iti...

Bob Teather entered RCMP Basic Recruit Training in 1967 with no idea of what he was getting into. Along with 31 other confused young men, he found himself in Regina, Saskatchewan, as a lowly member of Troop 18. Bald, intimidated, and soon to be bruised, Bob began a six-month ordeal that he candidly recalls in this engaging book. Corporal Teather's story brings you close to six recruits from across the country—Prairie Dog, André, Lumchuck, Francois, weird Harold Burl and Teather himself, a ...

Bill Miner, the gentleman bandit, enjoyed more popularity in his day than Jesse James or Billy the Kid. He robbed stagecoaches and trains across California, Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, Washington State and British Columbia until just before the First World War, by which point the public actually wanted him to escape the police. Reporters visited him during his time in jail and dubbed him "Old Bill Miner." When he died in Georgia, where he had committed the state's first train robbery, loca...

Del Burk farmed, ranched and guided big-game hunters in some of the richest wild-life areas of Canada.  The biography covers a recent patch of history, but a patch already gone.  The farm equipment he knew now belong in museums, and the ranching practices of the fifties and sixties have largely simply disappeared.  Where Del's big-game guiding experiences took him over trails meant only for horses, there are now paved roads or the rutted paths of ATVs.   Del's s...

Among the important stories that need to be told about noteworthy Canadians, Lincoln Alexander's sits at the top of the list. Born in Toronto in 1922, the son of a maid and a railway porter, Alexander embarked on an exemplary life path that has involved military service for his country, a successful political career, a thriving law career, and vocal advocacy on subjects ranging from antiracism to the importance of education.In this biography, Shoveller traces a remarkable series of...

Marking the 225th anniversary of loyalist landings in Canada, this important and comprehensive history is essential reading on the shaping of our country.The few hundred loyalists who gathered at Roubalet’s Tavern in New York on the night of Saturday, November 16, 1782, shared a vision of the future intended to sustain them through the nightmare of the present. Abandoned by the king to whom they had promised their loyalty, unwelcome in the land that had so recently been theirs, the...

It was a fitness revolution often imitated but seldom duplicated. It takes little time, requires no equipment, and can help anyone build and maintain physical fitness. This exercise program was designed by the Royal Canadian Air Force during the 1950s and is now in the public domain. Its concepts made it popular and its simplicity made it accessible. This document and its principles formed a foundation many of today’s modern programs built upon. A similar exercise p...

Between 1800 and 1914, Canadian society and its school systems were forged, populated, expanded and reformed. The Promise of Schooling explores the links between social and educational change in this complex and dynamic period. It raises and seeks to answer a number of questions: How extensive was schooling in the early nineteenth century? What lay behind the campaign to extend publicly funded education? What went on inside the Canadian classroom? How did schools address the needs...

Arthur Meighen, Canada’s ninth prime minister, was the greatest debater in Canadian history. He led Canada twice as prime minister, yet both periods of time were brief against the crafty William Lyon Mackenzie King. He dominated his opponents with razor-sharp wit, conviction, and a photographic memory. Out of all Canada’s prime ministers, he was truly unbeatable in debate. Yet for all his skills in winning arguments, he didn’t win the hearts of Canadians. Find out more about this fascinati...

In Reflections of a Siamese Twin, Saul turns his eye from a reinterpretation of the Western world to an examination of Canada itself. Caught up in crises—political, economic, and social—Canada continues to flounder, unable to solve or even really identify its problems.Instead, we assert absolute differences between ourselves: we are English or we are French; Natives or Europeans; early immigrants or newly arrived; from the east or from the west. Or we bow to ideologies and...