Fresh Voices from the Periphery is evidence that history matters - not only the study of the past - but also by shedding light on how events of the past have impacted lives in the present. This unique book is a collection of thought-provoking essays written by young people whose families have lived as minorities in various countries in east-central Europe for four generations. They became minorities not because their families migrated to different parts of Europe, but beca...

Against the Tide recounts the journey of a frail young boy who found his strength in running, sparking his dream of becoming an Olympic athlete.His adventures included lumberjacking in British Columbia and working on a tramp steamer to the Arctic. Running led him to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where he set a Commonwealth record in the Decathlon.Eschewing the family investment business he pursued a writing career, earning a Ph.D. from Stanford in English Litera...

When Mavis Himes, a psychoanalyst with an established practice of over forty years, began to contemplate retirement, she decided to learn to play the cello.From meeting her teacher in an overcrowded café, through the demanding task of cello practice with its persistent strains and stresses on the body, Himes found a growing appreciation of music's power on her own well-being. An unfortunate bicycle accident resulting in serious injuries to her left arm threw her mu...

Erica McArthur died in a car accident in 2000 at the age of 23.Through a collection of inspiring stories, moving poems, and lyrical songs by her father, Jake McArthur, this book provides an intimate window into a curious series of experiences that he had, both prior to and following the accident.In these pages, which will make you laugh and cry - and contemplate - you will find reasons to wonder about non-material reality. You will not find declarative certainty. You will f...

"Sitting at my desk in Collingwood, watching the birds and blooms dance in the labyrinth, the long braids are long gone now, and my short hair is greying. I am a grandmother, a partner, a sister, a friend, a lover, a writer, a gardener, a walker, a reader, a mother. I look in the mirror and see my mother's dark brown eyes, surrounded by lifelines, looking out at me."- Excerpt from Saved by Love: An incomplete memoirgloria fern lives on the southern shores of Georgi...

The late Sir John Templeton once said:"To buy when others are despondently selling and to sellwhen others are avidly buying requires the greatest fortitude."Many investors get caught in popular investment themes. They enthusiastically buy near the top, then fearfully sell near the bottom when the market corrects its excess. Conversely, the greatest investment returns in history have been made by be...

This delightful collection of colourful anecdotes from Fay Pettapiece's upbringing and married life in urban and rural British Columbia brings on both laughter and tears -- but more of the former than the latter. The Years Between is a fascinating reflection of British Columbia's history, as told from the perspective of an only child whose father's sundry jobs hauled the family from one challenge to the next around the province, and whose grandmother lived a pioneer type of life i...

WILLIAM GAIRDNER has published a dozen books, a half-dozen journal articles, and hundreds of insightful essays online. As a consequence, many eager to read his work, are not sure where to begin. Disruptive Essays was created to help them. It is what some call a "Reader," offering a fascinating and varied selection from his bestselling books, articles, and blogs. The disruptive title was chosen because, as Gairdner warns: "***There Are No Safe Spac...

Set in the first half of the twentieth century in Toronto and framed as a murder mystery,The South Side of Queen is the saga of two burlesque theatres and the family that owned and operated them. Both the Roxy and Casino Theatres were located on the south side of Queen Street, just steps away from Toronto's Old City Hall. In 1935, it was at the Roxy that its proprietor and the family patriarch, Avner Appleby, was murdered - one of the city's unsolved homicides.

During the first few weeks after Matthew Kirk was born -- brain-damaged as a result of oxygen deprivation during delivery -- the doctors advised his parents, Donna and Ed Kirk, to put him in an institution, have another baby as soon as possible, and get on with their life.But what the doctors didn't understand was that Matthew was their life.Indeed, as he grew, he would surprise everyone with his athletic good looks, spirited personality, and supre...

William Gairdner, PhD, is a former Olympic athlete, businessman, and author living near Toronto. He began publishing serious essays and books on political and moral philosophy in mid-life, and among his many bestsellers -- books that have profoundly enriched national dialogue and discussion -- are The Trouble With Canada, The War Against the Family, Canada's Founding Debates, The Book of Absolutes, and The Great Divide: Why Liberals and Conservatives Will Neve...

Lawyer and former Union soldier Richard Montgomery is commissioned to infiltrate a clandestine Confederate operation in Canada in 1864 during the U.S. Civil War. On numerous forays across enemy lines as a courier for former Alabama senator Clement C. Clay, one of the leaders of the Rebel conspiracy, Montgomery relays the word to his Yankee superiors regarding several diabolical Confederate campaigns in Union territory. These include a nefarious attempt to burn down much of New York...