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In 1997, when a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an Alaskan island north of the Canadian border,…
they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. The author braids together the strands of this mystery and brings to life the historical collision of Europeans and the Haida and the harrowing world of logging. Canada Reads 2012. Winner of the 2005 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction. Bestseller. 2005.
In 1962, Alexandra Wiwcharuk was found murdered on the banks of the Saskatchewan River. Nearly 50 years later, her murder…
still haunts Saskatoon residents, especially those who, like Butala, were Alexandra's friends. Compelled by her memories of Alex, Butala returns to that still-unsolved murder, writing an in-depth investigation of the tragic death, a nostalgic coming-of-age story, and an exploration of the nature of good and evil. Some descriptions of sex and violence. 2008.
Journalist recounts the 1990 robbery of Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in which two crooks posing as policemen nabbed art…
worth $500 million, including five Degas paintings, three Rembrandts, and a Vermeer. Traces the investigation of art detective Harold Smith and explores case links to mobsters and the IRA. Strong language. 2009.
When the First World War began, Newfoundland had been without any kind of military organisation for more than half a…
century, so public-spirited citizens immediately formed themselves into a Patriotic Association, and within sixty days had recruited, partially equipped and dispatched 537 officers and men overseas. Nicholson details the harrowing experiences of the Newfoundland Regiment at Gallipoli, Beaumont Hamel, the Third Battle of Ypres and Cambrai, for which they were granted the title "Royal" - the only army unit to receive such a distinction during World War I. Some descriptions of violence. 2006.
The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unparalleled ferocity which extended far beyond its European epicentre,…
it broke the century of relative peace and prosperity which we associate with the Victorian era and unleashed the demons of the twentieth century - pestilence, military destruction and mass death - and also the ideas which continue to shape our world today - modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, and radical ideas about economics and society. Includes violence. 1998.
In the winter trenches and flak-filled skies of World War I, soldiers and pilots alike might avoid death, only to…
find themselves imprisoned in Germany's archipelago of POW camps, often in abominable conditions. The most infamous was Holzminden, a land-locked Alcatraz of sorts that housed the most troublesome, escape-prone prisoners. Its commandant was a boorish, hate-filled tyrant named Karl Niemeyer who swore that none should ever leave. Desperate to break out of "Hellminden" and return to the fight, a group of Allied prisoners led by ace pilot (and former Army sapper) David Gray hatch an elaborate escape plan. Their plot demands a risky feat of engineering as well as a bevy of disguises, forged documents, fake walls, and steely resolve. Once beyond the watch towers and round-the-clock patrols, Gray and almost a dozen of his half-starved fellow prisoners must then make a heroic 150 mile dash through enemy-occupied territory towards free Holland. Drawing on never-before-seen memoirs and letters, Bascomb brings this narrative to cinematic life, amid the twilight of the British Empire and the darkest, most savage hours of the fight against Germany. At turns tragic, funny, inspirational, and nail-biting suspenseful, this is the little-known story of the biggest POW breakout of the Great War. 2018.
The "Feather Men," so named because of their light touch, were a group of Englishmen recruited to stop an organization…
of contract killers from murdering former members of the Special Air Service. This true story of their vigilante activities during the 1980s is set mainly in Oman and is told in chilling detail with action-packed narrative. Includes violence. 1991.
The Fence documents the true story of a Boston police incident during which an undercover officer was brutally beaten by…
fellow officers who mistook him for a murder suspect. Some strong language and some descriptions of violence. c2009.
By the time Johnny "Pops" Papalia was gunned down at the age of 73, his massive crime network had earned…
him the nickname "Canada's Capone." Filled with tales of extortion, loan sharking, gambling and heroin, this book chronicles the rise and fall of Canada's most successful Mafia don. Some descriptions of violence. 1999.
The Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest inland body of water, has lost over half its surface area and 80 percent…
of its volume since 1960, due to poorly planned irrigation systems. In January 2000, Canadian Rob Ferguson went to Uzbekistan to work on an environmental project to save the Aral Sea. After a year of dealing with corrupt officials, not only had the project gone nowhere, but Ferguson was under suspicion of murder. Some strong language. 2003.
Drawing on detailed reporting and extensive evidence, English reveals how an entire generation of political exiles, refugees, racketeers, corrupt cops,…
hitmen, and their wives and girlfriends became caught up in an American saga of desperation and empire building, set against the larger backdrop of revolution, exile, and ethnicity. 2018.
Chemist Emsley offers an account of five of the most toxic elements - arsenic, antimony, lead, mercury, and thallium -…
describing their lethal chemical properties and highlighting their use in some of the most famous murder cases in history. Emsley also shows which toxic elements may have been behind the madness of King George III, the delusions of Isaac Newton, and the strange death of King Charles II. In addition, the book examines many modern day environmental catastrophes. 2005.
For German u-boats hunting Allied ships in the treacherous waters of the Atlantic, no target was as prized as the…
Leviathan, carrying more than 10,000 doughboys per crossing. But the Germans were not the only deadly force threatening the ship and its passengers. In 1918, a devastating influenza pandemic--the Spanish flu--spread throughout the globe, predominantly striking healthy young adults, including soldiers. Peter Hernon tells the ship's story across multiple voyages and through the experiences of a diverse cast of participants. 2017.
Between the years 1860 and 1911, Bill Miner's criminal career included stagecoach and train robberies. A gentleman robber who never…
killed, Miner believed that railroad companies robbed the public and he therefore had a right to rob them back. 1992.
Examines the British experience during World War I through the eyes of writers Siegfried Sasson, Robert Graves, and Edmund Blunden;…
through the poetry of David Jones, Isaac Rosenberg and Wilfred Owen; and through the amateur memoirs of the men in the trenches. 1975.
In 1901, pinup girl and penniless actress Evelyn Nesbit was taken advantage of by legendary architect Stanford White. Four years…
later, Nesbit would tell her husband Harry Thaw of the encounter, leading Thaw to publicly murder White. 2018.
A sensational trial -- questions about the influence of the media, expert witnesses, the issue of the death penalty, and…
the advantage of wealth. While it sounds like one of today's headlines, this actually happened in 1900. The author investigates the remarkable trial of two men accused of murdering William Marsh Rice, founder of Rice University. 1994.
On the night of October 10, 2008, Johnny Altinger was heading to his first date with a woman he had…
met online. He was never seen again. Two weeks earlier, aspiring filmmaker Mark Twitchell, with a devotion to the television series Dexter, began a three-day shoot for his latest short film. His horror story featured a serial killer who impersonates women on an online dating site to lure unsuspecting men to his suburban kill room. But his script was actually the blueprint for a real-life murder. Includes violence and strong language. Winner of the 2013 Arthur Ellis Best Crime Non-fiction Award. c2012.
On June 8, 1989, the body of Cindy James was found near an abandoned house in a Vancouver suburb. In…
the years before her death, James had reported several assaults to the police, and had received poison pen letters. The perpetrator was never found, and speculation grew that James had committed suicide. Strong language and descriptions of violence. c1991.