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Remembering Akbar: Inside the Iranian Revolution
By Behrooz Ghamari. 2016
Set in the tumultuous aftermath of the Iranian revolution in 1979, Remembering Akbar weaves together the stories of a group…
of characters who share a crowded death row cell in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. A teeming world is evoked vividly through the relationships, memories, and inner lives of these political prisoners, many of whom were eventually executed.Told through a series of linked memories by the narrator, Akbar, whose striking candor is infused with a mordant sense of humor, the story takes the reader beyond mere political struggles and revelations, to a vibrant alternative history, written, as it were, by losers.The characters whose stories Akbar recounts are brought to life within the mundane rhythms of a bleak institution, in its simple pleasures as well as its frequent horrors, and in the unexpected connections that emerge between the world inside and a past before imprisonment.Rather than exalting the heroic, or choosing to focus merely on despair or redemption, Remembering Akbar reveals eloquently how life unfolds when death is starkly imminent. It is a deeply moving story of great camaraderie, biting humor, and soulful remembrance.How Different It Was: Canadians at the Time of Confederation
By Michael J Goodspeed. 2017
An enthralling exploration of the lifestyles, ideas, habits, organizations, customs, fears, and aspirations of Canadians in the age of Confederation.…
Too often we think of Victorian Canada as dull. We imagine our ancestors as sepia-tinged, dour, excruciatingly respectable figures sitting stiffly in over-decorated parlours. In How Different It Was, Michael J. Goodspeed changes all that, bringing to life the tumult and enthusiasm of ordinary and unconventional Canadians — from across the country and every walk of life — in an extraordinary time. The political manoeuvring and power struggles of the decades when Canada was emerging as a nation are well known, but we are less familiar with the lives and circumstances of everyday Canadians in the Confederation era. How Different It Was vividly brings to life the lifestyles, attitudes, habits, and mindset of a colourful generation of Canadians who were, in so many ways, so different from our own.Wanted Women
By Deborah Scroggins. 2004
A riveting look at militant Islam, Muslim women's rights, and the war on terror-brought into focus through two lives on…
opposite sides: activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali and religious extremist Aafia Siddiqui. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born former member of the Dutch Parliament and the author of the international bestseller Infidel, was raised as a Muslim fundamentalist in Kenya. A feminist, political analyst, writer, and fierce critic of her former religion, she champions the West in what she insists must be a war against Islam. Hirsi Ali's personal tale of courage in the face of constant threats from violent, fanatic enemies has won the admiration of millions in America and around the world. Aafia Siddiqui, a native of Pakistan, moved to the United States to pursue a doctorate in neuroscience. A decade later, she returned to Pakistan, where her involvement with al-Qaeda, including her marriage to one of the 9/11 plotters, led the CIA to regard her as one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. Her disappearance, capture, and conviction in a New York City courtroom for attempted murder have earned her, too, admiration across the globe-from millions of radical Islamists. Reconstructing the histories of these two women, award-winning author and journalist Deborah Scroggins weaves a provocative true-life thriller from two separate but strangely parallel lives in a time of bitter battle. Based on remarkable original research and reporting, Wanted Women traces their origins to explain why they chose opposite paths and how each has risen to become revered and reviled as an international symbol of her beliefs. Scroggins reveals controversial details about Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui, and about the political machinations that have transformed them into emblems of a civilizational struggle. Wanted Women provides an illustrative take on our time, stripping away the illusions-about women, war, faith, and power-that have distorted the conflict on both sides.Ernst Kantorowicz: A Life
By Robert Lerner. 2017
This is the first complete biography of Ernst Kantorowicz 1895 1963 an influential and controversial…
German-American intellectual whose colorful and dramatic life intersected with many of the great events and thinkers of his time A medieval historian whose ideas exerted an influence far beyond his field he is most famous for two books a notoriously nationalistic 1927 biography of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and The King s Two Bodies 1957 a classic study of medieval politics Born into a wealthy Prussian-Jewish family Kantorowicz fought on the Western Front in World War I was wounded at Verdun and earned an Iron Cross later he earned an Iron Crescent for service in Anatolia before an affair with a general s mistress led to Kantorowicz being sent home After the war he fought against Poles in his native Posen Spartacists in Berlin and communists in Munich An ardent German nationalist during the Weimar period Kantorowicz became a member of the elitist Stefan George circle which nurtured a cult of the Secret Germany Yet as a professor in Frankfurt after the Nazis came to power Kantorowicz bravely spoke out against the regime before an overflowing crowd Narrowly avoiding arrest after Kristallnacht he fled to England and then the United States where he joined the faculty at Berkeley only to be fired in 1950 for refusing to sign an anticommunist loyalty oath From there he fell up the ladder to Princeton s Institute for Advanced Study where he stayed until his death Drawing on many new sources including numerous interviews and unpublished letters Robert E Lerner tells the story of a major intellectual whose life and times were as fascinating as his workMike Filey's Toronto Sketches, Books 10–12
By Mike Filey. 1975
Mike Filey brings the stories of Toronto its people and places to life Mike Filey …
s column The Way We Were first appeared in the Toronto Sunday Sun not long after the paper s first edition hit newsstands on September 16 1973 Now almost four decades later Filey s column has had an uninterrupted stretch as one of the newspaper s most widely read features In 1992 a number of his columns were reprinted in Toronto Sketches The Way We Were Since then another eleven volumes have been published to great success with over 5 000 copies sold Includes - Toronto Sketches 10 - Toronto Sketches 11 - Toronto Sketches 12Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File (Canons #84)
By John Edgar Wideman. 2016
An award-winning writer traces the life of the father of iconic Civil Rights martyr Emmett Till--a man who was executed…
by the Army ten years before Emmett's murder. An evocative and personal exploration of individual and collective memory in America by one of the most formidable Black intellectuals of our time.In 1955, Emmett Till, aged fourteen, traveled from his home in Chicago to visit family in Mississippi. Several weeks later he returned, dead; allegedly he whistled at a white woman. His mother, Mamie, wanted the world to see what had been done to her son. She chose to leave his casket open. Images of her brutalized boy were published widely. While Emmett's story is known, there's a dark side note that's rarely mentioned. Ten years earlier, Emmett's father was executed by the Army for rape and murder. In Writing to Save a Life, John Edgar Wideman searches for Louis Till, a silent victim of American injustice. Wideman's personal interaction with the story began when he learned of Emmett's murder in 1955; Wideman was also fourteen years old. After reading decades later about Louis's execution, he couldn't escape the twin tragedies of father and son, and tells their stories together for the first time. Author of the award-winning Brothers and Keepers, Wideman brings extraordinary insight and a haunting intimacy to this devastating story. An amalgam of research, memoir, and imagination, Writing to Save a Life is completely original in its delivery--an engaging and enlightening conversation between generations, the living and the dead, fathers and sons. Wideman turns seventy-five this year, and he brings the force of his substantial intellect and experience to this beautiful, stirring book, his first nonfiction in fifteen years.Amen, Amen, Amen
By Abby Sher. 2009
In this vibrant memoir, Abby Sher recounts her life with precision and humor as only a woman who is both…
a comedian and obsessive-compulsive can. The death of Abby's father when she is eleven years old leaves a void that she fills with rituals: washing her hands, collecting litter, kissing her father's photograph over and over. Then, with a child's understanding of cause and effect, Abby begins to pray, certain that she can prevent further disaster. She carries the weight of this belief and the accompanying devotion to God through high school, college, and beyond, when it is joined by darker compulsions of anorexia and cutting. Amen, Amen, Amen is an elegy to parents lost and to a youth consumed by grief and anxiety; it is a spiritual mystery about Abby's search for answers and someone to guide her to them; and it is a romance about discovering the true nature of unconditional love. With remarkable candor and insight, Abby offers a brave and exquisitely written account of obsessive-compulsive disorder and the bounds and boundlessness of belief.Evolution of an Unorthodox Rabbi
By Rabbi John Moscowitz. 2015
Prominent Canadian rabbi John Moscowitz charts the shifts in his views over the years — controversial for some, exciting for…
others — on the issues that matter most to Jews today. John Moscowitz spent his early twenties as an anti-Vietnam War activist. Eventually dubious about the radical left and alive with love for Israel, he entered the rabbinical seminary in search of his own people. This set him on a path to becoming, as Senator Linda Frum put it, one of Toronto’s “most cherished and effective rabbis.” In this book, John Moscowitz charts the shifts in his thinking on the charged matters among the Jews today: the viability of peace in the Middle East; how we misjudge the nature of evil; and, once having been exposed to the savannahs of East Africa, even the relationship between evolution and the Bible. Part memoir, part social history, this book is a deep examination of a long personal journey, one travelled in public as a prominent rabbi. Along the way, it captures what unites and divides an ancient people today.The Murder Of Princess Diana
By Noel Botham. 1996
August 31, 1997 Millions remember the tragic date when the world lost a princess and two boys lost their beloved…
mother. It was a freak accident--Diana, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul died fleeing aggressive paparazzi. . . or so officials led us to believe. But investigative journalist Noel Botham wasn't satisfied with the "official" story. The Murder of Princess Diana documents his intensive probe into what happened that fateful night in Paris. Finally, here is a book that dares to ask--and answer--questions such as:Was the blood sample supposedly taken from Henri Paul's body actually his blood?Why was the tunnel cleaned with detergent before forensic investigations could take place?Why was Diana's body partially embalmed before the post mortem?What were the connections between the driver of the Fiat Uno seen near the Mercedes and MI6? Was the man's subsequent fiery death really an accident?Did Diana's international campaign against landmines create a deadly conflict with the CIA? Culled from interviews with contacts from behind palace walls to within the halls of the Pentagon, this shocking expose blows the lid off cover-ups arranged in the highest echelons of power. Now, at long last, the secrets are revealed; the lies are exposed--and the truth about Diana's death is brought to light. Noel Botham has been a senior investigative reporter for News of the World and The People. During his thirty-five years as an internationally renowned journalist, he has been on numerous royal tours and has broken many major royal exclusives. He has been a crime and Parliamentary reporter as well as a distinguished war correspondent, covering conflicts in the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. He worked for the Evening Star and the Daily Herald and was chief investigative reporter for France Dimanche in Paris before becoming chief reporter of the Daily Sketch. His fifteen previous books include biographies of Rudolf Valentino and Princess Margaret.’Membering
By Austin Clarke. 2015
2016 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature — Longlisted 2016 RBC Taylor Prize — Longlisted The unforgettable memoir of Giller…
Prize–winning author and poet Austin Clarke, called “Canada’s first multicultural writer.” Austin Clarke is a distinguished and celebrated novelist and short-story writer. His works often centre around the immigrant experience, of which he writes with humour and compassion, happiness and sorrow. In ’Membering, Clarke shares his own experiences growing up in Barbados and moving to Toronto to attend university in 1955 before becoming a journalist. With vivid realism he describes Harlem of the ’60s, meeting and interviewing Malcolm X and writers Chinua Achebe and LeRoi Jones. Clarke went on to become a pioneering instructor of Afro-American Literature at Yale University and inspired a new generation of Afro-American writers. Clarke has been called Canada’s first multicultural writer. Here he eschews a traditional chronological order of events and takes the reader on a lyrical tour of his extraordinary life, interspersed with thought-provoking meditations on politics and race. Telling things as he ’members them.Benjamin Franklin
By Edmund S. Morgan. 2002
Chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review and as a best book…
for 2002 by the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, and Publishers Weekly. A finalist for the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award in biography. The greatest statesman of his age, Benjamin Franklin was also a pioneering scientist, a successful author, the first American postmaster general, a printer, a bon vivant. In addition, he was a man of vast contradictions. This bestselling biography by one of our greatest historians offers a compact and provocative new portrait of America's most extraordinary patriot.The Book of Assassins
By George Fetherling. 2001
The compelling, tragic and often bizarre life stories of history's famous and infamous assassins, now collected in one comprehensive, easy-to-use…
volume.The names are well-known, but how much do you know about the inner lives of John Hinckley Jr., who shot Ronald Reagan in a misguided attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster, or Mark David Chapman, who, after shooting John Lennon, sat down on the sidewalk to continue reading The Catcher in the Rye? And what about the world's not-so-famous assassins? Find out what happened when Carlito Dimahilig attacked Imelda Marcos with a bolo knife (and how one of her many famous pairs of shoes came into play!), or why Max Hödel could be considered one of the least successful assassins in history.With breadth of study and a keen eye for detail, George Fetherling has compiled a fascinating and very readable compendium -- the first of its kind -- of more than 200 biographies of assassins from all periods and countries, for the scholar and general reader alike. Fetherling also provides an overview of the history of assassination, outlines the five psychological types of assassins and gives a run-down of the most useful literature in the field.Ideal for students, historians, history buffs, psychologists and readers interested in biography and true crime, this book is a must have window into the lives of those who have drastically shaped the history of our world.From the Hardcover edition.The Net of Dreams: A Family's Search for a Rightful Place
By Julie Salamon. 1996
The author of The Devil's Candy and Wendy and the Lost Boys--herself the daughter of Holocaust survivors--shares her family's stories,…
which take them from the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe to the small Appalachian town where she was raised.My Daughter, Myself: An Unexpected Journey
By Linda Wolfe. 2013
A riveting memoir about the passions and perplexities of the mother-daughter bond In My Daughter, Myself, acclaimed journalist Linda Wolfe…
chronicles her thirty-eight-year-old daughter's near-fatal stroke, the arduous course of physical and mental rehabilitation that led to the young woman's remarkable recovery, and the profound ways in which that journey from morbidity to health tested and changed every member of their blended family. Heart-stopping and highly personal, Wolfe's memoir is an inspiring account of how a mother, suddenly confronted by every mother's worst nightmare, must master the unfamiliar language of hospitals and illness, discover untapped wells of resilience within both her daughter and herself, and ultimately learn to let her daughter be her guide as they embark on an altogether new chapter in their lives.The Big Rewind
By Nathan Rabin. 2009
Nathan Rabin viewed pop culture as a life-affirming form of escape throughout his childhood and adolescence. As an adult, pop…
culture became his life. Head writer for A.V. Club for more than a decade, Rabin uses specific books, songs, albums, films, and television shows as springboards for dissecting his Dickensian life story in his acclaimed memoir The Big Rewind. Rabin writes movingly and hilariously about how pop culture helped save him from suicidal despair, institutionalization, and parental abandonment during a childhood that sent him ricocheting from a mental hospital to a foster home to a group home for emotionally disturbed adolescents. A fun book about depression, The Big Rewind is ultimately a touching narrative of a motherless child's search for family and acceptance, and a darkly comic valentine to Rabin's lovable, hard-luck dad. With comic dissertations on everything from The Simpsons to The Great Gatsby, and from Grey Gardens to Dr. Dre, The Big Rewind chronicles Rabin's improbable yet all-too-true journey through life, and its fortuitous intersections with the dizzyingly wonderful world of entertainment.Sailing for Glory: The Story of Captain Angus Walters and the Bluenose
By Teri-Lynn Janveau, Allister Thompson. 2006
This book tells the story of the unique bond between Captain Walters and his schooner the Bluenose. The ship is…
a Canadian icon and an icon of nautical competition, unbeaten between 1921 and 1939 in the races for the International Fishermans Cup. Its success galvanized a young nations national pride, and the ship remains an important symbol in Nova Scotia today. Walters skill and devotion to his ship helped the Bluenose hold off all challengers, even at the end of its illustrious career. Sailing for Glory also brings to life the danger and adventure of the life of a North Atlantic fisherman in the days of sail.The Voyageur Canadian Biographies 5-Book Bundle: The Firebrand / Mrs. Simcoe's Diary / The Scalpel, the Sword / The Men of the Last Frontier / Pilgrims of the Wild
By Julie Allan, Grey Owl, Michael Gnarowski, James Polk, William Kilbourn, Ronald Stagg, Mary Quayle Innis, Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe, Hugh Eayrs, Norman Bethune Allan, Susan Ostrovsky, Sydney Gordon. 1931
Voyageur Classics is a series of special versions of Canadian classics, with added material and new introductory notes. In this…
bundle we find five biographical and autobiographical titles that shed light on some of Canada’s most important figures at crucial times in the country’s development. William Kilbourn brings to life the rebel Canadian hero William Lyon Mackenzie: able political editor, first mayor of Toronto, and the gadfly of the House of Assembly. The Scalpel, the Sword celebrates the turbulent career of Dr. Norman Bethune, a brilliant surgeon, campaigner for socialized medicine, and communist. Elizabeth Simcoe’s diary, describing Canada from 1791 to 1796, is history written as it was being made, an account instilled with excitement and delight. And finally, two titles by the legendary Grey Owl tell his own astonishing story and advocate for a closeness with and respect for nature. Each of these books is an essential classic of Canadian literature. Includes The Firebrand Mrs. Simcoe’s Diary The Scalpel, the Sword The Men of the Last Frontier Pilgrims of the WildDoctor Venom
By Bryan Grieg Fry. 2015
Meet venomologist Bryan Grieg Fry, the man with one of the most dangerous job in Australia - working with the…
world's most deadly creatures.Welcome to the strange and dangerous world of Doctor Venom.Imagine a first date involving three weeks in Siberia catching venomous water shrews, and later a wedding attended by Eastern European prime ministers and their bodyguards wielding machine guns. Then a life of living and working with snakes. Lots of very, very poisonous snakes and other venomous creatures ... everything from the Malaysian king cobra to deadly scorpions.In this action-packed ride through Bryan Grieg Fry's life you'll meet the man who's worked with the world's most venomous creatures in over 50 countries. He's been bitten by 26 poisonous snakes and three stingrays - and, while deep in the Amazon jungle, survived a near-fatal scorpion sting. He's also broken 23 bones, including breaking his back in three places, and had to learn how to walk again. He only works on venom that he has collected himself - so the adventures, and danger, will just keep coming...Bryan now divides his time between scientific research and teaching at the University of Queensland, and TV filming and collecting expeditions around the world.Bitter Ashes: The Story of WW II
By John Wilson. 2009
World War Two was the greatest conflict in human history. It gave birth to the Atomic Age, the Cold War…
and the economic boom of the 1950s and 60s, and planted the seeds of today’s Middle East crises. But it is not distant history. Most Canadians have relatives who were part of this world-wide tragedy. Bitter Ashes puts these events in context for them. This book in the illustrated historical series Stories of Canada is a companion to Desperate Glory: The Story of WWI. A clear and concise text leads the reader though the major military and political events and issues of the war. Sidebars add detail and a personal element. Every page is illustrated with either photographs or maps.Dalton McGuinty: Making a Difference
By Dalton Mcguinty. 2015
2016 Speaker's Book Award — Shortlisted Former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty shares the story of his life in politics and…
the leadership lessons he has learned. Dalton McGuinty was premier of Ontario for ten years, from 2003 to 2013. Inheriting a province wounded from years of cutbacks and divisive politics, McGuinty led Ontario through a deep recession and a challenging shift away from a manufacturing-based economy. Moving boldly, he initiated a major rebuilding of the province's schools and hospitals as well as a transformation of its transportation and energy infrastructure. Here, McGuinty tells the story of his life in politics, including his first crushing defeat, the victories that followed, his campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party, and his years as premier. Delivering a frank look at his years in power, he offers insight into major issues, like the closing of the coal-fired electricity plants, the HST, full-day kindergarten, and the two cancelled Ontario Hydro gas plants. Perpetually underestimated by both his opponents and the media, Dalton McGuinty prevailed through a mix of sheer determination and political shrewdness, becoming the longest-serving Liberal leader in Ontario in over a century. Here he shares the valuable lessons he has learned along the way about leadership and the limitations and expectations for political leaders in the twenty-first century.