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Shaping a nation: the history of Canada's Constitution
By Desmond Morton. 1996
Historian Desmond Morton provides and overview of the development of Canada's constitution. Morton talks about the events and leaders that…
have shaped the constitution, from the negotiations which led to Confederation to the challenging issues which face us today. Grades 5-8. c1996.Stet: a memoir
By Diana Athill. 2001
For nearly five decades Diana Athill helped shape some of the finest books in modern literature. She edited (and nursed…
and coerced and coaxed) some of the most celebrated writers in the English language. The word 'stet' is an instruction on corrected proofs sent to a printer, meaning 'let the original stand'. This candid memoir writes 'stet' against the pleasures, intrigues and complexities of her life spent among authors and manuscripts. 2001.Somewhere towards the end: A Memoir
By Diana Athill. 2009
Diana Athill made her reputation as a writer with the candour of her memoirs. Now aged ninety, and freed from…
any inhibitions that even she may once have had, she reflects frankly on the losses and occasionally the gains that old age brings, and on the wisdom and fortitude required to face death. This is a lively narrative of events, lovers and friendships: the people and experiences that have taught her to regret very little, to resist despondency and to question the beliefs and customs of her own generation. 2009.Stories about storytellers: publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and others
By Anthony Jenkins, Douglas Gibson. 2011
An autobiography that reviews the author’s accomplishments working - and playing - alongside some of Canada’s greatest writers. Relates the…
projects he brainstormed for writer Barry Broadfoot, how he convinced eventual Nobel Prize contender Alice Munro to keep writing short stories, his early morning phone call from a former Prime Minister, and his recollection of yanking a manuscript right out of Alistair MacLeod’s own reluctant hands, which ultimately garnered MacLeod one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for fiction. Provides an inside view of Canadian publishing that is rarely revealed. Some strong language. 2011.Shirley, goodness & mercy: a childhood memoir
By Chris Wyk. 2005
Despite van Wyk's later becoming involved in the anti-apartheid 'struggle', this is not a book about racial politics. Instead, it…
is a delightful account of one boy's special relationship with the relatives, friends and neighbours - often decidedly quirky - who made up his community, and of the important coping role laughter and humour played during the years he spent in bleak, dusty townships. In the book, the author creates a remarkable record of life in the Coloured community, at once both informative and vastly entertaining. 2005.Something in the blood: the untold story of Bram Stoker, the man who wrote Dracula
By David J Skal. 2016
Bram Stoker, despite having a name nearly as famous as his legendary undead Count, has remained a puzzling enigma. Skal…
exhumes the inner world and strange genius of the writer who conjured an undying cultural icon. Stoker was inexplicably paralyzed as a boy, and his story unfolds against a backdrop of Victorian medical mysteries and horrors: cholera and famine fever, childhood opium abuse, frantic bloodletting, mesmeric quack cures, and the gnawing obsession with "bad blood" that informs every page of Dracula. Stoker's ambiguous sexuality is explored through his lifelong acquaintance and romantic rival, Oscar Wilde. The psychosexual dimensions of Stoker's passionate youthful correspondence with Walt Whitman, his punishing work ethic, and his slavish adoration of the actor Sir Henry Irving are examined in splendidly gothic detail. 2016.Something to declare: Essays
By Julia Alvarez. 1998
Alvarez, the author of "How the Garcia girls lost their accents" and other works, reminisces about her childhood in the…
Dominican Republic and her family's escape to New York City. Also describes how she became an author and how to experience the writing life. 1998.Stanley Barracks: Toronto's military legacy
By Aldona Sendzikas. 2011
From its construction in 1840 on, the history of Stanley Barracks covers Canadian participation in war, including the two world…
wars and the barracks' use as an internment camp for "enemy aliens"; the establishment and growth of Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition; the struggles and discrimination faced by immigrants in Canada in wartime; the employment of the barracks as emergency housing during Toronto's post-war housing shortage; and the origins of Canada's famed Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 2011.Small beneath the sky: a prairie memoir
By Lorna Crozier. 2009
Poet Crozier vividly depicts her hometown of Swift Current, with its one main street, two high schools, and three beer…
parlours - where her father spent most of his evenings. She writes unflinchingly about the grief and shame caused by poverty and alcoholism, while at the heart of the book is her fierce love for her mother, Peggy. The narratives of daily life - sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking - are interspersed with prose poems. Some strong language. 2009.Speaking out: ideas that work for Canadians
By Jack Layton. 2004
NDP leader Jack Layton believes that the Harper government has abandoned what Canadians hold dear: our environmental commitments to the…
world and future generations, our role as purveyors of peace, our engagement on the global battle against poverty and AIDS, and the emphasis on investments in child care, housing, and education essential for our future. He provides a "blueprint for Canada" to get the country back on track. 2004.Scoundrels, dreamers & second sons: British remittance men in the Canadian west
By Mark Zuehlke. 1994
Between 1880 and the First World War, British remittance men arrived in the Canadian West. These remittance men, in many…
instances, tried to recreate the aura of landed gentry. The author tells of the efforts to bring "good breeding" to the Wild West. 1994.Spirit dance at Meziadin: Joseph Gosnell and the Nisga'a deal
By Alex Rose. 2000
Explores the British Columbia Nisga'a Treaty, highlighting the history of the Nisga'a from pre-contact to present day. Relates the main…
tenets of the 1999 agreement, a history of the Nisga'a journey, and an exploration of the issues that struck a controversial note throughout the country. A resource on the history of land claims in British Columbia, and an insight into Nisga'a culture and the province's colonial past. 2000.Shirley Jackson: a rather haunted life
By Ruth Franklin. 2016
Still known to millions only as the author of the "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) remains curiously absent from the…
American literary canon. A genius of literary suspense, Jackson plumbed the cultural anxiety of postwar America better than anyone. Biographer Ruth Franklin reveals the tumultuous life and inner darkness of the author behind such classics as 'The Haunting of Hill House' and 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle'. Placing Jackson within an American gothic tradition of Hawthorne and Poe, Franklin demonstrates how her unique contribution to this genre came from her focus on "domestic horror" drawn from an era hostile to women. With its exploration of astonishing talent shaped by a damaged childhood and a troubled marriage, this is the definitive biography of a generational avatar and an American literary giant. Winner of the 2017 Edgar Award for best critical / biography book. 2016.Storming St Nazaire: the gripping story of the dock-busting raid, March, 1942
By James Dorrian. 1998
The author tells the story of the raid to destroy the docks at St Nazaire so as to deny a…
berth to the German battleship Tirpitz. He describes the strategic situation, outlines the plan, and gives some background on the primary individuals involved before providing a highly-detailed account of the raid itself. 1998.Storyteller: the authorized biography of Roald Dahl
By Donald Sturrock. 2010
Biography of writer Roald Dahl (1916-1990), author of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (DC00453). Chronicles Dahl's English boarding-school education; World…
War II service that involved aerial combat and espionage; and family tragedies, including the death of his daughter Olivia and his first wife Patricia Neal's stroke. 2010.Stone country: an unauthorized history of Canada
By George Bowering. 2003
A history of Canada, told in Bowering's irreverent but well-researched style. He covers our country from the days of the…
dinosaurs, through to the arrival of Native Canadians and then the Europeans. Bowering shows how the agricultural, religious ad economic systems put into place by the first European settlers became the backbone of Canadian society. He also describes war, rebellion, and violence, as well as politics, business, and our relations with our neighbours. 2003.Stephen Leacock (Extraordinary Canadians)
By John Ralston Saul, Margaret MacMillan. 2009
Macmillan has great affection for Leacock's gentle wit and sharp-eyed insight. The renowned historian examines Leacock's life as a poor…
but ambitious student who rose to become an economist, celebrated academic, and, most importantly, the beloved humourist who taught Canadians to laugh at themselves. c2009.Sophia Tolstoy: a biography
By Alexandra Popoff. 2010
As Leo Tolstoy's wife, Sophia Tolstoy experienced both glory and condemnation during their forty-eight-year marriage. Drawing on newly available archival…
material, including Sophia's unpublished memoir, Alexandra Popoff presents a dramatically different and accurate portrait of the woman and the marriage. Some descriptions of sex. c2010.Starting out, 1920-1947
By Pierre Berton. 1987
Stay me, oh comfort me: journals and stories, 1933-1941
By M. F. K Fisher. 1993
Shortly before her death in 1992, Fisher decided to publish a memoir about the end of her first marriage and…
her brief, tragic second marriage. She wanted a record of how she felt at the time instead of a version reinterpreted by her older self. Fisher put together unpublished letters, short stories, and excerpts from journals of that period to tell her story. Sequel to "Long Ago in France" .1993.