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Showing 3821 - 3840 of 4997 items
By Dorothy Duncan. 2010
Feasting and Fasting is an introduction to the foods and beverages that were a central part of how our ancestors…
celebrated important events. Long before the arrival of newcomers, the First Nations were celebrating the passages of life, the changing seasons, and the gifts of the Great Spirit with feasting. As settlers from around the world arrived on Canadas shores, they brought with them the memories and traditions from home. Diverse and unique culinary histories began to develop as the newcomers were unable to find some of their traditional ingredients and were forced to compromise. Wild game, fruit, plants, grains, vegetables, and maple sugar were often transformed from survival foods to the foods of celebration. Food brought families and communities together to pay tribute, to honour, to celebrate, to mourn, and to be comforted. This is a sampling of their events and what was on their tables at births, weddings, funerals, religious holidays, garden parties, and more!By Carl Morey, Ezra Schabas. 2000
It started with a festival - three classic operas performed in a theatre in Toronto. But when it became apparent…
that there was a need for a national opera company, an organization was founded that would go on to become one of the largest performing arts organizations in the country. The Canadian Opera Company was born in 1950, and is now one of the major opera companies in North America. The Company has toured extensively throughout Canada and the United States, and has delighted audiences as far away as Australia and Hong Kong, all the while finding the time to record frequently and develop special operatic presentations for children. More than just a group of performers, the COC also provides a training program for young professional singers, and a series of commissions of new works from both up-and-coming and established composers. Opera Viva is a history of the Company, but it is more than that: it is also a history of Canada’s cultural growth in the second half of the twentieth century, a time when the Canadian Opera Company became central to Canada’s musical life. As the story of the Company unfolds, the figures and personalities that were integral to the building of this landmark of Canadian culture are brought to life.By Michael E Vance, Scott A Mclean. 2008
Many writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries emphasized the virtues of early rural pioneers and life on…
the land as a general criticism of what they perceived to be the negative, alienating influence of Ontario’s rapid urban and industrial expansion. Such work often highlighted the difficulties the recent emigrant faced: the clearing of forest and the breaking of new ground, the isolation and long Canadian winters; however they in turn celebrated the progress demonstrated in the pioneer’s domination over nature, the establishment of thriving communities and the extension of transportation networks. William Wye Smith, a popular nineteenth century Upper Canadian poet, was no exception. Smith prepared his Canadian Reminiscences, a hand-written compilation of anecdotes collected during his lifetime that relate to his experience as journalist, clergyman and son of Scottish settlers, to provide his own unique perspective of pioneer life. This fully annotated version of Smith’s unpublished manuscript highlights Smith’s unwitting testimony to the social life of the province, his relationship to the construction and maintenance of Scottish and Canadian identity, as well as his position in literary history.By John Melady. 2006
In the fall of 1956, the world was on the brink of war. Egyptian President Gamel Nasser nationalized the Suez…
Canal, and Britain, France, and Israel attacked him. Russia supported Nasser, and Soviet Premier Khrushchev threatened nuclear holocaust if the United States became militarily involved. Soon, the matter became a major problem for the United Nations.Fortunately, because of the efforts of Lester Pearson, then Canada’s Minister of External Affairs, the crisis was defused. Pearson proposed a U.N. peacekeeping force be sent to Egypt to separate the warring factions there and keep the peace. Because his idea was adopted, Pearson helped save the world from war. For his outstanding statesmanship, Pearson won the Nobel Prize for Peace, the only Canadian ever to do so. This book, written to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the event, is about the Suez and about Pearson’s work during a tension-filled time in the twentieth century.By Peter Haydon, Richard H Gimblett, Michael Whitby. 2006
The Admirals: Canada’s Senior Naval Leadership in the Twentieth Century fills an important void in the history of Canada’s navy.…
Those who carry the burden of high command have a critical niche in not only guiding the day-to-day concerns of running an armed service but in ensuring that it is ready to face the challenges of the future. Canada’s leading naval historians present analytical articles on the officers who led the navy from its foundation in 1910 to the unification in 1968. Six former Maritime Commanders provide personal reflections on command. The result is a valuable biographical compendium for anyone interested in the history of the Canadian Navy, the Canadian Forces, or military and naval leadership in general.By Peter Pigott. 2007
It has been said that Canada is a country with too much geography and too little history. Afghanistan has too…
much of both. As the war escalates in Afghanistan, more Canadians are asking what we are doing there. For a country that has specialized in peacekeeping, this war is a shock one that we have not yet comprehended. As the casualties mount, Canadians will want to know why we are there. Canada in Afghanistan introduces readers to Afghans and their culture, gives historical background from our involvement since 9/11, and covers operations casualties and the results. Also included is an examination of a new strategic experiment the provincial reconstruction team and the technological advances used in this war. Cautionary predictions conclude the book. Canada in Afghanistan is an introduction to what is happening in Afghanistan and what we can expect through 2009.By Anna Magnusson. 2006
In 1878, Glasgow shoemaker William Quarrier founded an organization that offered help to the thousands of desperate, poverty-stricken children in…
Glasgow’s infamous slums. A few years later Quarrier’s Village was opened, providing a refuge for the abandoned and the orphaned in the rolling fields of Renfrewshire. Since these beginnings, Quarriers has cared for more than 40,000 children in need. It now runs a diverse range of support and care programs for children, adults, and families in 85 projects across Britain.In this book, Anna Magnusson explores the stories of the many people, both past and present, who have helped make Quarriers what it is today and celebrates the achievements of the charity over the past century. The result is a detailed record of the organization’s evolution and an inspiring story of one man’s legacy.By Margaret Macpherson, Roderick Stewart, Kathryn Bridge, John Wilson, Judith Fitzgerald, Kate Braid, Raymond Plante, Arthur Slade, T F Rigelhof, Michelle Labr che-Larouche, Darcy Dunton, Vladimir Konieczny. 2013
Presenting ten titles in the Quest Biography series that profiles prominent figures in Canada’s history. The important Canadian lives detailed…
here are: Emma Albani, a nineteenth century opera singer from Quebec who became a diva of the musical world; Emily Carr, the artist famous for capturing the essence in her paintings of the Native cultures of the coast of British Columbia; George Grant, a prescient political philosopher and author of Lament for a Nation; star NHL goalie Jacques Plante, the first netminder to don a protective mask; influential Prime Ministers John Diefenbaker and Sir Wilfrid Laurier; John Franklin, while not a Canadian, an explorer whose demise in the Arctic is an important part of Canada’s historical identity; Marshall McLuhan, the academic who predicted so much of the modern media world we live in today; mountaineer and explorer Phyllis Munday; and early feminist icon Nellie McClung. Includes Emma Albani Emily Carr George Grant Jacques Plante John Diefenbaker John Franklin Marshall McLuhan Phyllis Munday Wilfrid Laurier Nellie McClungBy Marion Fargey Brooker. 2011
Short-listed for the 2014 Forest of Reading - White Pine Award for Non-Fiction Canada was young during the First World…
War, and with as many as 20,000 underage soldiers leaving their homes to join the war effort, the country’s army was, too. Jim, at 17, was one of them, and he penned countless letters home. But these weren’t the writings of an ordinary boy. They were the letters of a lad who left a small farming community for the city on July 15, 1915, a boy who volunteered to serve with the 79th Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. Jim’s letters home gloss over the horrors of war, focusing instead on issues of the home front: of harvesting, training the horses, and the price of hogs. Rarely do these letters, especially those to his mother and father, mention the mud and rats, the lice and stench of the trenches, or the night duty of cutting barbed wire in no man’s land. For 95 years his letters remained in a shoebox decorated by his mother. Jim was just 18 when he was wounded and died during the Battle of the Somme. Hold the Oxo! tells the story that lies between the lines of his letters, filling in the historical context and helping us to understand what it was like to be Jim.By Anthony Dalton. 2010
Dewey Soper first travelled to the Arctic in 1923. During the next seven years he accepted three research postings on…
Baffin Island, each of which lasted between one and two years. In 1929 he discovered the breeding grounds of the blue goose in the southwest corner of Baffin Island. He also charted the final unknown region of Baffin Island’s coastline. Later in life he worked in the western Arctic. Outside the Far North, Soper studied bison in Wood Buffalo National Park, documented bird life on the Prairies, and made a detailed study of small mammals in Alberta. Soper was the last of the great pioneer naturalists in Canada. He was also a skilled and meticulous explorer. As a naturalist, he was a major contributor to the National Museum of Canada, as well as to the University of Alberta and other museums across the country.By Desmond Morton. 2001
Morton, one of Canadas most respected historians has given us a short celebration of Canada with a depth of insight…
that truly helps us to know one another and all the regions of the country.By Lance Goddard. 2007
Although it has been overshadowed by other events of the Second World War, Canada’s role in the Italian Campaign, from…
1943 to 1945, was significant. Canadian forces played a major role in this campaign, whose goal was to open a second front in order to ease the pressure on Russian forces in the east. Canada fought under British command alongside British and American units, but our soldiers saw some of the fiercest fighting and achieved glory many times, including at the Battle of Ortona, one of Canada’s greatest military accomplishments.The pictorial history examines the Italian Campaign from the view of the soldiers serving there. Regiments represented in interviews in this book include the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry, the Perth Regiment, the Governor-General’s Horse Guards, the Ontario Regiment, the 48th Highlanders, the Calgary Regiment, the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, the Royal Canadian Dragoons, and the Royal Canadian Navy.By Chad Fraser. 2008
Most people think of Lake Erie, the shallowest and second smallest of the Great Lakes, as a sun-drenched, nearly tropical…
retreat. But it is so much more; mysterious, unpredictable, and known by mariners for its sudden violent weather and dangerous shoals, Lake Erie has been the stage for some of the most dramatic events ever to occur on the North American continent. From the earliest explorations of First Nations and French adventurers to the brazen rumrunners of the Prohibition era and beyond, this fascinating book takes the reader inside the remarkable personalities and harrowing events that have shaped the lake and the towns and cities that surround it. Based on thorough research, extensive travels, and firsthand accounts from the people who have lived, worked and made their names on the lake, Lake Erie Stories takes a fresh look at the history of what may be the most colourful of all the Great Lakes.By Peter Unwin. 2013
An amusing collection of lives and stories from the eccentric side of Canada’s history. A joyous romp through the back…
pages of Canadian quirkiness, Canadian Folk provides a fresh look at the saints, sinners, oddballs, and outright nutbars who have populated the Canadian landscape.They were perpetually northbound or south; they were inveterate walkers, or world class runners, millionaires in ill-advised Citroen half-tracks. The restless characters who spanned those miles and who fill the pages of this book were fuelled by the ambitions, the doubts, and the certainties of their times, a certainty that now seems unfathomable to us and frequently maddening. From doomed explorers to celebrated poets of cheese, this collection provides a fascinating look at the eminent and no-so-eminent characters who came before us and left their colourful mark on Canada’s history.By Jennifer Grainger. 2008
Located on the scenic north shore of Lake Erie, Elgin County was once home to over 40 vanished communities -…
filled with steam trains, ghosts, one-room schoolhouses, rowdy taverns, War of 1812 skirmishes and colourful characters, like Thomas Talbot. Jennifer Grainger chronicles the rise and fall of Elgin’s crossroad hamlets, lakeports and rail depots with contemporary photos, archival shots, and postmarks that remind us of the pioneers.By Joan Magee. 1984
By Mary Beacock Fryer. 1984
Battlefields of Canada encompasses nearly 300 years of history and features sixteen of the most significant Canadian battles as well…
as some of the most comic or bizarre. Profusely illustrated with sketches, photographs, and detailed maps, each chapter sets the context of the battle in terms of the struggle of which it was part, and then describes the hour-by-hour events. A brief conclusion to each chapter assesses the consequences for the victors and losers, assigning its place in Canadian history. A chronology provides a comprehensive list of every Canadian battle since the early 1600s.By Carol Christie, John Christie. 2013
The true story of a brave woman’s nearly 40 years in a polygamous cult, her eventual escape, and her struggle…
to integrate into a world she barely knew. In the early 1970s an innocent teenager who had led a sheltered life was forced to leave her family and enter into a polygamous, abusive, and deviant relationship with a man called the Prophet. In 2008, nearly 40 years later, she fled his religious sect. Property is not a misnomer. It accurately depicts how the women in the sect were treated. Carol Christie reveals the degradation, abuse, and brainwashing that the Church Wives endured. She exposes the physical abuse, the mental cruelty, the slave labour, and the sexual deviance that took place near Owen Sound, a small community just a few hours north of Toronto, as well as at other locations. She describes the many opportunities that officials had to investigate but walked away from, swayed by the charismatic Prophet. Carol is building a new life, one of freedom and options. With no money and no job she started again and is now dedicated to helping others who have escaped while raising awareness about the dangers of the cult.By Arlene Chan. 2013
The history of the Chinese community in Toronto is rich with stories drawn from over 150 years of life in…
Canada. Sam Ching, a laundryman, is the first Chinese resident recorded in Toronto’s city directory of 1878. A few years later, in 1881, there were 10 Chinese and no sign of a Chinatown. Today, with no less than seven Chinatowns and half a million people, Chinese Canadians have become the second-largest visible minority in the Greater Toronto Area.Stories, photographs, newspaper reports, maps, and charts will bring to life the little-known and dark history of the Chinese community. Despite the early years of anti-Chinese laws, negative public opinion, and outright racism, the Chinese and their organizations have persevered to become an integral participant in all walks of life. The Chinese Community in Toronto shows how the Chinese make a significant contribution to the vibrant and diverse mosaic that makes Toronto one of the most multicultural cities in the world.By Sam Allison. 2014
A provocative account of the 78th Fraser’s Highlanders and its crucial place in history. The remarkable story of the men…
of the 78th Fraser’s Highlanders moves from the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland, through the Seven Years’ War and the American Revolution, to the War of 1812. Simon Fraser, chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat, raised the 78th Highlanders, a regiment that played a major role in defeating the French on the Plains of Abraham. Driv’n by Fortune tackles the myths embedded in nationalistic history and in fictional accounts of these Highland soldier-settlers who brought the Scottish Enlightenment to North America. The impact of the 78th Fraser’s Highlanders, which extended far beyond Scotland and the Canada of their times, is finally being told.