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Under an Afghan sky: a memoir of captivity
By Mellissa Fung. 2011
October, 2008. Mellissa Fung, a long-time reporter for CBC’s The National, was leaving a refugee camp outside of Kabul when…
she was grabbed by armed men claiming to be Taliban, stabbed, stuffed into the back of a car and driven off into the desert. When the group finally reached a village in the middle of nowhere, her kidnappers pushed her towards a hole in the ground. For twenty-eight days, Mellissa Fung lived in that hole, which was barely big enough to stand up or lie down in, nursing her injuries, praying, writing in her notebook and, as a veteran journalist, interrogating her own captors. Some descriptions of sex and violence, some strong language. Bestseller. 2011.And no birds sang
By Farley Mowat. 1975
The barbarity and futility of war transformed a swaggering, self-confident junior officer into a seasoned, cynical veteran as his regiment…
was decimated in Sicily and struggled to survive the carnage of the 1943 Italian campaign. Strong language and descriptions of violence. Canada Reads 2012. 2003, c1975.Great military leaders: charismatic Canadian commanders (Amazing stories)
By Norman Leach. 2004
The history of Canada is filled with charismatic and talented military leaders. Each of the men featured in this collection…
was wildly successful in business and used his private wealth to provide Canada with a military unit at its times of greatest need. Today these respected units continue to serve Canada and Canadians. Includes biographies of Lord Strathcona, Henry Pellatt, and Hamilton Gault. Some descriptions of violence. 2004.Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption
By Laura Hillenbrand. 2010
Details the life of Louis Zamperini (b. 1917), an Olympic runner and World War II bombardier, who survived a plane…
crash and forty-seven days adrift at sea only to become a POW in Japan. Relates Louis's later religious awakening under Billy Graham's ministry. Violence. Bestseller. 2010.The Ninth: Beethoven and the year 1824
By Harvey Sachs. 2010
On May 7, 1824, the premier of Beethoven's ninth and last symphony pushed symphonic music into Romanticism. The Ninth influenced…
all subsequent nineteenth-century composers, who from Berlioz to Meyerbeer to Wagner built upon the foundations laid by Beethoven. A discussion of the cornerstone of Romantic music, whose influence extended deep into the twentieth century. 2010.One sunny day: a child's memories of Hiroshima
By Hideko Tamura Snider. 1996
Hideko was ten years old when the atomic bomb devastated her home in Hiroshima. In this narrative, Hideko recalls her…
life before the bomb, the explosion itself, and the influence of that trauma upon her subsequent life in Japan and the United States. Her years in America have given her unusual insights into the relationship between Japanese and American cultures and the impact of Hiroshima on our lives. 1996.Veterans with a vision: Canada's war blinded in peace and war (Studies in Canadian military history,)
By Serge Marc Durflinger. 2010
A history of Canada's war-blinded veterans and of the organization they founded in 1922, the Sir Arthur Pearson Association of…
War Blinded. Durflinger details the veterans' process of civil re-establishment, physical and psychological rehabilitation, and social and personal coping, and describes their public advocacy for government pension entitlements, job retraining, and other social programs. Captures the spirit of perseverance that permeated the veterans' community, and highlights the impact made by the war blinded as advocates for all Canadian veterans and for all blind citizens. 2010.They fight like soldiers, they die like children: the global quest to eradicate the use of child soldiers
By Jessica Dee Humphreys, Roméo A Dallaire. 2010
In conflicts around the world, there is an increasingly popular weapon system that requires negligible technology, is simple to sustain,…
has unlimited versatility and incredible capacity for both loyalty and barbarism - children. Believing that no one should tolerate a child being used in this fashion, Dallaire has made it his mission to end the use of child soldiers. He provides an introduction to the phenomenon, as well as solutions to eradicate it. Explicit descriptions of violence. c2010.Waiting for first light: my ongoing battle with PTSD
By Roméo A Dallaire. 2016
Roméo Dallaire, traumatized by witnessing genocide on an imponderable scale in Rwanda, reflects on the nature of PTSD and the…
impact of that deep wound on his life since 1994, and on how he motivates himself and others to humanitarian work despite his constant struggle. Though he had been a leader in peace and in war at all levels up to deputy commander of the Canadian Army, his PTSD led to his medical dismissal from the Canadian Forces in April 2000, a blow that almost killed him. But he crawled out of the hole he fell into after he had to take off the uniform, and he has been inspiring people to give their all to multiple missions ever since, from ending genocide to eradicating the use of child soldiers to revolutionizing officer training so that our soldiers can better deal with the muddy reality of modern conflict zones, and to revolutionizing our thinking about the changing nature of conflict itself. Bestseller. 2016.For the love of music: invitations to listening
By Michael Steinberg, Larry Rothe. 2006
Articles from the San Francisco Symphony's program books covering various musical subjects. Includes music-appreciation essays such as "How I Fell…
in Love with Music" and "Loving Memories of Movie Music," and examinations of specific composers in "Thinking of Robert Schumann" and "Sibelius and Mahler: What More Could There Be?" 2006.The music teaching artist's bible: becoming a virtuoso educator
By Eric Booth. 2009
Filled with practical advice on the critical issues facing the music teaching artist - from the economic and time-management issues…
of being a musician and teacher to communicating effectively with students. Includes advice on becoming a mentor, succeeding in school environments, partnering with other teaching artists, advocating for music and arts education, and private lessons. 2009.Choral masterworks: a listener's guide
By Michael Steinberg. 2005
Essays based on program notes present musical analysis and background of some fifty works for accompanied chorus arranged alphabetically by…
composer. Discusses Handel's Messiah, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, and compositions by Haydn, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Verdi, Berlioz, Rachmaninoff, Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky, Adams, and Wuorinen, among others. 2005. Harmonium -- The passions (Saint John Passion, Saint Matthew Passion); Magnificat; Mass in B minor -- Missa solemnis -- Requiem -- A German requiem; The shorter choral works (Schicksalslied = Song of destiny, Nänie = Lament, Gesang der Parzen = Song of the fates) -- War requiem -- Requiem in C minor -- Canti di prigonia = Songs of captivity -- Stabat Mater -- The dream of Gerontius -- Requiem -- Messiah, Der Messias (arr. Mozart) -- Harmoniemesse (Wind-band mass); Two great oratorios (Die Schöpfung = The creation; Die Jahreszeiten = The seasons) -- Le Roi David = King David -- Glagolitic Mass -- Psalmus hungaricus -- Elias = Elijah -- The shorter choral works; Mass in C minor; Requiem -- Carmina burana -- The bells -- Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln = The Book with seven seals -- When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd -- The wedding; Perséphone; Symphony of Psalms; Mass; Canticum sacrum = Sacred canticle; Requiem canticles -- A child of our time -- A sea symphony; Sancta civitas -- Requiem -- Belshazzar's feast -- Genesis.The concerto: a listener's guide
By Michael Steinberg. 2000
Music critic discusses some 120 concertos ranging from the Brandenburgs composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in the 1720s to the…
violin concerto John Adams wrote in 1993. Examines musical giants in alphabetical order to enhance appreciation of the pieces and their historical context. Companion to "The Symphony". 2000.Saladin, chevalier de l'islam: biographie
By Gérald Messadié. 2008
Roberto Devereux: opéra en trois actes
By Gaetano Donizetti, Salvatore Cammarano. 1998
Musicophilia: la musique, le cerveau et nous
By Oliver Sacks, Christian Cler. 2009
This autobiography of Canadian Max Eisen details the rural Hungarian deportations to Auschwitz-Birkenau, back-breaking slave labour in Auschwitz I, the…
infamous 'death march' of January 1945, the painful aftermath of liberation, and a journey of physical and psychological healing. Winner of Canada Reads 2019. Bestseller. 2016. Childhood in Czechoslovakia -- Summers on the Farm -- Big Changes -- Life under Hungarian Rule -- Year of Birth and Death -- Final Seder -- Train -- Arrival in Auschwitz II-Birkenau -- Arbeit Macht Frei -- Draining Swamps -- Walking Ghosts -- Piece of Bacon -- Selections, July 1944 -- Land Reclamation Outside Auschwitz -- Operating Room -- Surgeries in Barrack 21 -- Pot of Stew -- Destruction of Crematorium 4 -- Death March -- Melk, Ebensee, and Liberation -- Ebensee, After Liberation -- From Ceske Budejovice to Moldava -- Emotional and Physical Healing -- Marienbad -- Prague -- Return to Kosice -- Ebelsberg DP Camp -- Canada.Girls need not apply: field notes from the Forces /
By Kelly S. Thompson. 2019
At eighteen years old, Kelly Thompson enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces. Despite growing up in a military family --…
she would, in fact, be a fourth-generation soldier -- she couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't belong. From the moment she arrives for basic training at a Quebec military base, a young woman more interested in writing than weaponry, she quickly realizes that her conception of what being a soldier means, forged from a desire to serve her country after the 9/11 attacks, isn't entirely accurate. A career as a female officer will involve navigating a masculinized culture and coming to grips with her burgeoning feminism. In this compulsively readable memoir, Thompson writes with wit and honesty about her own development as a woman and a soldier, unsparingly highlighting truths about her time in the military. In sharply crafted prose, she chronicles the frequent sexism and misogyny she encounters both in training and later in the workplace, and explores her own feelings of pride and loyalty to the Forces, and a family legacy of PTSD, all while searching for an artistic identity in a career that demands conformity. When she sustains a career-altering injury, Thompson fearlessly re-examines her identity as a soldier. 2019.A cave in the clouds: a young woman's escape from ISIS /
By Badeeah Hassan Ahmed. 2019
Captured by ISIS, known locally as Daesh, Badeeah was among hundreds forced into a brutal human trafficking network made up…
of women and girls of Ezidi ethnicity, a much-persecuted minority culture of Iraq. Badeeah's story takes her to Syria where she is sold to a high-ranking ISIS commander known as Al Amriki, the American, kept as a house slave, raped, and routinely assaulted. Only the presence of her young nephew Eivan and her friend Navine, also prisoners, keeps her from harming herself. In captivity, she draws on memories and stories from her childhood to maintain a small bit of control in an otherwise volatile situation. Ultimately, it is her profound sense of faith and brave resistance that lead her to escape with Eivan and reunite with family. Since her escape, Badeeah has brought her harrowing story of war and survival to the world's stage, raising awareness about the little-known acts of genocide against her culture and the strength of a people unknown to many around the world. 2019.To Feel the Music: A Songwriter's Mission to Save High-Quality Audio
By Neil Young, Phil Baker. 2019
Neil Young took on the music industry so that fans could hear his music—all music—the way it was meant to…
be heard. Today, most of the music we hear is com-pressed to a fraction of its original sound,while analog masterpieces are turning to dustin record company vaults. As these record-ings disappear, music fans aren’t just losing acollection of notes. We’re losing spaciousness,breadth of the sound field, and the ability tohear and feel a ping of a triangle or a pluckof a guitar string, each with its own reso-nance and harmonics that slowly trail off intosilence. The result is music that is robbed of its original quality—muddy and flat in sound compared to the rich, warm sound artists hear in the studio. It doesn’t have to be this way, but the record and technology companies have incorrectly assumed that most listeners are satisfied with these low-quality tracks. Neil Young is challenging the assault on audio quality—and working to free music lovers from the flat and lifeless status quo. To Feel the Music is the true story of his questto bring high-quality audio back to musiclovers—the most important undertaking ofhis career. It’s an unprecedented look insidethe successes and setbacks of creating thePono player, the fights and negotiationswith record companies to preserve master-pieces for the future, and Neil’s unrelentingdetermination to make musical art availableto everyone. It’s a story that shows how muchmore there is to music than meets the ear. Neil’s efforts to bring quality audio to his fans garnered media attention when his Kickstarter campaign for his Pono player—a revolutionary music player that would combine the highest quality possible with the portability, simplicity and affordability modern listeners crave—became the third-most successful Kickstarter campaign in the website’s history. It had raised more than $6M in pledges in 40 days. Encouraged by the enthusiastic response, Neil still had a long road ahead, and his Pono music player would not have the commercial success he’d imagined. But he remained committed to his mission, and faced with the rise of streaming services that used even lower quality audio, he was determined to rise to the challenge. An eye-opening read for all fans of Neil Young and all fans of great music, as well as readers interesting in going behind the scenes of product creation, To Feel the Music has an inspiring story at its heart: One determined artist with a groundbreaking vision and the absolute refusal to give up, despite setbacks, naysayers, and skeptics.