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By Charlotte Gray. 2019
On an island paradise in 1943, Sir Harry Oakes, gold mining tycoon, philanthropist and "richest man in the Empire," was…
murdered. The news of his death surged across the English-speaking world, from London, the Imperial centre, to the remote Canadian mining town of Kirkland Lake, in the Northern Ontario bush. The murder became celebrated as "the crime of the century." The layers of mystery deepened as the involvement of Oakes' son-in-law, Count Alfred de Marigny, came quickly to be questioned, as did the odd machinations of the Governor of the Bahamas, the former King Edward VIII. Despite a sensational trial, no murderer was ever convicted. Rumours were unrelenting about Oakes' missing fortune, and fascination with the Oakes story has persisted for decades. Award-winning biographer and popular historian Charlotte Gray explores, for the first time, the life of the man behind the scandal, a man who was both reviled and admired - from his early, hardscrabble days of mining exploration, to his explosion of wealth, to his grandiose gestures of philanthropy. And Gray brings fresh eyes to the bungled investigation and shocking trial in the remote colonial island streets, proposing an overlooked suspect in this long cold case. 2019.By Mark Bourrie. 2019
NOMINATED FOR THE 2020 RBC TAYLOR PRIZE AS SEEN ON GLOBAL NEWS-TV'S THE MORNING SHOW Murderer. Salesman. Pirate. Adventurer. Cannibal.…
Co-founder of the Hudson's Bay Company. Known to some as the first European to explore the upper Mississippi, and widely as the namesake of ships and hotel chains, Pierre-Esprit Radisson is perhaps best described, writes Mark Bourrie, as “an eager hustler with no known scruples.” Kidnapped by Mohawk warriors at the age of fifteen, Radisson assimilated and was adopted by a powerful family, only to escape to New York City after less than a year. After being recaptured, he defected from a raiding party to the Dutch and crossed the Atlantic to Holland—thus beginning a lifetime of seized opportunities and frustrated ambitions. A guest among First Nations communities, French fur traders, and royal courts; witness to London’s Great Plague and Great Fire; and unwitting agent of the Jesuits’ corporate espionage, Radisson double-crossed the English, French, Dutch, and his adoptive Mohawk family alike, found himself marooned by pirates in Spain, and lived through shipwreck on the reefs of Venezuela. His most lasting venture as an Artic fur trader led to the founding of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which operates today, 350 years later, as North America’s oldest corporation. Sourced from Radisson’s journals, which are the best first-hand accounts of 17th century Canada, Bush Runner tells the extraordinary true story of this protean 17th-century figure, a man more trading partner than colonizer, a peddler of goods and not worldview—and with it offers a fresh perspective on the world in which he lived.By Emma Hansen. 2020
“Still is one of those rare books that catches you up and does not let you go. With grace, courage,…
and honesty, Emma Hansen adds an important voice to this tragic and too-often silenced subject. I loved this book.” —Beth Powning, author of Shadow Child: An Apprenticeship in Love and Loss A moving, candid account of one woman’s experience with stillbirth.Emma Hansen is 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant when she feels her baby go quiet inside of her. At the hospital, her worst fears are confirmed: doctors explain that her baby has died, and she will need to deliver him, still.Hansen gives birth to her son, Reid, amidst an avalanche of grief. Nine days later, she publishes a candid essay on her website sharing photos from the delivery room. Much to her surprise, her essay goes viral, sparking positive reactions around the world. Still shares what comes next: a struggle with grief and confusion alongside a desire to better understand stillbirth, which is experienced by more than two million women annually, but rarely talked about in public.At once honest, brave, and uplifting, Still is about one woman’s search for her own definition of motherhood, even as she faces one of life’s greatest challenges: learning to live after loss.By Christian Fink-Jensen, Randolph Eustace-Walden. 2016
In 1922, a 15-year-old girl, fed up with life in a French convent school, answered an ad for a travelling…
secretary. Tall, blonde, and swaggering with confidence, she might have passed for twenty. She also knew what she wanted: to become the first female to drive around the world. Her name was Aloha Wanderwell. Aloha's mission was foolhardy in the extreme. Drivable roads were scarce and cars were alien to much of the world. The Wanderwell Expedition created a specially modified Model T Ford for the journey that featured gun scabbards and a sloped back that could fold out to become a darkroom. All that remained was for Aloha to learn how to drive. Aloha became known around the globe. She was photographed in front of the Eiffel Tower, parked on the back of the Sphinx, firing mortars in China, and smiling at a tickertape parade in Detroit. By the age of 25, she had become a pilot, a film star, an ambassador for world peace, and the centrepiece of one of the biggest unsolved murder mysteries in California history. Her story defied belief, but it was true. Every bit of it. Except for her name. The American Aloha Wanderwell was, in reality, the Canadian Idris Hall. Drawing upon Aloha's diaries and travel logs, as well as films, photographs, newspaper accounts, and previously classified government documents, Aloha Wanderwell reveals the astonishing story of one of the greatest — and most outrageous — explorers of the 1920s.By Adam Shoalts. 2021
NATIONAL BESTSELLERSpellbinding adventure from Canada's most beloved modern-day explorer.Traverspine is not a place you will find on most maps. A…
century ago, it stood near the foothills of the remote Mealy Mountains in central Labrador. Today it is an abandoned ghost town, almost all trace of it swallowed up by dark spruce woods that cloak millions of acres.In the early 1900s, this isolated little settlement was the scene of an extraordinary haunting by large creatures none could identify. Strange tracks were found in the woods. Unearthly cries were heard in the night. Sled dogs went missing. Children reported being stalked by a terrifying grinning animal. Families slept with cabin doors barred and axes and guns at their bedsides.Tales of things that "go bump in the night" are part of the folklore of the wilderness, told and retold around countless campfires down through the ages. Most are easily dismissed by skeptics. But what happened at Traverspine a hundred years ago was different. The eye-witness accounts were detailed, and those who reported them included no less than three medical doctors and a wildlife biologist.Something really did emerge from the wilderness to haunt the little settlement of Traverspine. Adam Shoalts, decorated modern-day explorer and an expert on wilderness folklore, picks up the trail from a century ago and sets off into the Labrador wild to investigate the tale. It is a spine-tingling adventure, straight from a land steeped in legends and lore, where Vikings wandered a thousand years ago and wolves and bears still roam free.In delving into the dark corners of Canada's wild, The Whisper on the Night Wind combines folklore, history, and adventure into a fascinating saga of exploration.By Matti Friedman. 2022
The incredible never-before-told story of Leonard Cohen's 1973 tour of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. "Who by Fire is…
a stunning resurrection of a moment in the life of Leonard Cohen and the history of Israel. It’s the story of a young artist in crisis and a young country at war, and the powerful resonance of the chord struck between them. A beautiful, haunting book full of feeling." —Nicole Krauss, author of To Be a Man In October, 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen – 39 years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end – traveled to the Sinai desert and inserted himself into the chaos and bloodshed of the Yom Kippur War. Moving around the front with a guitar and a pick-up team of local musicians, Cohen dived headlong into the midst of a global crisis and met hundreds of fighting men and women at the worst moment of their lives. His audiences heard him knowing it might be the last thing they heard, and those who survived never forgot what they heard. Cohen’s war tour was an electric cultural moment, one that still echoes today, and one that inspired some of his greatest songs – but a moment that only few knew about, until now. In Who By Fire, Canadian-Israeli journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of what happened during those weeks in Israel in October, 1973. With access to amazing and never-before-seen material written by Cohen himself, along with dozens of interviews and rare photographs, Friedman revives this fraught and stunning time, presenting an intimate and unforgettable portrait of the artist, and of the young people who heard him sing in the midst of combat. Who By Fire brings us close to one the greatest, most brilliant and charismatic voices of our times, and gives us a rare glimpse of war, faith, and belonging.By Jonathan M Hess, Maurice Samuels, Nadia Valman. 2013
Recent scholarship has brought to light the existence of a dynamic world of specifically Jewish forms of literature in the…
nineteenth century—fiction by Jews, about Jews, and often designed largely for Jews. This volume makes this material accessible to English speakers for the first time, offering a selection of Jewish fiction from France, Great Britain, and the German-speaking world. The stories are remarkably varied, ranging from historical fiction to sentimental romance, to social satire, but they all engage with key dilemmas including assimilation, national allegiance, and the position of women. Offering unique insights into the hopes and fears of Jews experiencing the dramatic impact of modernity, the literature collected in this book will provide compelling reading for all those interested in modern Jewish history and culture, whether general readers, students, or scholars.By Shaul Magid. 2013
How do American Jews identify as both Jewish and American? American Post-Judaism argues that Zionism and the Holocaust, two anchors…
of contempoary American Jewish identity, will no longer be centers of identity formation for future generations of American Jews. Shaul Magid articulates a new, post-ethnic American Jewishness. He discusses pragmatism and spirituality, monotheism and post-monotheism, Jesus, Jewish law, sainthood and self-realization, and the meaning of the Holocaust for those who have never known survivors. Magid presents Jewish Renewal as a movement that takes this radical cultural transition seriously in its strivings for a new era in Jewish thought and practice.By Michal Bar-Asher Siegal. 2013
This book examines literary analogies in Christian and Jewish sources, culminating in an in-depth analysis of striking parallels and connections…
between Christian monastic texts (the Apophthegmata Patrum or 'The Sayings of the Desert Fathers') and Babylonian Talmudic traditions. The importance of the monastic movement in the Persian Empire, during the time of the composition and redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, fostered a literary connection between the two religious populations. The shared literary elements in the literatures of these two elite religious communities sheds new light on the surprisingly inclusive nature of the Talmudic corpora and on the non-polemical nature of elite Jewish-Christian literary relations in late antique Persia.By Rita Copeland, Jon Whitman, Cohen, Mordechai Z. and Bar-Asher, Meir M. and Copeland, Rita and Berlin, Adele Whitman, Jon, Mordechai Z. Cohen, Adele Berlin, Bar-Asher, Meir M.. 2016
This comparative study traces Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scriptural interpretation from antiquity to modernity, with special emphasis on the pivotal…
medieval period. It focuses on three areas: responses in the different faith traditions to tensions created by the need to transplant scriptures into new cultural and linguistic contexts; changing conceptions of the literal sense and its importance vis-à-vis non-literal senses, such as the figurative, spiritual, and midrashic; and ways in which classical rhetoric and poetics informed - or were resisted in - interpretation. Concentrating on points of intersection, the authors bring to light previously hidden aspects of methods and approaches in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This volume opens new avenues for interdisciplinary analysis and will benefit scholars and students of biblical studies, religious studies, medieval studies, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, comparative religions, and theory of interpretation.By Danya Ruttenberg. 2001
A diverse group of young women--from witches to rabbis--explore the new Judaism. Contributors ponder Jewish transgenderdom, Jewish body image, Jewish…
punk, the stereotype of the Jewish American Princess, intermarriage, circumcision, faith, and intolerance.By Morris N. Kertzer, Lawrence A. Hoffman. 1993
This work is geared towards those with little to no background in Judaism. It covers many topics and is written…
largely from a Reform perspective, though it does give some information about the beliefs of those who are more observant. Definitely a good place to begin.By Glade B. Curtis, Judith Schuler. 2009
Pregnancy can be a thrilling adventure for a couple. Although most attention is directed toward the mom-to-be, the nine months…
of pregnancy are an exciting, moving and, yes, occasionally stressful!time for the expectant father as well. Written with the needs and concerns of the dad-to-be in mind, this book includes a comprehensive glossary of terms, a resource section, up-to-date medical information, and tips for supporting your partner during pregnancy and the birth of your new baby. It will also help you be the best father you can be by covering such topics as: The tests and procedures your partner may undergo The impact of pregnancy on your relationship and how to handle it Ways to evaluate the expenses of having a baby How to be a great labor coachBy Lakshmy Ramanathan. 2015
In India the arrival of a child is not very different from a wedding It is a family…
event that every one looks forward to with great eagerness and enthusiasm Each family member also knows of an age-old custom or belief they know to have benefited expectant mothers and newborns But how does a first-time mother balance quirky community-based rituals alongside New Age scientific norms For Bumpier Times is an attempt to capture the complexities of being pregnant in our society and to arm you with information that enables you to make empowered decisions By recording 101 practices from across the country and by having them reviewed by an eminent panel of doctors and experts the book hopes to dismiss your doubts and fears trace the origin behind these myths and beliefs and keep up with the latest in childbirth and care to help you achieve that balance crucial to welcoming your little one into your culture and world Written in an easy-to-understand Q A format Ramanathan has managed to create an elaborate guide on pregnancy and childcare specific to Indian mothersBy Francis Crick. 1988
By Mina Hubbard. 2004
The fascinating story of the first white person to cross Labrador In 1905 Mina Benson Hubbard became the first white…
person to cross Labrador, documenting her travels in the classic A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador. This reissue, edited and fully annotated by Sherrill Grace, makes the complete work available for the first time since the original 1908 publication and features an introduction that situates Hubbard's writing in the context of her life and times, making clear how unusual - and unexpected - it was for a woman to undertake such an expedition, let alone going on to write and lecture about it.By Gopika Kapoor. 2011
Let your pregnancy be the joyous exciting and spiritual journey it was always meant to be While…
having a baby is a time of great happiness it can also be the most bewildering experience for those involved Luckily this book provides the perfect antidote to all your pregnancy and baby concerns Right from deciding whether to have a baby to choosing the best hospital for the d-day deliveryday Spiritual Pregnancy shows you how to make the most of your pregnancy so that you come through those nine months not only relaxed but also confident and prepared This unique volume shows you the best ways to handle the dilemmas that accompany having a baby while preparing you for the incredible job that lies ahead becoming a parent Allow Gopika Kapoor to share with you the learning from her own journey as a mother of twins and the spiritual insights that guided her Her pragmatic and reassuring voice not only tells you how to deal with surprise pregnancies crazy hormones overbearing relatives and tired sex lives but also gives great advice on baby showers alternative birthing methods post-baby body image and how to stay energized and positive through it all Since parental bonds first form while the baby is still in the womb Spiritual Pregnancy is your guide to making the most of this very special time with your childBy Becky Alexander. 2010
If you would like to celebrate the arrival of a new baby with friends and family, but are looking for…
an alternative to a traditional christening, this is the book for you. Civil weddings have been popular for a long time, but you can now have a Civil Naming ceremony for your child, held either at your local registry office, or at any venue of your choice. As there is no legal requirement, you can hold the party at home, in your garden, or at any venue you like. You can host the event yourselves, or ask a registered celebrant to host the event. This book contains lots of ideas to make your civil naming ceremony memorable and unique to your family. There are ideas for poems, readings, music, themes, and special ideas for how to mark the occasion. Everyone can get involved; grandparents, siblings, and specially nominated adults who can act as guardians. There are readings suitable for all. This book includes: - How to plan the naming party and ceremony - Ideas for indoors and outdoors decor, plus simple decorations - Providing entertainment and fun for children and adults - 10 special event ideas for the day, such as star naming, planting a tree and filling a time capsule - Traditional and contemporary ideas for readings and poems with new, specifically commissioned poems that are particularly relevant to this special occasion - Ideas and recipes for delicious food and drinkBy Zvi Gitelman, Mikhail Krutikov, Stephanie Sandler, Anna Shternshis, Sveta Roberman, Uzi Rebhun, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Adrian Wanner, Nelly Elias, Steven J. Gold, Mark Tolts, Hannah Pollin-Galay, Julia Lerner, Marina Sapritsky, Elena Nosenko-Shtein, Olena Bagno-Moldavski, Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Gur Ofer, Yaacov Ro'I. 2016
In 1900 over five million Jews lived in the Russian empire; today, there are four times as many Russian-speaking Jews…
residing outside the former Soviet Union than there are in that region. The New Jewish Diaspora is the first English-language study of the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora. This migration has made deep marks on the social, cultural, and political terrain of many countries, in particular the United States, Israel, and Germany. The contributors examine the varied ways these immigrants have adapted to new environments, while identifying the common cultural bonds that continue to unite them. Assembling an international array of experts on the Soviet and post-Soviet Jewish diaspora, the book makes room for a wide range of scholarly approaches, allowing readers to appreciate the significance of this migration from many different angles. Some chapters offer data-driven analyses that seek to quantify the impact Russian-speaking Jewish populations are making in their adoptive countries and their adaptations there. Others take a more ethnographic approach, using interviews and observations to determine how these immigrants integrate their old traditions and affiliations into their new identities. Further chapters examine how, despite the oceans separating them, members of this diaspora form imagined communities within cyberspace and through literature, enabling them to keep their shared culture alive. Above all, the scholars in The New Jewish Diaspora place the migration of Russian-speaking Jews in its historical and social contexts, showing where it fits within the larger historic saga of the Jewish diaspora, exploring its dynamic engagement with the contemporary world, and pointing to future paths these immigrants and their descendants might follow.