Service Alert
Website maintenance April 24 10pm ET
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
Showing 1 - 20 of 159094 items
By John Vaillant. 2005
In 1997, when a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an Alaskan island north of the Canadian border,…
they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. The author braids together the strands of this mystery and brings to life the historical collision of Europeans and the Haida and the harrowing world of logging. Canada Reads 2012. Winner of the 2005 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction. Bestseller. 2005.By Jacques Steinberg. 2003
In the fall of 1999, New York Times education reporter Jacques Steinberg was given the opportunity to observe the admissions…
process at prestigious Wesleyan University. Over the course of nearly a year, Steinberg accompanied admissions officer Ralph Figueroa on a tour to assess and recruit the most promising students in the country. The Gatekeepers follows a diverse group of prospective students as they compete for places in the nation's most elite colleges. Some strong language. 2002.By Michael Harris. 2014
Only one generation in history (ours) will experience life both with and without the internet. For everyone who follows us,…
online life will simply be the air they breathe. Today, we revel in ubiquitous information and constant connection, rarely stopping to consider the implications for our logged-on lives. The author chronicles this massive shift, exploring what we've gained and lost in the bargain. He argues that our greatest loss has been that of absence itself -- of silence, wonder and solitude. Winner of the 2014 Governor General’s Award for Non-fiction. 2014.By John Mighton. 2007
Mighton conceives of a world based on the assumption that each child has the potential to be successful in every…
subject. He argues that by recognizing the barriers that we have experienced in our own educational development, by identifying the moment that we became disenchanted with a certain subject and forever closed ourselves off to it, we will be able to eliminate these same barriers from standing in the way of our children. 2007.By Wade Davis. 1998
Davis examines the link between the diversity of our biological landscape and cultural diversity. He argues that the more we…
destroy the biological landscapes of the Earth, the more we cause diverse cultures to assimilate with the more mainstream cultures. Davis uses his travels around the world to illustrate his argument and shares stories of his time spent with a variety of peoples throughout the world. c1998.By Northrop Frye. 1991
By Lisa Appignanesi, Ma Yan, Pierre Haski. 2005
Ma Yan is a teenager from Ningxia, China, a drought-stricken rural area. Education can be the difference between a life…
of crushing poverty and a better future, but money is scarce. Ma Yan's diary chronicles her struggle to escape hardship and bring prosperity to her family, through her persistent, sometimes desperate, attempts to continue her schooling. Grades 4-7 and older readers. 2002, 2004. Uniform title: Journal de Ma Yan.By Laura MacDonald. 2005
On December 7, 1917, in the heart of the World War I, two ships collided in Halifax harbour. The resulting…
explosion killed over 2,000 people and injured some 6,000 more. Macdonald presents the whole story of how the military, volunteers and ordinary citizens united to organize one of the most complex relief efforts in North American history. Descriptions of violence. 2005.By Marilyn Elliott, Janet Kitz. 2018
Eric Davidson was a beautiful, fair-haired toddler when the Halifax Explosion struck, killing almost 2,000 people and seriously injuring thousands…
of others. Eric lost both eyes-a tragedy that his mother never fully recovered from. Eric, however, was positive and energetic. He also developed a fascination with cars and how they worked, and he later decided, against all likelihood, to become a mechanic. Assisted by his brothers who read to him from manuals, he worked hard, passed examinations, and carved out a decades-long career. Once the subject of a National Film Board documentary, Eric Davidson was, until his death, a much-admired figure in Halifax. Written by his daughter Marilyn, this book gives new insights into the story of the 1917 Halifax Explosion and contains never-before-seen documents and photographs. Winner of the 2019 The Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award (Non-Fiction). 2018.By Sid Marty. 2008
1980. Many citizens of Banff, Alberta, valued living in a place where wildlife grazed on the front lawn, but none…
were expecting bear attacks that summer. During the massive hunt that followed, Banff was portrayed as a town under siege by a killer bear, and the tourists stayed away. The pressure was on to find and destroy the Whiskey Creek mauler, but he evaded park wardens and struck again - and again. When the fight was over, the hard lessons learned led to changes that would save the lives of both bears and people in the coming years. Some descriptions of violence, some strong language. 2008.By Harold A Innis. 1991
A collection of essays by historian Harold Innis on the role of media in the creation of history. Discusses the…
concepts of medium, bias, monopoly of knowledge, empire, and the oral tradition. This edition includes a new introduction to Innis' career, the development of his ideas, and an assessment of his influence on the study of communications theory and Canadian history. 1991, c1951.By Steve Coll. 2008
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Ghost Wars" (DC26423) outlines the history of the Arabian Peninsula's Bin Laden family. Begins with patriarch…
Mohamed Bin Laden, an illiterate Yemeni bricklayer who established a building company in Saudi Arabia in 1931 and fathered fifty-four children. Charts the path of son Osama. Some descriptions of violence. Bestseller. c2008.By Siddhartha Deb. 2011
In 2004, Deb returned to India from New York and discovered that sweeping change had overtaken the country, due to…
the globalization of its economy, the relaxation of trade rules, and the growth in technology. Visiting the metropolises, small towns, and villages, as well as both gated suburban communities and camps for displaced peasants, Deb offers a view of the changes in landscape and urban geography, creating a narrative of the people who make up the world's second-most populous nation. Some strong language, some descriptions of sex and some descriptions of violence. c2011.By Pierre Berton. 1994
The morning of September 10, 1813, saw the only battle ever fought on a Canadian lake -- the Battle of…
Lake Erie. Berton recreates that day, with all the heroism, horror, mistakes, and triumphs of this famous battle of the War of 1812. Grades 5-8. 1994.Presents discoveries about the 9/11 terrorist attack, the emergency response, and insights into the inner workings of the US government,…
including the decision-making process at the top levels, the miscommunication between the FBI and CIA, and the fatal oversights made by the Bush administration before the attacks. It also explores the investigation process itself, placing the 9/11 investigation into historical context, and asks who will be held responsible for the intelligence and leadership failures revealed by the investigations. And perhaps most importantly, will the 9/11 investigation help prevent such a tragedy from happening again? Some descriptions of violence. 2004.By James Laxer. 2012
At the turn of the nineteenth century, the British Empire is at the height of its ascendancy; Napoleonic France is…
struggling to maintain its position as a world power; the incumbent American empire is quickly expanding its territory, while the Native peoples struggle to establish their own confederacy. Laxer focusses on the Native struggle for nationhood and sovereignty; the battle between the British Empire and the United States over Upper and Lower Canada; and the unlikely friendship and political alliance between Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh and Major-General Sir Isaac Brock. 2012.By Sam Snake, Emerson S Coatsworth, David Coatsworth, Francis Kagige. 1979
During the 1930s, the stories told by the elders of the Rama Ojibway Band were compiled and translated into English.…
These 16 stories tell of Nanabush, one of the most powerful, and most mischievous, spirits of the Ojibway world. Grades 4-7 and older readers. 1979.By James Laxer. 2006
In 1604, a small group of migrants fled political turmoil and famine in France to start a new colony on…
Canada's east coast. Their roughly demarcated territory included what are now Canada's Maritime provinces, land that was fought over by the British and French empires until the Acadians were finally expelled in 1755. In the absence of a state, what defines an Acadian today is elusive, and while their community, centred in New Brunswick, is more confident than ever, it is entering a contentious debate about its future. Some descriptions of violence. 2006.By Andrew Preston. 2012
A richly detailed account of how religion has influenced American foreign relations, told through the stories of the men and…
women - from presidents to preachers - who have plotted the country’s course in the world. Winner of the 2013 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. 2012. If you request this book on CD it will be on 2 or more CDs. You must play the first CD to the end before playing the next CD.By Greg Mortenson. 2009
Author of "Three Cups of Tea" and cofounder of the Central Asia Institute chronicles his school-building efforts and promotion of…
female literacy in remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Discusses Mortenson's long-term goals and shares anecdotes about those impacted by his work. Bestseller. 2009.