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Flying Canucks tells the fascinating story of aviation in Canada through this collection of 37 biographies of important aviators in our nation's history.

As early as 1908, having read the Wright brothers' invention, alberta farm boys and mechanics in Quebec villages were constructing large kites, attempting to fly them.Within a decade, Canadian air aces, like Bishop and Barker, swept the wartime skies over Frances, piloting deadly machines in mortal combat. Through the 20s, that very Canadian breed of adventurer, the bush pilot, ventured over the desolate tundra, delivering medicine and missionaries, mail and Mounties to remote communities as far as Ellesmere Island and Ungava Bay.

Members of the Royal Canadian Air Force fought with distinction during the Second world War. Titles such as The Saviour of London and The Angel of Ceylon seem like wartime hype, but the skill and courage that those pilots displayed half a century ago set them apart still. For the six Canadian airmen who won the VictoriaCross, there were thousands who flew into the meat grinder that was the Allies' strategic air offensive over Europe.

This book chronicles the exploits of only a few men and women -- but it truly celebrates the spirit and resolve of countless brave Canadians who are proud part of aviation in this country.

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100 Canadian Heroines profiles some remarkable women — from the adventurous Gudridur the Viking to murdered Mi’kmaq activist Anna Mae Aquash. You’ll meet heroines in science, sport, preaching and teaching, politics, war and peace, arts and entertainment, etc. The book is full of amazing facts and fascinating trivia about intriguing figures like mountaineer Phyllis Munday, activist Hide Shimizu, Arctic guide Tookoolito, unionist Léa Roback, sexy movie mogul Mary Pickford and singer Portia White. Great quotes and photos are featured in this inspiring collection. As we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Persons Case on October 18, 2004, discover some of the many heroines Canada can be proud of. Find out how we’re remembering them. Or not! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Canada's Other Pioneers
On behalf of Canada's foremothers and future daughters ... thank you! It's about time that someone researched and documented the history of Canadian women. Merna Forster weaves together a beautiful tapestry of courageous, fiesty and determined women who paved the way for all of us. Three pages per heroine ... just enough to give you a taste of her life, and wanting more.When I have children someday, I will read these profiles to them ... so they will learn about Canada's "other" pioneers ... Canada's heroines. ... Read more

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This is the incredible story of Canada's largest manhunt. Hundreds of men spent 7 weeks tracking the elusive Albert Johnson for 240 kilometres across the frozen North. He was eventually caught and killed but the identity of Albert Johnson, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, remains a mystery to this day. ... Read more

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"An overturned canoe. A body recovered. Presumably Thomson drowned. That should have been the end of it. It was only the beginning." This book will be especially fascinating for all readers interested in: biography, history, the visual arts or true-life mysteries. Tom Thomson is perhaps Canada's most famous artist. His short and glorious career was abruptly and brutally ended on July 8, 1917. Since the recovery of Thomson's body, theories as to the cause of his death - accident? murder? - have preoccupied sleuths for more than 90 years.

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An evocative portrait of the landscape and eccentric characters who have shaped his literary work by the critically acclaimed author of The Bird Artist and The Northern Lights captures the world of Nova Scotia in a collection of folklore, poetry, reflections, anecdotes, stories, and essays. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not impressed..
The author of this book is highly self absorbed and impressed with who he thinks he knows.This books has a lot of literary references as filler that have no relationship to Nova Scotia or the kind and simple people who reside there.The letters depicted in the 1st chapter are far more interesting in their style and humor than the author's own writing.Not sure where the title of this book comes from.The author is famous in his own mind and it doesn't translate well on the pages of this book or do justice to this very beautiful and scenic area. ... Read more

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In 1927, Mazo de la Roche was an impoverished writer in Toronto when she won a $10,000 prize from the American magazine Atlantic Monthly for her novel Jalna. The book became an immediate bestseller. In 1929, the sequel Whiteoaks also went to the top of bestseller lists. Mazo went on to publish 16 novels in the popular series about a Canadian family named Whiteoak, living in a house called Jalna. Her success allowed her to travel the world and to live in a mansion near Windsor Castle. Mazo created unforgettable characters who come to life for her readers, but she was secretive about her own life and tried to escape the public attention her fame brought. ... Read more

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Joseph Flavelle was one of the most influential businessmen in Canada's history. This intimate biography of the man is also a history of the origins and development of big business in Canada, of the corporations and institutions that became an integral part of Canadian life during Jospeh Flavelle's lifetime. His career is a Canadian business epic - his story is also the story of Canada Packers, Simpsons, the Bank of Commerce, National Trust, and half a dozen other major coporations that continue to influence Canada today.

When it was first published in 1978, A Canadian Millionaire quickly becaome one of the most honoured books of its kind. For it, Michael Bliss was awarded the Macdonald Price in Canadian history, the University of British Columbia Medal for Biography, the City of Toronto Book Award, the Toronto Historical Board Award of Merit, and the Francois Garneau prize. Today it is recognized as a classic in Canadian biography. ... Read more

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Highly Recommended Biography!
In A Canadian Millionaire, Michael Bliss not only tells the story of an important businessman in Canadian History, he also delivers a sort of mini-history on Toronto, Ontario and Canada from 1858-1939.Bliss accomplishes this through his numerous cross references to how Flavelle was associated with many other prominent businessmen, politicians, decision makers of the time in general, as well as capturing how Flavelle truly was involved in a great weave of committees, corporations, communities that affected not only many different regions of Ontario but also Canada, Britain, the United States of America, and even China (through Methodist Missions).

Joseph Flavelle was born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario.A strong Methodist mother, Dorothea, played a significant role in shaping the man whose life could eventually be categorized as a`rags to riches' tale.His humble beginnings in little Peterborough, included a father who was an alcoholic and unable to sufficiently provide for his family.Flavelle acquired a phenomenal work ethic, largely instilled in him by his mother and their Methodist teachings, and worked his way up from his first job in 1869 working for George Cox's business in Peterborough, to his fame and fortune as the packing house manager of the William Davies Company, as early as 1890.Though his fame was tainted with allegations of profiteering during the Great War and he was attacked on several accounts throughout his life afterwards, for having perhaps profited at the cost of others - he never stopped giving of his time and his fortune to endless causes. "In the early years of the new century few Canadians offered more public service, were more `progressive' in this sense than Joe Flavelle, as he spent time and money hoping to create public institutions and politics worthy of a twentieth-century nation." (Pg 138) Flavelle's dedication to the rebuilding of the Toronto General Hospital, his involvement in the University of Toronto, his lifelong contributions to his Methodist religion and to his political party - the Conservatives, his generous open wallet for any cause or any person who asked, all tied to his personal motto in life.Taken from an Adam Lindsay Gordon poem, Flavelle not only engraved this motto into his mantel at his home - he lived it!"Two things stand like stone: Kindness in another's trouble, courage in your own." (Pg 95)

It is quite understandable that Bliss was accredited with numerous awards for this project and even more understandable is how A Canadian Millionaire has become a classic.This was achieved by Bliss's thorough and painstaking attention to detail, his contagious enthusiasm on the subject, and his desire to share his vast knowledge of this "fascinating" man, Sir Joseph Flavelle.Perhaps this is why not one person has offered any type of comparison piece to challenge Bliss's findings or portrayal of Flavelle.I would highly recommend A Canadian Millionaire to anyone studying business, Ontario history, or who just wants an interesting read about a poor boy from Peterborough who became a wealthy Toronto philanthropist! ... Read more

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Famous and Forgotten showcases the artistic achievements of the finest women artists of Canada active from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, revealing the creative impulses of 32 women -- visually exploring the spirit of their art and then interpreting the painter or sculptor behind the art.

Luxuriously illustrated, this book is organized into four sections. The first explores the originality and innovation of 12 independent-minded women artists and how they changed Canadian art forever. The second section intensifies the search, looking at 20 women who toppled the barriers that had been broken by the previously examined 12. Part three presents supporting evidence of the times and circumstances under which each artist battled with undeniable courage and tenacity. Finally, the fourth section acknowledges the neglected, providing a starting point and bringing to light some of the women born prior to the Second World War who stood against the norm and practised their art.

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Louis Riel was a politician and a founder of the province of Manitoba. He was also leader of the Metis nation. He led his people in two rebellions against the government. He spent much of his adult life in exile in the United States. When he was 41, he was arrested and hanged for treason. Although he is Canada s most famous rebel, many people now view Riel as a hero who stood up for his people. ... Read more

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The many books written about Mackenzie King concentrated on him mainly as a politician. No wonder the question 'But what about King, the man?' was posed. Here, in Friends and Lovers, is a close look at that man in his intimate personal relationships, male and female. ... Read more

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One day in spring four men were riding on horseback along a country road. These men were lawyers, and they were going to the next town to attend court.

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Customer Reviews (2)

Entertaining and Educational, But Hard to Use
The stories in this book are great.They remind me of the Paul Harvey "and now for the rest of the story".But my gripes.The stories are not chronilogical, which would be fine if there were an index, which there isn't.The Table of Contents lists the title of story, which in no way gives you a clue as to who the story is about.There is at the back of the book a list titled "Who they were, what they were, where they lived", but not a "where to find them in this book".

In order to use this book in our homeschooling I had to read the entire thing and make my own index.Which was a pleasure, but seems kindof odd that I had to.

Stories for Young and Old
Educational and entertaining short stories about famous people of the world history:

"One of the best things to be said of the stories in this volume is that, although they are not biographical, they are about real persons who actually lived and performed their parts in the great drama of the world's history. Some of these persons were more famous than others, yet all have left enduring "footprints on the sands of time" and their names will not cease to be remembered. In each of the stories there is a basis of truth and an ethical lesson which cannot fail to have a wholesome influence..." (James Baldwin) ... Read more

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IT was always a puzzle to the little girl how the stork that brought her ever reached the lonely Dakota farm-house on a December afternoon without her being frozen; and it was another mystery, just as deep, how the strange bird, which her mother said was no larger than a blue crane, was able, on leaving, to carry her father away with him to some family, a long, long distance off, that needed a grown-up man as badly as her three big brothers needed a little sister. ... Read more

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My wife Josephine declares that I have become a philosopher in my old age, and perhaps she is right. Now that I am forty, and a trifle less elastic in my movements, with patches of gray about my ears which give me a more venerable appearance, I certainly have a tendency to look at the world as through a glass. ... Read more

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There are many thrilling incidents--all the more attractive because of their truth--in the study, the trials, the disappointments, the obstacles overcome, and the final triumph of the successful inventor.
... Read more

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STRANGE it must appear that the account of perhaps the most celebrated and, certainly to the English nation, the most momentous voyage of discovery that has ever taken place--for it practically gave birth to the great Australasian Colonies--has never before been given to the world in the very words of its great leader. It has fallen out in this wise. ... Read more

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Within a few centuries after the flood, while some who had witnessed the sin and the destruction of the antediluvian world were still living, Jehovah saw fit, in accordance with his designs of eternal wisdom, to separate Abraham from his brethren, calling upon him to leave the land of his birth and go out into a strange land, to dwell in a far country. He ... Read more

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I delayed these pages some weeks in order to give Mr. Romanes an opportunity of explaining his statement that Canon Kingsley wrote about instinct and inherited memory in _Nature_, Jan. 18, 1867. {iii} I wrote to the _Athenaeum_ (Jan. 26, 1884) and pointed out that _Nature_ did not begin to appear till nearly three years after the date given by Mr. Romanes

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First book of 108 contemporary poetry authored by Alice Shapiro is receiving rave reviews in the literary world.Cracked was nominated for a GAYA Award (Georgia Author of the Year) and "Usury" from Cracked was nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Prize.

If you read the poems of Alice Shapiro with your eyes only, you'll miss one of my favorite parts: the musicality. Look, for example, then listen to these lines from "Behind The Eyes," and you'll see/ hear what I mean: "In a barred prison a bird/ articulates, strange, discrete./ Maples blow beyond./ No branch to perch upon."

Besides the hum of those lines, there's the sense of more being said than what's said. In other poems, however, something may be plainly stated but with surround-sound. For instance, in the opening of "Façade," layers of sound echoes lyrically absorb a rather blunt statement: "A diligent syllable, short,/ concise, wet on a blank white/ leaf. Name it wide-winged./ Someone named it pain."

Notice the commonality of pain, of course, but notice, too, the precision of word choices in the unusual use of "diligent." What an attentive, conscientious, diligent choice it is for describing a single syllable that describes the one-syllable word pain. Admittedly, a word such as "pulchritude" in another poem might occasionally get in the way of reading, not so much because of the meaning which any dictionary can explain, but because of the inevitable uncertainty about pronunciation and where the word might fit on the musical scale of a line.

But forgetting the musicality reawakens the mind to unexpected insights and honest assessments of commonly experienced forms of pain, which Alice addresses head-on. For example, "Vigorous Men" opens with the candid statement, "It is necessary for men to imagine themselves whole." Yes! That's so true of all of us, male or female, and, yes, it's that down-to-earthiness I particularly enjoy and want to hear - like sitting with a close friend over a cup of coffee and talking about whatever is on the heart or mind.

Consistently, honest thoughts, musical notes, and illustrations from nature guide the poems "Over the Mississippi" and beyond with such lines as these: "Once a hand inside a bush/ was caught off-guard by a/ stinging yellow-jacket--/ summer vanished." And isn't that how it is? Doesn't the delight of summer end when someone or something suddenly slaps away its leisurely pleasure with the sting of a yellow jacket, with the snap of a lock on a bird cage, with the close of a book, which, summer or not, makes a "good read."

Alice Shapiro’s poems in “Cracked” explore the complex relationships we have as humans to one another, and to the world. With strong images and gripping words, the poems in this book compel us to look at the ordinary and the extraordinary in our own lives.The eloquent use of metaphor in each poem leaves the reader wanting more, turning the page, to find wonderful creativity and surprises in language. The poetry in this collection, does indeed, bring the reader to examine the cracks of our inner and outer worlds. With precision and imagery, the poet finds the waiting spaces inside each of us.
--Connie Post Livermore Poet Laureate

Cracked Stings of the touthfulness or raw observation. Shapiro adventures through the glimpses for friends, strangers, nature, and the pain of those relationships.
--B. L. Pawelek.

There are one hundred nine poems in this volume and the book is a page turner.I found myself gulping down the words in each of her poems.I read through the volume so quickly, I had to slow myself down and go back and read again....Cracked is not just an excellent read; it is an empowering, thoughtful and lyrical path of words leading us through a nuanced journey where the words direct light in just the right way.
--Skye Leslie, The Smoking Poet

A Guidebook For the Landscape of Our Lives
--Despina Yeargin

Very deep and moving poetry
--R. A. Wells "Canaryalice
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Enjoying the good company of Alice
If you read the poems of Alice Shapiro with your eyes only, you'll miss one of my favorite parts: the musicality. Look, for example, then listen to these lines from "Behind The Eyes," and you'll see/ hear what I mean: "In a barred prison a bird/ articulates, strange, discrete./ Maples blow beyond./ No branch to perch upon."

Besides the hum of those lines, there's the sense of more being said than what's said. In other poems, however, something may be plainly stated but with surround-sound. For instance, in the opening of "Façade," layers of sound echoes lyrically absorb a rather blunt statement: "A diligent syllable, short,/ concise, wet on a blank white/ leaf. Name it wide-winged./ Someone named it pain."

Notice the commonality of pain, of course, but notice, too, the precision of word choices in the unusual use of "diligent." What an attentive, conscientious, diligent choice it is for describing a single syllable that describes the one-syllable word pain. Admittedly, a word such as "pulchritude" in another poem might occasionally get in the way of reading, not so much because of the meaning which any dictionary can explain, but because of the inevitable uncertainty about pronunciation and where the word might fit on the musical scale of a line.

But forgetting the musicality reawakens the mind to unexpected insights and honest assessments of commonly experienced forms of pain, which Alice addresses head-on. For example, "Vigorous Men" opens with the candid statement, "It is necessary for men to imagine themselves whole." Yes! That's so true of all of us, male or female, and, yes, it's that down-to-earthiness I particularly enjoy and want to hear - like sitting with a close friend over a cup of coffee and talking about whatever is on the heart or mind.

Consistently, honest thoughts, musical notes, and illustrations from nature guide the poems "Over the Mississippi" and beyond with such lines as these: "Once a hand inside a bush/ was caught off-guard by a/ stinging yellow-jacket--/ summer vanished." And isn't that how it is? Doesn't the delight of summer end when someone or something suddenly slaps away its leisurely pleasure with the sting of a yellow jacket, with the snap of a lock on a bird cage, with the close of a book, which, summer or not, makes a "good read."

A Guidebook For the Landscape of Our Lives
Alice writes with an artist's eye and with the awareness of a naturalist.She is not our John Muir, John Muir : Nature Writings: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth; My First Summer in the Sierra; The Mountains of California; Stickeen; Essays (Library of America)but she loves nature and its timeless beauty just as much as he did.She offers her poems as a way for us to connect with nature and with our own emotional landscape and observe, feel, awaken the instincts and emotions ever-present in our lives.

In this body of work, Alice acts as our guide through the terrain of questioning, struggle, hardship, love and gratitude; she helps us to see, to find ourselves and to heal.

An experienced writer, Alice Shapiro is a poet whose work is easy to read and easy to connect with.Buy her book of poetry and spend a surprisingly beautiful Saturday afternoon with her lovely words spilling into your mind and into your heart.

Very deep and moving poetry
Alice Shapiro uses words with such grace that they draw an image in your mind full of color and emotion.If you like a book of poetry that you can read again and again finding new meaning and depth each time then chose this book. ... Read more