About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
A compelling call to arms to reinvigorate our vision of Canada's place in the world, from one of the best of our new generation of public intellectuals.
Why do Canadians think so small? "We're a serious country. But our clout -- we don't use it," says Michael Byers, who argues it is time for a clear-eyed appreciation of our strengths and weaknesses, of all we have and all we could be. Instead of emulating our increasingly isolated neighbour, Byers says we should be advancing the Canadian model, an idealistic, fiscally prudent, socially progressive vision of foreign policy that has never looked so good.
Playing against George Grant's seminal Lament for a Nation, Intent for a Nation is Michael Byers informed and opinionated overview of where Canada stands in the world and what aggressive and progressive social, environmental, and governmental policies are needed to carry the country forward in an ever more competitive and volatile world.
Editorial Reviews
"For anyone who loves Canada, hates Canada or is ambivalent about this whole vast land mass and its contrarian population of self-doubters, Intent for a Nation may be the most exciting book to appear in decades. Subtitled What is Canada For?...the book is an assemblage of new ideas and timeless values turned out in fresh new clothes."
— Ottawa Citizen
"One of the most enlightening reads I've lately come across...Byers offers a consistently left-leaning perspective in a tremendously informative and thoughtful book."
— Vancouver Sun
"A passionate and cheerful call for international action, based on a diligent reading of our values and our potential."
— Globe & Mail
"[Byers]...makes his point well. Canada would have better served its interests, its values and the sum total of human happiness over the past six years if its leaders had more often found the guts to call the Bush administration out on its failures and excesses -- Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition, secret prisons and chartered CIA torture flights, many of which seem to have flown through our airspace and used our airports."
— MacLean's Magazine
"Writers like Naomi Klein and this Michael Byers see Canada's glass as very much half full...We need Canadians like this speaking up or we'll expire as a country...I do urge Canadians to read Intent for a Nation. Wrap an arm around yourself and find your backbone. Speak up for Canada."
— CBC Online
