British Columbia
Early depictions of the West Coast were no more than cartographers’ fanciful guesses. Not until the discovery of “soft gold”—sea otter pelts—and the quest to find a Northwest Passage did explorations, such as the epic voyage of George Vancouver, lead to a better understanding of the region’s geography. Even so, until the gold rush of 18 …
Being Chinese in Canada
After the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885—construction of the western stretch was largely built by Chinese workers—the Canadian government imposed a punitive head tax to deter Chinese citizens from coming to Canada. The exorbitant tax strongly discouraged those who had already emigrated from sending for wives and children left in …
Chop Suey Nation
In 2016, Globe and Mail reporter Ann Hui drove across Canada, from Victoria to Fogo Island, to write about small-town Chinese restaurants and the families who run them. It was only after the story was published that she discovered her own family could have been included—her parents had run their own Chinese restaurant, The Legion Cafe, before she …
Return of the Wolf
Wolves were once common throughout North America and Eurasia. But by the early twentieth century, bounties and organized hunts had drastically reduced their numbers. Today, the wolf is returning to its ancestral territories, and the “coywolf”—a smaller, bolder wolf-coyote hybrid—is becoming more common. In Return of the Wolf, author Paula W …
Going the Distance
This frank and authoritative biography explores the life and often controversial work of W.P. Kinsella, the author who penned iconic lines such as “If you build it, he will come.” Kinsella’s work was thrust into the limelight when, in the spring of 1989, his novel Shoeless Joe was turned into the international blockbuster Field of Dreams.
With …
Sculpture in Canada
Found in public spaces and parks, art galleries and university buildings, along riverbanks as well as in city squares, private gardens and even underwater, Canadian sculpture encompasses a range of materials and styles from traditional bone and bronze to postmodern multimedia installations. As this book demonstrates, artistic intentions among the n …
The World's Most Travelled Man
"This is the account of twenty-three years of wilderness wandering, sea voyages and overland treks to survey the earth, with no home or possessions other than what fit in my trusty backpack. There was no specific destination in mind except to visit countries, not the airports and luxury hotels but the country itself, to experience local culture and …
The White Angel
Vancouver is in an uproar over the death by gunshot of a Scottish nanny, Janet Stewart. An almost deliberately ham-handed police investigation has Constable Hook suspecting a cover-up. The powerful United Council of Scottish Societies is demanding an inquiry. The killing has become a political issue with an election not far away.
The city is buzzing …
Spindrift
Given that Canada has the longest coastline in the world and its motto is "From Sea unto Sea," it is not surprising that virtually every Canadian writer has been inspired to write about some aspect of the sea at some point in their work. As this book shows, those watery passages are some of the very best writing the nation has produced. Journeying …
The Orange Balloon Dog
Within forty-eight hours in the fall of 2014, buyers in the Sotheby’s and Christie’s New York auction houses spent $1.7 billion on contemporary art. Non-taxed freeport warehouses around the globe are stacked with art held for speculation. One of Jeff Koons’ five chromium-plated stainless steel balloon dogs sold for 50 percent more at auction …
Embers
"Life sometimes is hard. There are challenges. There are difficulties. There is pain. As a younger man I sought to avoid them and only ever caused myself more of the same. These days I choose to face life head on--and I have become a comet. I arc across the sky of my life and the harder times are the friction that lets the worn and tired bits drop …
Canada
From the early days of exploration and settlement through the building of a nation to Canada’s contribution to the two world wars, this illustrated history of Canada conveys the drama and scope of the nation’s past. Through accessible commentary and a wealth of images, readers discover well-known and lesser-known facets of Canadian history, inc …
The National Parks of the United States
One country. Twenty-seven states, two territories. Fifty-nine parks. Eight years.
When award-winning landscape photographer Andrew Thomas visited four of the US National Parks in December 2007, he was mesmerized by their natural beauty. After two return trips within the next twelve months, he began a quest to travel to and photograph all fifty-nine …
White Eskimo
Though less known today than contemporaries like Amundsen and Peary, Knud Rasmussen (1879–1933) was one of the most intriguing of the great early 20th century Arctic explorers. Born and raised in Greenland, and part Inuit on his mother's side, Rasmussen could shoot a gun and harness a team of sled dogs by the time he was eight. Nevertheless he wa …
The Horrors
A darkly mirthful and alphabetical approach to very bad things from comedian Charles Demers.
Comedian-author Charlie Demers, whose brain-bending brand of black humour will be familiar to followers of CBC Radio's The Debaters, offers his madcap perspective in a new collection of essays highlighting a wide range of topics under the heading of Bad Thin …
The Urban Homesteading Cookbook [Cancelled]
With food culture in the midst of a do-it-yourself renaissance, urbanites everywhere are relishing craft beers, foraged ingredients, sustainable seafoods, ethically raised meats and homemade condiments and charcuterie. Inspired by the delicious creativity of local artisans, chefs, brewmasters and mixologists, Michelle Nelson began urban homesteadin …
Me Artsy
While First Nations cultural practice still honours traditional forms, contemporary indigenous artists have diversified into many areas. The fourteen contributors whose essays make up Me Artsy pursue such varied disciplines as filmmaking, gourmet cuisine, blues piano, fashion design, acting, writing and painting as well as traditional drumming and …
The Urban Homesteading Cookbook
An urban approach to back-to-the-land—and eating our way to a better world.
With food culture in the midst of a do-it-yourself renaissance, urbanites everywhere are relishing craft beers, foraged ingredients, sustainable seafoods, ethically raised meats and homemade condiments. Inspired by the delicious creativity of local artisans, chefs, brewmas …
Craft Beer Revolution
The definitive guide to British Columbia's craft breweries.
The most detailed compilation of British Columbia's craft breweries is now more comprehensive than ever! Since the first edition of Craft Beer Revolution was published in 2013, twenty-seven new breweries have opened and another dozen or more are scheduled to open by mid-2015. Joe Wiebe, the …
Canadian Spacewalkers
Finalist for the 2014 Canadian Science Writers' Association's Science in Society General Book Award
There are astronauts, and there are spacewalkers. Astronauts leave earth's atmosphere in a spaceship. Spacewalkers don pressure suits and step outside into the universe.
Spacewalking is a physically exhausting, mentally rigorous endeavor. It’s so dif …
The Elusive Mr. Pond
Sir Alexander Mackenzie is known to schoolchildren as a great Canadian explorer who gave his name to the country's longest river, but hardly anyone could name the man who mentored Mackenzie and mapped much of northwestern Canada before him. Soldier,fur trader and explorer Peter Pond, the subject of this long overdue book, is a man whose legend has …
Closing Time
Canadians have long associated Prohibition with the colourful history of the Jazz Age in the United States. But even before the American ban that was in place from 1920 to 1933, Canada initiated its own Prohibition during World War I. The so-called Cold Water Army was led by zealots and prudes preaching hellfire and damnation, but also by committed …
The Cougar
Winner of the Foreword Reviews 2013 Book of the Year Awards.
As cougar attacks on humans become more and more frequent it is essential to understand this fascinating and dangerous predator. Elusive, graceful, powerful. Whether they've seen one in the wild or not, everyone is fascinated by the big cat called cougar, puma, mountain lion and approximat …
The Eliot Girls
Short-listed for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Amazon First Novel Award.
A gripping debut teeming with drama and scathing insight into the world of an all-girl private high school. For years, Audrey Brindle has dreamed of attending George Eliot Academy, the school where her mother, Ruth, has taught for a decade. But when she is fin …
The Last Viking
"An intensely researched, thoroughly enjoyable life of one of history's best explorers...A superb biography of a fiercely driven explorer who traveled across the last inaccessible areas on earth before technical advances made the journey much easier." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred)
In the early 1900s, many of the great geographical mysteries that had i …
Safar/Voyage
A groundbreaking collection of contemporary Middle Eastern art seen for the first time in North America.
Safar/Voyage features a selection of recent artwork by artists from Iran, Turkey and a range of Arab countries. The text -- illustrated with more than fifty colour photographs, archival images and a map of the region -- explores themes of migrati …
Kayak Routes of the Pacific Northwest Coast, 2nd Ed.
Kayak Routes of the Pacific Northwest explores 18 regions from Oregon to British Columbia. Detailed overviews summarize the more than 30 kayak routes described in this book, including suggestions on the required skill level, the duration of the trip, the foreseeable hazards, and the charts and tide tables to buy. Easy-to-read maps provide practical …
Creation and Transformation
The treasures of the world's largest public collection of Inuit art are revealed in this seminal history of art from the Arctic.
The collection of Inuit art held by the Winnipeg Art Gallery, one of Canada's most important public galleries, is extraordinary by any standard: its geographic range, diverse media and size have brought international renow …
Last Viking, The
A Globe and Mail top 100 book of 2012
The untold story of the great polar explorer who conquered the world's last unknown places, before vanishing in a daring bid to rescue his nemesis.
In the early 1900s, many of the great geographical mysteries that had intrigued adventurers for centuries remained unsolved, leaving some large blank areas on the inc …
Madness, Betrayal and the Lash
This print-on-demand title is available by request from most booksellers.
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The tragic story of Captain Vancouver, a great explorer whose triumphs were overshadowed by public humiliation.
From 1792 to 1795, George Vancouver sailed the Pacific waters as captain of a major expedition of discovery and imperial ambition. Britain had its eyes on Pacific …
People of the Buffalo
No other group in North America has been more romanticized and stereotyped than the Plains Indians ñ the Blackfoot, Plains Cree, Dakota, Kiowa and other grassland tribes. This book, with its authenticated drawings, tells how the Plains Indians lived: how they hunted buffalo, made their tepees, clothing and tools. It also explores their beliefs, ce …
Discovering Totem Poles
An indispensible guide for identifying totem poles along British Columbia's inside passage from Vancouver to Alaska.
Whether rising from a forest mist or soaring overhead in parks and museums, magnificent cedar totem poles have captivated the attention and imagination of visitors to Washington State, British Columbia and Alaska.
Discovering Totem …
Undesirables
A timely and superbly illustrated account of the explosive event that challenged Canada's racist immigration policy
In May 1914, the Komagata Maru, a ship carrying 376 immigrants from British India, was turned away when it tried to land in Vancouver Harbour. Many of the men on board, veterans of the British Indian Army, believed it was their right t …
Exploring Vancouver
The only comprehensive handbook to Vancouver's architecture -- from the modest to the monumental Vancouver is still a young city, and its streetscapes and neighbourhoods reflect the city's constant state of reinvention. New buildings adapt the latest global architectural trends to the regional context or express the distinct local West Coast style; …
To Be There with You
In this debut collection, Gayla Reid draws on the doubleness and dislocation that expatriates carry in their hearts. The people in these stories grow up Catholic in 1950s Australia, a world of immense natural beauty, and come to adulthood in the turbulent decade of the Vietnam War. Moving fluidly between past and present, between Australia, Southea …
Backcountry Bear Basics
Whether you're visiting a national or provincial park, hiking through deep woods or fishing a well-travelled stream, you may find yourself face-to-face with North America's largest predator. This book can make the difference between a close encounter and a deadly one.
Backcountry Bear Basics provides tested strategies to help you avoid conflicts wit …
Dangerous Place, A
Crammed into the San Francisco Bay area and the Los Angeles Basin is a population greater than that of both Ontario and Quebec. Both these drought-prone regions of California need to import water over improbable distances. Reliance on imported water, however, is not their Achilles heel; it is the fact that each sits astride one of the most violentl …
Last Train to Toronto
Crossing Canada by rail has long been among the travel wonders of the world, but in 1990 government cutbacks forced the remarkable Canadian to make its last run from Vancouver to Toronto. Amid the political controversy that raged during the last years of the route's existence, Terry Pindell covered 18,000 miles of Canadian rails. In this fascinatin …
Race to the New World, The
The compelling tale of a rivalry that drove two unlikely explorers to the edge of a new world, informed by groundbreaking new research and superior narrative power.
The final decade of the 15th century was pivotal in world history. The Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus sailed westward into the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, determined to secure for Spai …
The Race to the New World
The compelling tale of a rivalry that drove two unlikely explorers to the edge of a new world, informed by groundbreaking new research and superior narrative power.
The final decade of the 15th century was pivotal in world history. The Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus sailed westward into the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, determined to secure for Spa …
Passionate Gardener, The
The 13 short pieces featured in Passionate Gardener roam widely and wildly, examining, among other things, common idiosyncrasies and the collective chaos of garden clubs, the host of psychopathologies that afflict "plants people," and obsessive-compulsive behavior such as the chronic moving of plants. This is an irreverent exploration of the fierce …
Me Sexy
A moving and often funny look at Native sexuality from some of Canada's best First Nations and Inuit writers.
A sequel to the highly successful Me Funny, Me Sexy is an anthology containing thirteen contributions from leading members of North America's First Nations writing communities. The many highlights include Lee Maracle's creation story, Salis …
Indian Horse
"An unforgettable work of art." -- National Post
"Richard Wagamese's writing is exceptional not only for its sensitivity but for a warmth that extends beyond the page. With a finely calibrated hand, he explores heritage, identity, nature, salvation, and gratitude in works that quietly celebrate storytelling's vitality and power to transcend." -- Geo …
Bull of the Woods
"I can remember walking through shallow, alkaline ponds as a boy, seeing great schools of fish scatter before me, rippling the surface of the warm waters. But then I discovered that these were not fish but salamanders -- Tiger Salamanders, top dogs of the pond world."
Sydney Cannings, Richard Cannings and Robert Cannings explore in depth the physica …
Voyages
A visually spectacular maritime history of sailing ships and the extraordinary navigators who sailed them to the farthest corners of the globe.
From the mid-15th to mid-19th centuries, the driving force behind world exploration was Europe's growing passion for the luxuries of life and for discovering the uncharted territories that provided these lu …
1494
The true story involving a corrupt pope -- the patriarch of the family fictionalized in the hit Showtime series The Borgias -- in an explosive feud between monarchs and the Church that divided the world in half.
When Columbus triumphantly returned from America to Spain in 1493, his discoveries inflamed an already-smouldering conflict between Spain's …
Drink the Bitter Root
Set across Africa, this is a deeply engaging investigation of trauma, justice and the redemptive powers of imagination from an internationally acclaimed author.
Drink the Bitter Root is a provocative, emotionally charged account of one writer's travels in sub-Saharan Africa. Haunted by the 1993 murder of a Somali teenager by Canadian soldiers in wh …