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At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the French and the English tu ed their attention to the northerly climes of the New World. With the naïve and benevolent complicity of Native tribes, they penetrated, awestruck, the wild Eden that had been inhabited for centuries by Kanadyens, Wanabakis, and Gaspégois. In only fifty years, the foreigners took posession of those territories, calling them New France and New England. Cristoforo recounts the rollicking adventures of Europeans in the New World, who did their best to recreate the Old World despite their intentions of leaving it behind forever. It is a Baroque tale, a pell-mell mixture of fictional and historical characters. The Purita...
By taking on more than 120 judiciously chosen questions about wine and answering them clearly and rigorously, Marc Chapleau has dared to go into areas where others have feared to tread. A memory aid and a research tool thanks to its comprehensive index, this book is by a Canadian writer about wine available in this country. Let’s Talk Wine! is an ideal companion for wine lovers, whether they are beginners or connoisseurs.
In 1945, Gabrielle Roy skyrocketed to fame and fortune when her first novel, The Tin Flute, was an instant hit. Over 700,000 copies sold in the United States, and the book was awarded the prestigious Prix Fna in France. In Canada, The Tin Flute received a Governor Generals Award. Gabrielle Roy dedicated herself to her vocation as a writer.
Born in Quebec, Emma Lajeunesse studied in Europe and in 1869 at the age of 23 launched her opera career in Italy. Almost overnight she became Albani, the world-renowned diva.
John Grierson, founder of both the British documentary film movement and the National Film Board of Canada, was one of the twentieth century’s most influential personalities in film culture. He gave the word "documentary" to the English language.
Susanna Moodie was already a published author when she emigrated from England to Upper Canada with her husband and baby in 1832. The Moodies were seeking financial security and a better life in the colony, but they found themselves struggling to make a living on a bush farm. Despite her primitive life in the backwoods and the demands of caring for her children, Susanna continued to write and publish. In 1852 her best-known book, Roughing It in the Bush, was published in England. A Canadian edition appeared in 1871. Roughing It in the Bush has endured both as a valuable social document of the Canadian pioneer experience and as a work of literature.
Canadian surgeon Lucille Teasdale and her husband founded Lacor Hospital in northern Uganda in 1961. For 35 years the two doctors treated such contagious diseases as malaria, TB, and AIDS, and Teasdale performed thousands of operations under difficult conditions. They lived through civil war, hostage takings, and epidemics. Teasdale received the highest humanitarian awards from the U.N. for her lifes work in Africa.
Born in Manitoba of Icelandic parents, Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962) became one of Canada’s most famous and controversial Arctic explorers. After graduate studies in anthropology at Harvard University, Stefansson lived with and studied Inuit in the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories in the winter of 1906-07. In two subsequent expeditions he completed a major anthropological survey of the Central and Western Arctic coasts and islands of North America; located and lived with the Copper Inuit, a previously unknown group of aboriginal people; and discovered the world’s last major land masses. During his third and final great Arctic expedition from 1913 to 1918, some of Stefansson’s men perished tragically, an outcome that severely damaged his reputation. Nevertheless, the hardy explorer contributed immensely to knowledge about the Far North, particularly in his championing of the "Friendly Arctic." Part scientist, part showman, Vilhjalmur Stefansson was truly unique among polar adventurers.
Writer, activist, and politician Nellie McLung (1873-1951) was a strong and effective voice for the women’s movement. She was one of the Famous Five suffragists from Alberta whose court challenge in the Persons Case led to women in Canada being declared to be legal "persons" in 1929. | Margaret Macpherson holds a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and has worked as a teacher and journalist in Halifax, Bermuda, and Vancouver. She currently lives in Edmonton with her husband and four children.