Search results for ""baraka books""

Former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali declared to author Robin Philpot that “the Rwandan Genocide was 100 percent American responsibility.” Yet a more official narrative would have it that horrible Hutu génocidaires planned and executed a satanic scheme to eliminate nearly one million Tutsis after the Rwandan presidential plane crashed in the heart of dark Africa on April 6, 1994. Where do these two contradictory narratives come from? Which is true? Robin Philpot’s vast and methodical research, extensive interviews, and close analysis of events, testimony in courts, and popular writings on the subject show not only that that official narrative is false, but that it was edified to cover up the causes of the tragedy and to protect the criminals responsible for it. What’s more, to make that story more believable, the storytellers have unfailingly reproduced the literary traditions, clichés, and metaphors that provided the underpinnings of slavery, the slave-trade, and colonialism. Nearly 20 years later, the facts about the Rwandan tragedy have been so distorted and the adjudicated facts ignored that Rwanda is now used everywhere to justify so-called humanitarian intervention throughout Africa (and the world). It has become a “useful imperial fiction,” and for that reason, this book seeks to find out what really happened there.

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Written by practicing criminal defense lawyers, jurists, investigators, and specialised journalists, this book criticises the whole initiative of international criminal justice and considers the idea that it must be abandoned in the name of justice. Has foreign policy trumped justice? How are equity, equality before the law, absence of selectivity, protection of witnesses, and enforcement affected? How are lives of citizens throughout the world changed by International Justice? Asking the burning questions about criminal justice as it is practiced at the International Criminal Court, the ad-hoc tribunals for Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, this account will appeal to those interested in politics, law, and human rights.

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In the spring of 1651, a 15-year-old Parisian, Pierre-Esprit Radisson, lands in Trois-Rivières on the St. Lawrence River. Within weeks, the course of his life changes dramatically when Iroquois braves capture him. Canoeing across rivers and lakes and portaging over mountains, Radisson’s captors take him to distant lands where they first torture him, then adopt him as a brother. In this first tome of the adventures of North America’s most famous coureur des bois—an independent entrepreneurial woodsman—Radisson recounts his journey throughout North America and his adoption by the Iroquois. This book, which explores a continent’s history in an era of bravery and heroism, is the stuff of legend.

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Told from an ordinary man’s perspective, these are the journal and letters of Wilhelm Weike as he accompanied Franz Boas—the father of modern anthropology—on his journey to the arctic from 1883 to 1884. This extraordinary document of early arctic history provides a plain, direct view of the Inuit and the whalers in their arctic environment at the end of the 19th century. With invaluable contextual and complementary information, this book contributes key insights during the recent wave of scientific assessment of Franz Boas’s legacy in all social sciences.

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Diagnosed with incurable cancer in 2009 with a maximum six-year life expectancy, the author chronicles her journey through traditional and alternative treatments to complete remission. Without rejecting traditional treatment (i.e., chemo or radio therapies), she refused to be an object to be treated by others. Though initially terrified, she was able to move on, insisting on knowing what was going on and why. This required research, adventure (trips to other countries), sadness, humour, serenity, and some very surprising “alternatives.” These include self-hypnosis, determining the emotional causes of my lymphoma, working with a medium, and the essential need for laughter and hope. Her roadmap could be described as interactive, since newly-diagnosed cancer patients overwhelmed by their situation can adapt her approach to their lives.

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This smartly illustrated literary miscellanea is intended to stimulate readers and writers of English prose. From "dead language – the speaks" (i.e., ad-speak, media-speak, corporate-speak) through "re-writing – Again?" to rules (to obey or not to obey), authors Barry Healey and Cordelia Strube examine what makes good and bad writing. With tongue often in cheek, they scrutinize various forms of prose and the seven major prose elements, and reflect on how to approach the writing process most effectively. Exhilarating Prose also abounds with examples of startling writing, wide-ranging quotes from celebrated authors, and their own ruminations on the oddities of writing and the infinite eccentricity of the human mind. To those interested in English words "in their best order" (Coleridge), this book will inform, engage, and amuse.

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Bloody Sunday (1972) catapulted the Irish 'troubles' onto the world stage, exacerbating suspicion in US intelligence circles that the IRA might turn to the Soviets for guns. South Boston native Raymond Daly, just off a CIA stint in Laos, is sent to Ireland to re-establish a line running guns to the IRA. He deftly earns the trust of gunrunner Slowey, a tough money-making South Boston native, who introduces him to an IRA splinter group operating near Blacklion, a town bordering on Northern Ireland. Ray begins to manipulate Aoife, an Irish woman, in order to gain the trust of the community and embed himself in the organization. After the British Special Air Services raid a safehouse, Ray finds himself involved in executing an informant and his wife. But he also finds himself getting soft on some of those he was sent to infiltrate and becoming more like his cover, 'an Irish American gunrunner with a romantic attachment to the Cause,' and less like an obedient CIA operative. Events spiral, culminating in a shootout with the British army that compels Ray to make a Faustian decision on his future and that of Aoife and the others he was assigned to manipulate.

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Hydro-Québec manages one of the largest power grids on the continent. It is among the most profitable, the least expensive and the greenest. With a stunning renewable energy rate of 99.8 percent, Quebec has two-generation advance on places like California and Ontario. Combining a reporters’ style with thought, philosophy and a touch of humour, Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow look into Hydro-Québec’s future – with an eye also on the past – as the public utility marks the 75th anniversary of its founding. The future is now and it is electric. It spans widely diverse fields such as big data aggregation centres, exports to the United States, acquisitions in Mexico, Chinese buses, mega-batteries, bitcoins, charging stations and much more.Between now and Hydro-Québec’s 100th anniversary, the challenges will be vast. As our habits and expectations change radically everything will be on the table, from solar panels to rates, from remote heating control to underground power lines, and from the environment to relations with the indigenous peoples.

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A fascinating study that uncovers an important aspect of the history of the American Revolution, this account reveals how the British Army that fought the American Revolutionaries was, in fact, an Anglo-German army. Arguing that the British Crown had doubts about the willingness of English soldiers to fight against other English-speaking people in North America, the book details how the task of providing troops fell upon the princes of German States, who were relatives of England’s ruling family. In return for large amounts of money, German princes and barons provided about 30,000 soldiers, many of whom were dragged unwillingly from their families and sent to fight in a war in which they had no interest. While some of the soldiers eventually melted into the French and English-speaking societies of Canada, little history has been available, not even to the descendant families. These soldiers' experiences offer new insight into the battles that took place between 1776 and 1783 and had an impact that spanned four countries.

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I hate hockey!" is the first and last sentence in this novel that offers a great take on our love-hate relationship with hockey. Narrator Antoine Vachon blames the game for killing his marriage with his beautiful ex-wife (well, that and the power outage that brought her home unexpectedly to find him in bed with her intern). But hockey is a pretext for unlikely adventure in this sardonic roman noir that at times flirts with the outrageous.Antoine Vachon is a total loser living in a pitiful bachelor apartment after he has lost his wife and his job as a car salesman. When his son’s hockey coach is found dead, he is browbeaten into coaching the team for one game. He makes it through the game (to great comic effect), but things take a turn for the worse when they stop at a motel after the game. Who killed the former coach and why? Was Antoine’s son involved? Or his ex-wife? The late coach was liked by all and was a pillar in the community. He was close to his player, perhaps too close… Why is Antoine unable to communicate with his son?

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The Lelarge family quietly runs its little seafood empire from Quebec's North Shore. But when an elegant visitor is dispatched by a mysterious Japanese conglomerate to their isolated fishing village, things will never be the same again. Because Mori Ishikawa has a secret invention: Ori. And it's destined to change the course of human history.

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Emile Claudel is no ordinary child. Only months after he was born, following the liberation of France in 1945, he can already speak several languages, much to his mother's frustration. Emile, nicknamed the Little Fox for his appearance, is born into a loveless home, where patience is in short supply. Abandoned by his family, he struggles to find a place in society. This deftly written coming-of-age novel follows Emile on his journey toward adulthood, as the country he was born into passes from austere conservatism to the counterculture of the 1960s.

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We're never quite sure what made Chloé take a flight to an unnamed country in South America. There she lives in self-imposed exile following a suicide attempt.This series of short vignettes provides a glimpse of Chloé’s scattered thoughts as she attempts to adjust to life in a new setting and recover from her depressive episode. Amidst the quirky observational humour of her internal monologue, a story of loneliness emerges, as she tries (for the most part, unsuccessfully) to form meaningful connections with the people she meets, and does her best to avoid, in her new surroundings.At times biting and sarcastic, at times beautiful and reflective, this debut novel takes an intimate look at depression, with a sharp and witty narrator who rides the line between self-aware and self-deprecating. A quirky, sweet story of overcoming hopelessness and finding human connection.

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In the later 19th century, French-Canadian Roman Catholic immigrants from Quebec were deemed a threat to the United States, potential terrorists in service of the Pope. Books and newspapers floated the conspiracy theory that the immigrants seeking work in New England's burgeoning textile industry were actually plotting to annex parts of the United States to a newly independent Quebec. Vermette’s groundbreaking study sets this neglected and poignant tale in the broader context of North American history. He traces individuals and families, from the textile barons who created a new industry to the poor farmers and laborers of Quebec who crowded into the mills in the post-Civil War period. Vermette discusses the murky reception these cross-border immigrants met in the USA, including dehumanizing conditions in mill towns and early-20th-century campaigns led by the Ku Klux Klan and the Eugenics movement. Vermette also discusses what occurred when the textile industry moved to the Deep South and brings the story of emigrants up to the present day. Vermette shows how this little-known episode in U.S. history prefigures events as recent as yesterday’s news. His well documented narrative touches on the issues of cross-border immigration; the Nativists fear of the Other; the rise and fall of manufacturing in the U.S.; and the construction of race and ethnicity.

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The Prophetic Anti-Gallic Letters Adam Thom and the Hidden Roots of The Dominion of Canada by Adam Thom was published in 1836 based on Thom's editorials in Montreal Herald written under the pseudonym "Camillus" in the previous two years. They were never reprinted, despite their importance and above all the people for whom Thom was the public voice, namely the executive committee of the powerful Constitutional Association of Montreal, that included the president George Moffatt as well as Peter McGill and John McCord. Thom was also co-author of the famous Durham Report. More than an anti-French, anti-Republican tract, The Anti-Gallic Letters, though generally ignored by historians, are crucial to understanding how British North America mutated into the Dominion of Canada in 1867. Erroneously characterized as a minor discord between the Melbourne cabinet in London and a select group of merchants, bankers and gentlemen of the Montreal Tory oligarchy, The Anti-Gallic Letters reveal the total disagreement among people of British culture and background in London or in Montreal on how power should be controlled in the colonies of Canada. Westminster, inspired by the 1832 Reform Bill, believed in a gradual and harmonious transfer of British parliamentary values and institutions to a majority group of a different culture, language and background, described as "The great body of people" by Governor Gosford in his 1835 Throne speech read in French. But the Montreal Tory Oligarchy, mobilized by fear and bravado, anticipated the worst, while still espousing the same British imperial world mission as Westminster. Seeing Montreal as the hub of British North America, they brandished the spectre of a British Empire dismembered by a French Republic arising in the St. Lawrence Valley or annexation of Upper and Lower Canada by the powerful American Republic. They thus considered themselves justified to threaten the use lethal force to make Downing Street change its course. Moreover, as François Deschamps shows, they succeeded: first in 1837 with the brutal repression of the Patriotes in Lower Canada and the Reformers in Upper Canada, second with the Durham Report and the Act of Union, and finally with the 1867 BNA Act creating the Dominion of Canada. Now reprinted, the Anti-Gallic Letters with Deschamps's fascinating presentation and notes provide a new but crucial point of view as Canada prepares to mark the 150th anniversary of the Dominion of Canada in 2017. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography.

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The next installment in the series, this book follows the young, 17th-century explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson from North America to France and back, with plenty of excitement along the way.After spending two years with his new Iroquois family, Radisson escapes and sails across the Atlantic to Holland before boarding ship to head down the west coast of France. Using his wits and the skills picked up in the New World (present-day Canada), he makes his way up the Loire and arrives in Paris. But war for the succession of the king of France has razed the faubourg where he had lived with his family. So Radisson agrees to sign on with the Jesuits who are intent on evangelizing the New World. His return to the St. Lawrence Valley means assuming responsibility for his past, but also honoring his commitment to the. The New World is rife with challenge and conflict as cultures and economies collide. His mastery of the Mohawk language and knowledge of their culture make him a much-needed strategist and diplomat as plans are hatched to establish a new mission in the heart of Iroquois territory, which until recently was home to New France's mortal enemy.

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This book focuses on the lives and works of two of the very first women of European American ancestry to practice architecture in North America during the 19th century. Mother Joseph du Sacre-Coeur, a Sister of Providence - born Esther Pariseau, in St. Elzar, Quebec - is credited with works built in the present states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, northern Oregon, and in the province of British Columbia. For her contributions, Mother Joseph was honored by the State of Washington as one of two people to represent it in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, DC. Louise Blanchard Bethune designed and built works in the Buffalo, New York area. Storming the Old Boys' Citadel follows the evolving histories of two Revival-styled multiuse public buildings considered to be these women's major works. Listed on the United States' National Register of Historic Places, they have both continued to function, with extensive additions and other changes made to each architect's original structure, for the communities where their architects lived. The book addresses issues of lost or hidden North American history.

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Drawing on his rich experience in public service and teaching, Jacques Parizeau, former premier of Quebec, explains in these pages how the idea of an independent Quebec first took root and evolved. This is the first book of Parizeau's political writing to be translated into English, and it provides lively commentary on the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s, on the the author's career as finance minister under Premier René Lévesque, and on his own administration in the mid-1990s. Parizeau also examines Quebec’s current economic, political, social and cultural situation and reviews options for future development.

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Recalling the full significance of the contact made between Europe and the Americas, this book shows how the encounter of two "old worlds" gave rise to a truly new world on both sides of the Atlantic. From astronomy to food, the history shows how America began transforming Europe the moment European explorers set foot on American soil. Featuring an alphabetical glossary to connect the particular to the universal, the book reveals the vast contributions the Americas and their original inhabitants made to the world.

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In this story of eco-resistance based on actual events in the heart of Canada's Nickel Range, Jake McCool, the injured hardrock miner, returns to work for the International Nickel Company (INCO) but now at its nearby Copper Cliff smelter complex. In no time, Jake finds himself embroiled in a vicious fight over health and safety and, more specifically, over the extreme levels of sulphur dioxide that poison the air in the smelter but also in the entire surrounding area. The fight takes on new dimensions as freelance reporter Foley Gilpin sparks interest at Canada's national daily Globe & Mail and as local parliamentarian Harry Wardell smells the collusion between INCO and the highest levels of Ministry of Natural Resources at Queen's Park in Toronto.

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This book tells the fascinating story of Montréal, Canada, from prehistoric time through the 21st century. From the Iroquoian community of Hochelaga to the bustling economic metropolis that Montréal has become, this account describes the social, economic, political, and cultural forces and trends that have driven the city’s development, shedding light on the city's French, British, and American influences. Outlining Montréal 's diverse ethnic and cultural origins and its strategic geographical position, this lively account shows how a small missionary colony founded in 1642 developed into a leading economic city and cultural centre, the thriving cosmopolitan hub of French-speaking North America.

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Challenging a prevailing attitude, this account disputes the idea that racism is no longer a factor in American life. Based on cultural and literary evidence—including Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn—it argues that, in some ways, the United States very much resembles the country of the 1850s. Not only are the representations of blacks in popular culture throwbacks to the days of minstrelsy, but politicians are also raising stereotypes reminiscent of those which fugitive slaves found it necessary to combat: that African Americans are lazy, dependent, and in need of management. Bold and direct, this book brings an important debate to the surface.

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A collection of short stories, this book features a narrative that, while unified by a dark theme, is diverse and surprisingly optimistic. The voices that recount the stories differ significantly, yet all resonate with the clarity of unmistakable truth. Avoiding the kind of graphic violence inherent in dealing with a topic like bullying, this compilation favors qualities such as courage and fortitude, sometimes displayed in the face of intimidating odds. Detailed and compassionate, it even manages to find humor as it tackles this otherwise sinister topic.

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After a man inadvertently swallows an insect, he withdraws from the human race; another feels an ape growing inside him; and a son struggles to decipher the meaning of his father's death. Visceral, surprising, and surreal, these twelve stories from David Clerson move from the charged darkness of the woods to the urban underground, while characters set a course to see out the night.Scurrying insects and luminous jellyfish reveal a predatory, ever-present world of childhood fairy tales, lurking shadows, and unrelenting fevers. Individuals are swallowed up by cities and bogs in this study of nature and humanity in all their terrifying glory. Throughout, Clerson draws-and blurs- the lines between man and beast, and life and death, all beneath an impassive, ailing sky.

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WINNER OF THE HUBERT REEVES 2021 AWARD FOR SCIENCE COMMUNICATORSIt’s a story peopled by leading figures of modern nuclear physics, bold chemists, and scientists accused of spying. The one idea driving them is to master the atom, whatever the result may be.With war raging in Europe, the Allies worried about advances being made by Germans scientists. The British wanted to get a jump ahead of Hitler and the physicists working for the Third Reich. England was too close to the enemy, so they decided to secretly establish a nuclear research laboratory in Montreal. The best scientists moved to Montreal with two goals in mind: develop an ultra-powerful bomb and find a new source of energy. What started as cooperation with the Americans instead became a race to harness the energy of the atom when Washington launched the Manhattan project.Montreal and the Bomb breathes new life into the exhilarating saga of European scientists secretly developing a strategic nuclear laboratory in the halls of the Université de Montréal. It’s a story peopled by leading figures of modern physics, bold chemists, and scientists accused of spying. The one idea driving them is to master the atom, whatever the result may be.

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It's a long way from a basement apartment in a Montreal suburb to a new life on a fictional planet, but that's the destination our unnamed narrator has set his sights on, bringing readers with him on an off-beat and often hilarious journey.Along the way, he writes poems, buys groceries at the dollar store, and earns minimum wage at a dead-end supermarket job. But not to worry - he is John McClane, he is the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi (with a bacteria he's never heard of), he is Justin Timberlake... Meryl Streep... a grumpy George Clooney...In between treatments for his cystic fibrosis and the constant drip-drip-drip of disappointment, he dreams of a new life on Tatouine, where he'll play Super Mario Bros and make sand angels all day. But in the meantime, he'll have to make do with daydreams. Daydreams of normality, daydreams of surreal little catastrophes, daydreams of a better life. On Tatouine.

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As a third-generation logger, a life in the bush is all Joe Adler has ever known. He works, he hunts; he provides. But when a man dies on his watch, and his wife abandons their young family for writing school in Toronto, Joe must face the consequences of his hard-living ways. Left alone to care for his seven-year-old daughter, he enlists the help of Jenny Lacroix, the wife of the man whose death he might be responsible for. Resentful and angry, and his conscience over Jenny's husband far from clear, Joe threatens to spiral down the path of fury, booze, and violence that did his father in. What follows is a stunning tale of love and redemption, hatred and forgiveness, set amid the desolate cutovers, crystalline lakes, and rolling black spruce forests north of Lake Superior, and in a small logging town called Black River, once mighty and now derelict, in its final throes of existence. Things Worth Burying is a novel set in a region that is rarely written about, the small resource-based communities that exist along the Trans-Canada Highway and its tributaries, from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay, the land north of Superior, a land of miners and loggers living a life in the bush, making ends meet, making do with the rise and fall of market economies that determine so much of their fate. Drawing upon his Northern Ontario upbringing, Mayr brings us a single story pulled from a working-class people who in the face of disappearing jobs and shrinking populations make the difficult choice to stay because the land, the life, is in their blood.

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Girls and women played an important role in the industrialization of Canada—particularly in the cotton textile industry concentrated in Quebec. Until the end of World War I, they accounted for more than half of the workers who toiled in the province’s cotton mills. Contrary to conventional wisdom that women were most often quiescent, short-term workers who undercut unions’ organizing efforts, female cotton workers demonstrated remarkable levels of labor activism and militancy across time. Through their participation and their changing roles within working-class families, these girls and women were instrumental in helping to transform Quebec into the increasingly modern industrial society associated with the Quiet Revolution. Central to the author’s research are 84 oral interviews with women workers who were employed in two important manufacturing centers, Valleyfield and Magog. Complementing the rich body of information obtained from the interviews, the author has used an array of primary and secondary sources to explore the textile companies’ motivation for employing girls and women, their recruiting methods, the demographic composition of the labor force, and working conditions. Patterns of continuity and change are examined within the context of prevailing economic conditions, cultural and social attitudes, and technological developments. Through The Mill, one of few in-depth studies of the lives of women industrial workers in Canada, is an invaluable contribution to feminist labor history.

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The year is 1684. Twelve-year-old Eustache Bréman leaves behind a life of misery begging on the streets of France for a second chance in the New World with his mom, his sweetheart Marie-Élisabeth, and Marie-Élisabeth's family. But life is tough, with plenty more tragedy and disappointment to come on De La Salle's ill-fated expedition to the Mississippi. Join Eustache as he comes of age in Louisiana, all in a sparkling English translation that's every bit as modern and playful as Camille Bouchard's original French. Squabbling leaders, bloodthirsty freebooters, and a hostile Karankawa nation make for heartbreaking adventure--and occasional proof that "all sorrows end up diluted in the concerns of everyday life." This action-packed young adult novel weaves real historical events and important themes into the day-to-day concerns of a young boy. It is written simply and well, posing some troubling questions along the way. Will God answer Eustache's prayers or punish him for his actions? Will young love conquer all? Or will the men's true nature be revealed and bring about their downfall?

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Based on true events, this novel recounts the early history of North America in modern accessible language. The third installment of the series continues Radisson's adventures with the Jesuits and the Iroquois. Radisson's skills in diplomacy are tested, as he tempers the ardour of the Jesuits and calms the arrogant and distrustful French traders, and cultivates friendships with the Iroquois who favour peace. Courage, diplomacy, love, and conspiracy make for an action-packed adventure in a little-known past.

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Shane Bearskin, a young Cree man from James Bay, and Theresa Wawati, an Algonquin woman from northern Quebec, are united by a profound love for each other and a visceral attachment to their heritage. As children, both experienced the challenges that face so many young people from indigenous communities.They are now studying in universities in Montreal. Theresa is determined to become a lawyer to defend her Algonquin nation whose lands and way of life are constantly encroached upon. When Theresa is diagnosed with terminal leukemia and given a year to live, they decide to live out their dream of returning to live in the bush like their ancestors and also have a baby. With Speak to Me in Indian, David Gidmark has captured the aching beauty of life and the passionate longing for freedom that, despite all odds, breathe hope in human beings worldwide.

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Quebec's Eastern Townships are home to a higher concentration of artists than anywhere else in Canada. With his starting and finishing point being Frederick Coburn (1871–1960), arguably Canada's best-known painter at the peak of his career, author Nick Fonda sets out to revisit his work and provide new insights and facts into Coburn's life and surroundings. To better understand the man, he also introduces other accomplished artists living and working in the same area—not all landscape painters—who have followed quite unusual paths as they responded to the same muse that moved Coburn a century ago.Based on interviews with neighbours and Coburn aficionados and Nick Fonda's own thorough understanding of the milieu in which Coburn grew up, lived, and worked, Hanging Fred and a Few Others is a lively and fascinating story of an important artist but also a reflection on the role of place—the Eastern Townships—in an artist's life.In addition to being a biography of Coburn, Nick Fonda's book provides brief biographical sketches of other artists including Minnie Gill, Denis Palmer, Mary Martin, Stuart Main, France Jodoin, and Kevin Sonmor.

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Claude Lacaille witnessed up close the oppression and poverty in Haiti, Ecuador, and Chile where dictators and predatory imperialists ruled. Like other advocates of Liberation Theology, he saw it as his duty to join the resistance, particularly against Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet. But the dictators were not alone, as they often enjoyed the support of the Vatican, sometimes tacit, but then brazenly open under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He began writing this book in Chile where thousands shed blood simply because they defended victims of dictatorship, opposed rapacious policies and economic doctrines, consoled the downtrodden, and breathed new hope and courage into a people who desperately needed it. These men and women remain an inspiration for those who still believe in a better world. This is the story of Claude Lacaille's experience from 1965 through 1986 in the slums and squats in the Caribbean and South America and also what it really means to have a preferential option for the poor. His book shows how liberation theology and spirituality enkindled the life and the work of an ordinary Quebec missionary.

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Angry and hilarious, this collection of satirical essays about Barack Obama confronts the racial tensions that have dogged the president during his campaign and first year in office. Some of the pieces include ""Ma and Pa Clinton Flog Uppity Black Man,"" ""Crazy Rev. Wright,"" and ""Obama Scolds Black Fathers, Gets Bounce in Polls."" Previously unpublished material also addresses the controversies around Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Tiger Woods.

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Patriots, Traitors and Empires is an account of modern Korean history, written from the point of view of those who fought to free their country from the domination of foreign empires. It traces the history of Korea’s struggle for freedom from opposition to Japanese colonialism starting in 1905 to North Korea’s current efforts to deter the threat of invasion by the United States or anybody else by having nuclear weapons. Koreans have been fighting a civil war since 1932, when Kim Il Sung, founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, along with other Korean patriots, launched a guerrilla war against Japanese colonial domination. Other Koreans, traitors to the cause of Korea’s freedom, including a future South Korean president, joined the side of Japan’s Empire, becoming officers in the Japanese army or enlisting in the hated colonial police force. From early in the 20th century when Japan incorporated Korea into its burgeoning empire, Koreans have struggled against foreign domination, first by Japan then by the United States. Some protests were peaceful; others involved riots, insurrection and sustained guerrilla war. After the US engineered political partition of their country in 1945, the Koreans fought a conventional war, from 1950-1953. Three million gave their lives. When the Japanese Empire collapsed in 1945, Koreans erupted in joy, quickly organizing an independent state, the Korean People’s Republic. Joy turned to bitterness when the US refused to recognize the new republic, and soon declared war on it. Hungering for self-determination, land reform, and an economy directed to local needs, Koreans turned to communists as leaders, who had established great moral authority in the anti-colonial struggle for freedom. They looked to the Soviet Union for inspiration. But a communist Korea, a Korea that handed control of the country’s land, resources, and factories to farmers, cooperatives and state-owned enterprises, clashed with the aspirations of US policy planners, mainly Wall Street lawyers and bankers. The latter sought a world in which US corporations and investors would be free to scour the globe in search of lucrative trade and investment opportunities. Patriots, Traitors and Empires, The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom is a much-needed antidote to the jingoist clamor spewing from all quarters whenever Korea is discussed.

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Connected via the fictional town of St Anne's, a community along Nova Scotia's western shore, each story takes its title from the children's rhyme Counting Crows. One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a message, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told. Within each tale an individual (often from the same family, always from the same town) will note the number of crows in their midst and recall the poem as it relates to the prophecy and the story at hand. Between the last century and the current one, the characters (for the most part, women) walk a shifting landscape carved out by war, poverty, and patriarchal expectations. Beneath the gaze of a small town and these intelligent birds whose memories are unforgiving, we are as close as a heartbeat to the souls upon these pages.

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