History

Angel of Vengeance: The “Girl Assassin,” the Governor of St. Petersburg, and Russia’s Revolutionary World

In Angel of Vengeance, Queen’s University history professor Ana Siljak tells the story of Russian radicalism, taking as her hook the life of would-be assassin and revolutionary doyenne Vera Zasulich. Of Zasulich herself, there isn’t ... Read More »

March 27, 2008 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, History

★ Sugar: A Bittersweet History

By Elizabeth Abbott

Everyone knows too much sugar is bad for you. But after reading Elizabeth Abbott’s brilliant and assiduously researched Sugar, the truth of exactly how bad will become clear. Abbott takes a spoonful of sugar and ... Read More »

March 3, 2008 | Filed under: History

Arc of the Medicine Line: Mapping the World’s Longest Undefended Border Across the Western Plains

By Tony Rees

Comparing a Canadian-history writer with Pierre Berton is not something that should be done lightly; Berton’s ability to make history accessible to the masses is legendary. However, with Arc of the Medicine Line, Tony Rees ... Read More »

December 20, 2007 | Filed under: History

Kasztner’s Train: The True Story of Rezsö Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust

By Anna Porter

A Hungarian Jew, Rezsö Kasztner spent most of the Second World War trying to prevent his neighbours from being deported to concentration camps. He was successful in his endeavours because he appealed to the basest ... Read More »

September 24, 2007 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, History

The Last to Die: Ronald Turpin, Arthur Lucas, and the End of Capital Punishment in Canada

By Robert J. Hoshowsky

Robert J. Hoshowsky admits to being slightly obsessed with Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas, the last two men hanged in Canada. In The Last to Die, Hoshowsky has reconstructed the lives and deaths of Turpin ... Read More »

July 27, 2007 | Filed under: History

Witch in the Wind: The True Story of the Legendary Bluenose

By Marq de Villiers

The Bluenose is a Canadian icon, the symbol of an age when schooners ruled the waves and were depended upon by many a Maritime family. In his latest book, Governor General’s Award winner Marq de ... Read More »

July 27, 2007 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, History

The New Cold War: Revolutions, Rigged Elections and Pipeline Politics in the Former Soviet Union

By Mark MacKinnon

The dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 was followed not by a sudden flowering of democracy, but by the seizure of political and economic power by former Communist apparatchiks. Opposition to the new regimes by ... Read More »

July 27, 2007 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, History

The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor: The First Woman Settler on the Miramichi

By Sally Armstrong

In The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor, award-winning journalist Sally Armstrong paints a vivid picture of her great-great-great-grandmother, who survived the deaths of three husbands and one lover, and subsequently raised 10 children in the ... Read More »

July 12, 2007 | Filed under: History

Beyond Endurance: 300 Boats, 600 Miles, and One Deadly Storm

By Adam Mayers

In Beyond Endurance, Toronto journalist Adam Mayers tells the story of the 1979 Fastnet race, the worst tragedy in ocean racing history, through the experiences of the crews of four Canadian boats.The storm that hit ... Read More »

May 18, 2007 | Filed under: History

Spymistress: The Life of Vera Atkins, The Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II

By William Stevenson

Readers of William Stevenson’s 1976 book A Man Called Intrepid, about a Canadian-born Second World War spy for the British (named, oddly enough, William Stephenson) will find themselves in familiar territory with the author’s newest ... Read More »