A History of Canadian Culture

As a rejoinder to those critics who find Canadian culture boring (or non-existent), Jonathan Vance’s ambitious, insightful new book provides proof that this country has a rich and often under-appreciated cultural heritage. Defining “culture” as ... Read More »

April 29, 2009 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs

The Rocket: A Cultural History of Maurice Richard

By Benoît Melançon; Fred A. Reed, trans.

Originally published in Quebec in 2006, The Rocket is being released in English this year to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Montreal Canadiens. However, if you are looking for good ... Read More »

April 29, 2009 | Filed under: Sports, Health & Self-help

Blowback: A Canadian History of Agent Orange and the War at Home

By Chris Arsenault

Most people associate the deadly chemical defoliant Agent Orange with the U.S. war in Vietnam. But freelance journalist Chris Arsenault has uncovered a disturbing Canadian connection that paints a portrait of human and environmental devastation ... Read More »

April 29, 2009 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs

Underground

By June Hutton

June Hutton’s Underground follows Canadian Al Fraser from his time as a 16-year-old boy soldier in the First World War, through labour jobs and work camps during the Great Depression, to a final combat stint ... Read More »

April 29, 2009 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Tainted

By Ross Pennie

The latest suspense novel written by a real-life Canadian doctor demonstrates that our country’s contribution to the medical thriller subgenre is not so much evolving as stabilizing. Tainted immediately admits Brantford-based physician-cum-university professor Ross Pennie ... Read More »

April 29, 2009 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

A Magpie’s Smile

By Eugene Meese

There is a good – possibly great – crime novel to be written about Calgary’s economic boom in the 1970s, when newcomers with dollar signs dancing in their eyes clashed with local residents resisting gentrification, ... Read More »

April 29, 2009 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The New Blue Distance

By Jeanette Lynes

Jeanette Lynes’ debut novel, The Factory Voice, is an entertaining and engaging story set in an airplane factory in Fort William, Ontario, during the Second World War. Lynes, a professor at St. Francis Xavier University, ... Read More »

April 29, 2009 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Factory Voice

By Jeanette Lynes

April 29, 2009 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The English Stories

By Cynthia Flood

The increasing corporatization of Canadian publishing has left more than a few authors and cultural commentators grumbling about a bottom-line, cookie-cutter approach to everything from manuscript acquisition to cover design. This perceived homogenization and its ... Read More »

April 29, 2009 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels