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Novelist, diplomat, statesman, representative of both the First Nations and the Crown in Canada, James Bartleman always writes from his incredible personal experience. Presented here are three extraordinary books, each touching on a different aspect of his life, whether a candid tell-all about the halls of power, or his unique novels in which the names and details have been changed to protect the innocent. Guaranteed to captivate readers of all stripes. Includes: Seasons of Hope Traces James Bartleman's life from an impoverished Native childhood to being appointed ambassador for Canada and lieutenant governor for Ontario, and how as his career advanced, he mobilized public support for Native...
A warm, at times hilarious, yet dark childhood memoir from a bestselling author. This memoir recalls the boyhood years of Ontario’s future lieutenant-governor, living in a dilapidated old house complete with outdoor toilet and coal oil-lamp lighting. Behind the outrageous stories, larger-than life-characters, and descriptions of the mores of a small village in the heart of Ontario’s cottage country are flashes of insight from the perspective of a child that recall the great classic Who has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell. But why "a different Muskoka?" Because the boy was a half-breed kid. Visits to his mother’s reserve showed him that he was caught between two worlds. His mother’s fight with depression flowed from that dilemma. His father — the book’s main character — was a lovable, white, working class, happy-go-lucky guy who never had any money but who made the best home brew in the village — and his specialty was raisin wine. Like that raisin wine, this unusual book goes down easily and has a kick to it.
From the accomplished memoirist and former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario comes a first novel of incredible heart and spirit for every Canadian. The novel follows one girl, Martha, from the Cat Lake First Nation in Northern Ontario who is "stolen" from her family at the age of six and flown far away to residential school. She doesn't speak English but is punished for speaking her native language; most terrifying and bewildering, she is also "fed" to the school's attendant priest with an attraction to little girls. Ten long years later, Martha finds her way home again, barely able to speak her native tongue. The memories of abuse at the residential school are so strong that she tries to drown her feelings in drink, and when she gives birth to her beloved son, Spider, he is taken away by Children's Aid to Toronto. In time, she has a baby girl, Raven, whom she decides to leave in the care of her mother while she braves the bewildering strangeness of the big city to find her son and bring him home.
James Bartleman looks back over a life that has brought him from an impoverished Native childhood to serving as an ambassador, and as lieutenant governor of Ontario. From a global career, through bottomless depression, to his crowning achievements promoting Native education in Canada, Bartleman tells his incredible story in his own words.
A senior Canadian diplomat is viciously assaulted in his hotel room in South Africa. His world collapses in post-traumatic shock and he is haunted by flashback images of the discrimination he and his family endured when they moved to a small community in central Ontario immediately following World War Two. To exorcise these ghosts, he returns to the past to relive his childhood and youth. In the ensuing memoir, he describes the colorful personalities of a small northern community in which individuals, Indian and white, are larger than life, and in which race relations reflect the unenlightened attitudes of the times. Throughout Out Of Muskoka Jim Bartleman contrasts the universal existential conditions he faced as a child (discrimination, poverty, suicide, religious quest) with what he experienced as a diplomat serving in five continents over 35 years. In the process, he discovered that to feel whole, he had to feel accepted by the two worlds of his ancestry: Native and white.
A novel of love and betrayal dealing with the biggest issues facing Canada’s Indigenous peoples today: murdered and missing Indigenous women and the infamous Sixties Scoop.
From the accomplished memoirist and former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario comes a first novel of incredible heart and spirit for every Canadian. The novel follows one girl, Martha, from the Cat Lake First Nation in Northern Ontario who is "stolen" from her family at the age of six and flown far away to residential school. She doesn't speak English but is punished for speaking her native language; most terrifying and bewildering, she is also "fed" to the school's attendant priest with an attraction to little girls. Ten long years later, Martha finds her way home again, barely able to speak her native tongue. The memories of abuse at the residential school are so strong that she tries to drown her feelings in drink, and when she gives birth to her beloved son, Spider, he is taken away by Children's Aid to Toronto. In time, she has a baby girl, Raven, whom she decides to leave in the care of her mother while she braves the bewildering strangeness of the big city to find her son and bring him home.
A young First Nations man sets out from his Muskoka home in a quest for redemption after a terrible fire. In the early 1930s, Oscar Wolf, a 13-year-old Native from the Chippewas of Rama Indian Reserve, sets fire to the business section of his village north of Toronto in a fit of misguided rage against white society, inadvertently killing his grandfather and a young maid. Tortured by guilt and fearful of divine retribution, Oscar sets out on a lifetime quest for redemption. His journey takes him to California where he works as a fruit picker and prizefighter during the Great Depression, to the Second World War where he becomes a decorated soldier, to university where he excels as a student and athlete, and to the diplomatic service in the postwar era where he causes a stir at the United Nations in New York and in Colombia and Australia. Beset by an all-too-human knack for making doubtful choices, Oscar discovers that peace of mind is indeed hard to find in this saga of mid-20th-century aboriginal life in Canada and abroad that will appeal to readers of all backgrounds and ages.
For four years, James Bartleman mixed with all the biggest names – Clinton, Blair, Yeltsin, Mitterrand, Castro, Kohl, Chirac, and on and on, as Chrétien’s Henry Kissinger figure. He was involved in deadly serious crisis management, accompanying Chrétien to all the world’s hot spots – dodging bullets in Sarajevo, and trying to avoid war in the Spanish trawler incident. Not to mention dealing with Premier Li of China on an official visit encountering protestors in Montreal and shouting, “I am departing immediately. Never have I and my country been so humiliated.” Which leader at the G7 Summit in Halifax passed out drunk in the hotel elevator? What did Jean Chrétien do to set Whi...
Muskoka, the University of Western Ontario, Ottawa, New York, Colombia, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Peru, Cuba, Israel, Belgium, South Africa, Australia -the place-names tell the story of an amazing career. Then there are the people involved -Trudeau, Clark, and Chrétien, Kissinger, Castro, Rabin, Walesa, Havel, Mandela and dozens of others. Not to mention the moments of high drama: when young Jim Bartleman becomes Ottawa's security expert on terrorism during the FLQ crisis in 1970; or when he leads the movement to bring countries like Poland and Ukraine into NATO and the West. But this is also a light-hearted look at what our diplomats actually do and is full of funny stories: so watch young Jim attend a drunken party with Trudeau; compete with Mother Teresa for Bangladesh babies; or sweep his Belgian bride off her feet to the altar. Bartleman also writes candidly about falling prey to depression, and about his concern, as a native Canadian, to see aboriginal peoples well treated. In summary, a richly varied career, as the only Canadian diplomat to serve on all six continents, well told by a remarkable character. *** On Six Continents is a Douglas Gibson Book.