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Compulsively readable, this first social history of the opening up of the Canadian West is a triumph of historical detective work and gives us Siggins at the top of her game. While researching the biography of Louis Riel, Maggie Siggins became aware of a figure lurking in the background who had had a profound influence on the great Canadian reformer. This was his grand-mother Marie-Anne Lagimodière, née Gaboury. As Siggins’ research progressed, she came to regard Marie-Anne as the most exceptional Canadian woman of the nineteenth century. The perils of Laura Secord and Susanna Moodie paled in comparison, yet she remains largely unknown. Beautiful and rebellious, Marie-Anne was still unma...
It all started with an R.H. King Collegiate class of ’61 reunion: 26 women meeting 30 years after their graduation. Siggins was struck by their wide range of fascinating life stories. These, after all, were the women who were born during the war, had come of age in the ’60s, and were changed by the women’s movement of the ’70s. They had all stood at the forefront of one of the greatest revolutions in history -- the emancipation of half the human race. Inspired by that reunion, Siggins set out to write the life stories of her classmates, using the emerging themes from these intense dramas as a gateway to explore women’s lives throughout history. The result is a compelling series of personal journeys linked by nothing less than an absorbing cultural history of women in the Western world, from antiquity to the present. A book that speaks powerfully to people of all ages -- and especially those of “the cusp generation” -- In Her Own Time is an inspiring, informative and wholly entertaining read.
The Canadian politician who was convicted of murder tells his story—and argues for his innocence. In 1984, Colin Thatcher was convicted of killing his ex-wife and sentenced to life in prison. The murder and trial provoked a national media frenzy, casting the once-prominent Saskatchewan politician as the villain. After serving twenty-two years, Thatcher was released and finally able to offer his own account of what happened from the time of the murder up until he left prison. Though firmly proclaiming his innocence from the start, he is now able to go behind the bureaucratic red tape and provide full disclosure, including evidence not seen at the trial, legal documents, and personal correspondence, ultimately questioning the public’s faith in local law enforcement, mainstream media, and justice.
Published to widespread critical acclaim, Riel: A Life of Revolution proved that an intimate and revealing portrait of one of our most enduring —and most misunderstood—legends could be an almost instant national bestseller. -Who is Louis Riel?’ Maggie Siggins asks, and comes up with some fascinating answers. Seen by many as an unrepentant traitor, a messianic prophet and a pathetic tyrant, Siggins uncovers the real Louis Riel—a complex man full of contradiction and angst, a charismatic visionary and poet, a humanitarian who gave up prestige and wealth to fight for the Métis people. Infused with atmosphere and detail, this fascinating portrait is illuminating in its accounts of the people and events that moulded the enigmatic rebel. Revealing a man passionate about forging an equitable and just relationship between native and white people, Riel: A Life of Revolution is more relevant today than ever before.
A study of the mysterious stone carvings of naked females exposing their genitals on medieval churches all over the British Isles.
Shining a spotlight on the life, vision, and cultivation of one of Canada's most influential historical figures.
One of the most influential sportsmen of the late 20th century, Johnny F. Bassett's marketing wizardry belied his impact on professional hockey and football. A Canadian showman with a Barnumesque flair for spectacle, Bassett challenged the orthodoxy of sports, building sporting utopias in the fatally flawed World Football League, World Hockey Association, and United States Football League. He catered to the common fan, demanded fair treatment of athletes, and forced the sporting establishment to change the way it did business, often to his own detriment. Drawing on archival research and interviews with Bassett's contemporaries, this comprehensive biography chronicles his life in and around professional sports: his quixotic attempt to compete with the Maple Leafs; his stunning coup in signing three members of the reigning Super Bowl champions for his WFL team; his battles with the Canadian government over American football; his audacious marketing of hockey in Alabama; and his rivalry with Donald Trump for the soul of the USFL.
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In 1885, Louis Riel was charged with high treason, found guilty, and consequently executed for his role in Saskatchewan's North-West Rebellion. During his trial, the Métis leader gave two speeches, passionately defending the interests of the Métis in western Canada as well as his own life. Riel's Defence studies these speeches, demonstrating the range of Riel's political and personal concerns. The first and better known of the two speeches addresses the jury, while Riel's second speech - rarely reprinted - addresses the court following his guilty verdict. Both orations have been edited, annotated, and reprinted, and are followed by essays from diverse perspectives including philosophy, law...
Based on the memoir of Stephen Norton Van Blaricom, An Uncommon Journey details the origins of Dawson County, Montana, in the late 1800s. The oldest of nine children, Van Blaricom left home at the age of thirteen and worked for many of northeastern Montana's earliest ranches. After working for the Northern Pacific Railroad, he married Maud Griselle, one of the first female telegraphers for the Northern Pacific. More than a family history, An Uncommon Journey tells the personal stories of many of the first settlers of this last West: buffalo hunters, cattlemen, train drivers, early tradesmen, saloonkeepers, scallywags, and lawmen. This is the story of many of the long-forgotten first settlers of old Dawson County and how they met the challenges of a country that was then primitive and remote at its best and deadly at its worst. For all of them it was, indeed, An Uncommon Journey.