"In a definitive overview of Laurence Aberhart's work to date, 238 full-page reproductions of iconic photographs of churches, marae, cemeteries, Masonic Lodges and other subjects are accompanied by essays by New Zealand art writers Gregory O'Brien and Justin Paton. O'Brien pursues the motif of the horizon through Aberhart's work, considering the many journeys that his career encompasses and the shelters and structures seen along the way, while Paton focuses on the human presences that animate Aberhart's body of work"--Book jacket.
One of Aotearoa New Zealand's most perceptive artists, Laurence Aberhart is a photographer who makes images of the vanishing past in an accelerating world. It was Christchurch where he developed his eye for the scenes that later brought his work to international attention. These early photographs of ordinary suburban houses, abandoned shops, masonic lodges and long-lost fast-food joints-some of them now iconic, others unseen or little known-depict a city and a way of life that no longer exists.
The first major biography of an iconic war correspondent sheds light on the personal life and fascinating career of a remarkable Canadian figure--and it's now available in paperback. "This is Matthew Halton of the CBC." So began Matthew Halton's war broadcasts. Originally a reporter for the Toronto Star, Matt Halton, as Senior War Correspondent for the CBC during the Second World War, reported from the front lines in Italy and Northwest Europe, and became "the voice of Canada at war." His reports were at times tender and sad and other times shocking and explosive. Covering the flashpoints of his generation--from the war trenches to the coronation of the Queen--Halton filed a series of reports warning that the Third Reich was "becoming a vast laboratory and breeding ground for war." For a decade he chronicled Europe's drift to disaster, covering the breakdown of the League of Nations, the Spanish Civil War, and the Nazi takeover of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Along the way he interviewed Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Herman Goering, Neville Chamberlain, Charles de Gaulle, Mahatma Gandhi, and dozens of others who shaped the history of the last century. Drawing on extensive interviews and archival research, this definitive biography, written by Matthew's son, acclaimed former CBC correspondent David Halton, is a fascinating look at the career of one of the most accomplished journalists Canada has ever known.
Between 1928 and 1972 nearly three thousand citizens were sterilized, lied to, experimented on, and subjected to daily abuse at hands of provincial staff in Alberta. Most Albertans have forgotten the victims whose names made headlines in the 1990s, and politicians and pundits have shown little empathy for the victims.
Over 1.5 million Canadians were on relief, one in five was a public dependant, and 70,000 young men travelled like hoboes. Ordinary citizens were rioting in the streets, but their demonstrations met with indifference, and dissidents were jailed. Canada emerged from the Great Depression a different nation. The most searing decade in Canada's history began with the stock market crash of 1929 and ended with the Second World War. With formidable story-telling powers, Berton reconstructs its engrossing events vividly: the Regina Riot, the Great Birth Control Trial, the black blizzards of the dust bowl and the rise of Social Credit. The extraordinary cast of characters includes Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who praised Hitler and Mussolini but thought Winston Churchill "one of the most dangerous men I have ever known"; Maurice Duplessis, who padlocked the homes of private citizens for their political opinions; and Tim Buck, the Communist leader who narrowly escaped murder in Kingston Penitentiary. In this #1 best-selling book, Berton proves that Canada's political leaders failed to take the bold steps necessary to deal with the mass unemployment, drought and despair. A child of the era, he writes passionately of people starving in the midst of plenty.
Beginning in Northland and heading into the blue beyond, Always Song in the Water is a book of encounters and epiphanies, a dinghy ride through New Zealand’s oceanic imagination.Every spring on Gregory O’Brien’s front lawn, on a ridgetop in Hataitai, an upside-down dinghy blooms with flowering clematis. In this book, O’Brien takes his metaphorical dinghy to the edges of New Zealand – starting with a road trip through Northland and then voyaging out into the Pacific, to lead us into some under-explored territories of the South Pacific imagination.With creative spirits such as Janet Frame, Ralph Hotere, Robin White, John Pule and Epeli Hau‘ofa as touchstones, O’Brien suggests how we New Zealanders might be re-imagining ourselves as an oceanic people on a small island in a big piece of water.Always Song in the Water is a book of encounters, sightings and unexpected epiphanies. It is a high-spirited, personal and inventive account of being alive at the outer extremities of Aotearoa New Zealand. ‘This is my field notebook, my voyaging logbook,’ Gregory O’Brien writes, ‘this is my Schubert played on a barrel organ, my whale survey, my songbook.’Among the many artists whose work is featured are John Pule, Robin White, Phil Dadson, Fiona Hall, Euan Macleod, Laurence Aberhart and the Sydney-based painter Noel McKenna, who produced numerous works specifically for this book.
What do a rowing coach, lawyer, First Nation’s aboriginal, hockey manager, business woman, and medical resident have in common? – The Great Canadian Outbreaks How many infectious outbreaks will you experience in a lifetime? How do Canadians behave during an outbreak, and how do they respond thereafter? The Great Canadian Outbreaks presents ten short stories each depicting a unique infectious outbreak from across Canada in various historic times. These fictional vignettes capture the essence of factual events as diverse as the social fabric of our country. Each story is followed by a lay description of the pertinent science and epidemiology in these outbreak scenarios. We live in a microbial world where there is ample opportunity for human infection. If our flavour as a nation can be captured by great Canadian bacon or curling or wheat or beer or hockey, what would we be without The Great Canadian Outbreaks?
