Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont
Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont

Author: Joseph Boyden

Publisher: Penguin Canada

Published: 2010-10-05

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13: 014317875X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Louis Riel is regarded by some as a hero and visionary, by others as a madman and misguided religious zealot. The Métis leader who fought for the rights of his people against an encroaching tide of white settlers helped establish the province of Manitoba before escaping to the United States. Gabriel Dumont was a successful hunter and Métis chief, a man tested by warfare, a pragmatist who differed from the devout Riel. Giller Prize—winning novelist Joseph Boyden argues that Dumont, part of a delegation that had sought out Riel in exile, may not have foreseen the impact on the Métis cause of bringing Riel home. While making rational demands of Sir John A. Macdonald's government, Riel seemed increasingly overtaken by a messianic mission. His execution in 1885 by the Canadian government still reverberates today. Boyden provides fresh, controversial insight into these two seminal Canadian figures and how they shaped the country.

Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan

Author: Douglas Coupland

Publisher: Atlas and Company

Published: 2010-11-30

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1935633163

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Surveys the life and career of the social theorist best known for the quotation, "The medium is the message, " who helped shape the culture of the 1960s and predicted the future of television and the rise of the Internet.

Extraordinary Canadians: Big Bear
Extraordinary Canadians: Big Bear

Author: Rudy Wiebe

Publisher: Penguin Canada

Published: 2008-12-02

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 0143172700

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Big Bear (1825–1888) was a Plains Cree chief in Saskatchewan at a time when aboriginals were confronted with the disappearance of the buffalo and waves of European settlers that seemed destined to destroy the Indian way of life. In 1876 he refused to sign Treaty No. 6, until 1882, when his people were starving. Big Bear advocated negotiation over violence, but when the federal government refused to negotiate with aboriginal leaders, some of his followers killed 9 people at Frog Lake in 1885. Big Bear himself was arrested and imprisoned. Rudy Wiebe, author of a Governor General’s Award–winning novel about Big Bear, revisits the life of the eloquent statesman, one of Canada’s most important aboriginal leaders.

Gabriel Dumont
Gabriel Dumont

Author: George Woodcock

Publisher: Broadview Press

Published: 2003-05

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9781551115757

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The reissue of George Woodcock's superb biography once again opens a door on the vanished world of the nineteenth century Canadian Prairies." - Richard Sandhurst, Prairie Books NOW

Maurice Richard
Maurice Richard

Author: Charles Foran

Publisher: Viking

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780670064120

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Born in 1921 into a working-class family, Maurice Richard came of age as a French Canadian and athlete during an era when the majority population of Quebec slumbered. A proud, reticent man, Richard aspired only to score goals and win championships for the Montreal Canadiens. But he represented far more than a high-scoring forward who filled seats in NHL arenas. Beginning with his 50-goal, 50-game season in 1944-45 and through his battles with the league over bigotry toward French-Canadian players, Richard's on-ice ferocity and off-ice dignity echoed the change in Quebec. The March 1955 "Richard Riot," in which fans went on a rampage to protest his suspension, contained the seeds of transformation. By the time Richard retired in 1960, Quebec had begun to reinvent itself as a modern, secular society. Author Charles Foran argues that the province's passionate identification with Richard's success and struggles emboldened its people and changed Canada irrevocably.

Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert
Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert

Author: John Ralston Saul

Publisher: Penguin Canada

Published: 2010-10-05

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 0143178741

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Canada has no better interpreter than prolific writer and thinker John Ralston Saul. Here he argues that Canada did not begin in 1867; indeed, its foundation was laid by two visionary men, Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin. The two leaders of Lower and Upper Canada, respectively, worked together after the 1841 Union to lead a reformist movement for responsible government run by elected citizens instead of a colonial governor. But it was during the "Great Ministry" of 1848—51 that the two politicians implemented laws that created a more equitable country. They revamped judicial institutions, created a public education system, made bilingualism official, designed a network of public roads, began a public postal system, and reformed municipal governance. Faced with opposition, and even violence, the two men— polar opposites in temperament—united behind a set of principles and programs that formed modern Canada. Writing with verve and deep conviction, Saul restores these two extraordinary Canadians to rightful prominence.

Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont
Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont

Author: Joseph Boyden

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-09-03

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0143055860

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Louis Riel, a controversial Métis mystic and visionary, fought for his people’s rights against an encroaching tide of white settlers. Hunter and Métis leader Gabriel Dumont, a man tested by warfare, was, in contrast, a pragmatic realist of the land. Celebrated novelist Joseph Boyden explores the tumultuous year when Riel and Dumont united the Métis while dividing a nation. Could Dumont have foreseen the impact on the Métis cause when he brought Riel home? While making rational demands of Sir John A. Macdonald, Riel seemed increasingly overtaken by a messianic mission. His controversial execution by the Canadian government in 1885 still reverberates today. Boyden, with his powerful narrative skill, creates an unforgettable portrait of two seminal Canadian figures who helped shape the country.

Through Black Spruce
Through Black Spruce

Author: Joseph Boyden

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2009-03-19

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 1101028688

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A haunting novel of love, identity, and loss-from the internationally acclaimed author of Three Day Road Beautifully written and startlingly original, Through Black Spruce takes the considerable talents of Canadian novelist Joseph Boyden to new and exciting heights. This is the story of two immensely compelling characters: Will Bird, a legendary Cree bush pilot who lies comatose in a remote Ontario hospital; and Annie Bird, Will's niece, a beautiful loner and trapper who has come to sit beside her uncle's bed. Broken in different ways, the two take silent communion in their unspoken kinship, revealing a story rife with heartbreak, fierce love, ancient feuds, mysterious disappearances, murders, and the bonds that hold a family, and a people, together. From the rugged Canadian wilderness to the drug-fueled glamour of the Manhattan club scene, this is thrilling, atmospheric storytelling at its finest.

Extraordinary Canadians Wilfrid Laurier
Extraordinary Canadians Wilfrid Laurier

Author: Andre Pratte

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-09-03

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0143170813

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Wilfrid Laurier is acknowledged as a great prime minister, a superb orator, and a survivor. But he has become more myth than man. André Pratte, chief editorial writer of Quebec’s La Presse, uncovers Laurier’s complexity amid the charged political circumstances of the early 20th century. Laurier tried to unite a newborn country that found itself grappling with the thorny questions of minority rights, regional tensions, and its role in the world. Pratte skilfully reveals a Laurier who did not have to create a special political strategy in order to deal with the realities of Canada. Growing up in French- and English-Canadian cultures, he himself was a mirror of that complexity. Pratte’s Laurier affirms our long and stable history, while recognizing that events are never predictable, and that dialogue, tolerance, and compromise are always necessary.