National Network for Equitable Library Service

Dorise Nielsen was a pioneering feminist, a radical politician, the first Communist elected to Canada's House of Commons, and the only woman elected in 1940. But despite her remarkable career, until now little has been known about her." "From her youth in London during World War I to her burial in 1980 in a hero's cemetery in China, Nielsen lived through tumultuous times.

Jenkins never dreamed he'd live long enough to be dating again. Old folks acting like teenagers was unheard of in his parents' generation. Less than two years after his beloved wife's death, Jenkins finds himself sheepishly slinking past her portrait to take another woman out to the movies. With good (and sometimes not-so-good) memories of his youth, Jenkins recalls his dating experiences through the decades -- and finds that he is still no wiser than a schoolboy. Especially when he learns his high school grad date is back n town and newly widowed.

Vilhjalmur Stefansson has long been known for his groundbreaking work as an anthropologist and expert on Arctic peoples. His three expeditions to the Canadian Arctic in the early 1900s, as well as his expertise in northern anthropology, helped create his public image as an heroic, Hemingway-esque figure in the annals of twentieth-century exploration. But the emotional and private life of Stefansson the man have remained hidden, until now.

One of the most turbulent periods in the history of prairie agriculture is chronicled in this book about the life and times of Alexander “Mac” Runciman, the Saskatchewan farmer who led the United Grain Growers as president from 1961 to 1981. Mac Runciman earned the respect and admiration on both sides of the great agriculture debates of the 1960s and 1970s — from individual farmers to Pierre Trudeau, who offered Runciman a cabinet post in 1980 (Mac turned him down).

Adele Wiseman was a seminal figure in Canadian letters. Always independent and wilful, she charted her own literary career, based on her unfailing belief in her artistic vision.

Established in 1896, the Stuartburn colony was one of the earliest Ukrainian settlements in western Canada. Based on an analysis of government records, pioneer memoirs, and the Ukrainian and English language press, Community and Frontier is a detailed examination of the social, economic, and geographical challenges of this unique ethnic community. It reveals a complex web of inter-ethnic and colonial relationships that created a community that was a far cry from the homogeneous ethnic block settlement feared by the opponents of eastern European immigration.

In Working for the Common Good, Madelyn Holmes details the political policy work of eight social democratic Canadian women and highlights their largely unrecognized struggles and accomplishments. Throughout their political careers, Agnes Macphail, Thérèse Casgrain, Grace MacInnis, Pauline Jewett, Margaret Mitchell, Lynn McDonald, Audrey McLaughlin and Alexa McDonough worked towards curing society's economic and social ills. They raised their voices for world peace from the 1920s to the 2000s.

With incredible wit, wisdom, and thoughtfulness, author Lillian Zimmerman exposes and challenges pervasive ageist assumptions and stereotypes that continue to permeate society. She offers positive and inspirational messages in response to alarmist and apocalyptic ways of thinking, which equate population aging with exaggerated negative consequences on families, the economy, and the health care system. Her book debunks many of these socially constructed myths and stereotypes, drawing our attention to the many generous contributions that older adults make to their families and society.

Through Harlo Jones's eyes, we explore the prairie landscape from coulee to slough; watch the construction of the first buildings, with basements dug by fresnos, and walls insulated with wood shavings; and peer inside village landmarks, from that "most excellent of jakes" with the knothole that turned the structure into a giant pinhole camera, to his father's garage, scene of many semi-official town-hall meetings.

For many Canadians, the first introduction to Viola Desmond will have been was seeing her portrait on the new $10 banknote. Those who are familiar with her life Others know that she was wrongfully arrested in 1946 for refusing to give up her seat in the racially segregated Roseland Theater in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Her singular act of courage was a catalyst in the struggle for racial equality, which ultimately resulted in the passage of human rights legislation that officially ended the practice of racial segregation in Nova Scotia.