National Network for Equitable Library Service

A look inside the hospitals, asylums, and sanatoriums in which formal spectral residents refuse to move on. Hospitals are supposed to be places of healing, places of birth, and places of hope. But with all of the varying highs and lows that are experienced in these buildings, is it any wonder when echoes linger indefinitely? How about asylums, which house some of society’s worst offenders and troubled inmates, or sanatoriums, places where the mentally and physically ill find themselves trapped, even after death?

#1 Calgary Herald Bestseller An investigation of the history and demise of the most controversial North American energy infrastructure project. In 2015, President Barack Obama denied approval for TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried crude oil from the Canadian oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast, providing great economic benefit to Canada.

The Hill Times: Best Books of 2017 As Sir John A. Macdonald intended, the federal government must be recognized as the nation’s voice. Power. It is the capacity to inspire while encouraging and enabling change, and it matters. When handled in a positive way, power is the key to the state’s ability to strengthen the nation and improve lives. But state power, John Boyko argues forcefully, works best when concentrated on a federal level, as Sir John A. Macdonald and Canada’s other founders intended.

The Hill Times: Best Books of 2017 What are the limits of Canadian democracy and how are they being expanded by a revolution in participatory democracy? The Brexit vote in Britain and the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States illustrate that our system of representative democracy is in deep trouble. There are signs of political alienation everywhere. Most believe that government is run by a few big interests. Wealthy corporations receive grants and beneficial regulations. The incomes of middle and lower earners have remained stagnant or decreased.

Canada’s past is rich with high-flying adventures — whether it’s pilots fighting in the skies or the King of the Rumrunners fleeing the feds! Read their stories in this two-book collection. Dancing in the Sky: The Royal Flying Corps in Canada Dancing in the Sky is the first complete telling of the First World War fighter pilot training initiative established by the British in response to losses occurring in European skies in 1916. A valuable addition to Canada’s military history, this book will appeal to all who enjoy an exceptional adventure story embedded in Canada's past.

An exploration into Montreal’s Beaver Hall Group and its legacy of women painters who now rank among Canada’s most outstanding artists. Today it is difficult to imagine that the art of Montreal’s Beaver Hall Group was once shocking. As these Modernists struggled against academic art, critics such as Samuel Morgan-Powell ranted — “rough,” “meaningless” “blatant plastering and massing of unpleasant colours in weird landscapes” — and likened their paintings to the “cacophonous riot of metallic yowlings” of jazz that was invading the city.

The history of the oldest parish church in the Toronto area is also the history of North Toronto and a changing culture. The War of 1812 was barely over when the people of York Mills felled the trees that would become the first St. John’s Anglican Church. Built in 1816 on land donated by pioneer settlers Joseph and Catherine Shepard, the little log church was the first outpost of St. James Church in the Town of York and the first parish church in what would one day become the City of Toronto.

Award-winning author Bryan Prince portrays the experiences of slaves and former slaves in these compelling histories of the Underground Railroad and American Civil War. This special two-book collection includes: My Brother’s Keeper: African Canadians and the American Civil War The stirring story of African Canadians who had fled slavery and oppression in the United States but returned to enlist in the Union forces in the American Civil War.

A proud Newfoundland soldier’s memoir gives unprecedented details of life as a German POW during the First World War. I’m going to tell my story. With those words, eighty-three-year-old Arthur Manuel set his remarkable First World War memoir in motion. Like many Great War veterans, Manuel had never discussed his wartime life with anyone. Hidden in the Manuel family records until its 2011 discovery by his grandson David Manuel, Arthur’s story is now brought to new life.

Inside Hamilton’s Museums helps to satisfy a growing curiosity about Canada’s steel capital as it evolves into a post-industrial city and cultural destination. In this special excerpt we visit Whitehern historic home and garden, which comes with three generations' worth of family possessions — everything from antique furniture to paintings, photographs, diaries, letters, and old toys. John Goddard takes us on a detailed tour of the historic home, providing fascinating historical background and insight into the McQuesten family secrets.