National Network for Equitable Library Service

Many Canadians see the role their country’s military plays in Afghanistan as an anomaly. However, this assumption is far from the truth. As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has commented, "Canadians are fierce fighters." Fortune Favours the Brave certainly proves this point in a collection of essays that showcases the fighting spirit and courage of Canada’s military.

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 the terrible losses occurring in the skies over Europe in 1916. This program, up and running in under six months despite enormous obstacles, launched Canada into the age of flight ahead of the United States. The results enabled the Allies to regain control of the skies and eventually win the war, but at a terrible price. Flying was in its infancy and pilot training primitive.

Born in Manitoba of Icelandic parents, Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962) became one of Canada’s most famous and controversial Arctic explorers. After graduate studies in anthropology at Harvard University, Stefansson lived with and studied Inuit in the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories in the winter of 1906-07.

Treasures of many kinds still lie hidden below crumbling castles and ruined monasteries; in macabre tombs; in subterranean labyrinths and sinister caverns. Many sunken treasures lie beneath the seas, oceans and lakes of the world. Vast stores of pirate gold are still hidden on many a real life treasure island such as Oak Island at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Many treasures were looted, hidden and lost after the two World Wars - Hermann Goering, for example, one of most powerful leaders of Nazi Germany, is strongly suspected of hiding huge treasures at Veldenstein and Lake Zeller.

Across Canada peace officers put their lives on the line every day. From John Fisk in 1804, the first known Canadian policeman killed in the line of duty, to the four RCMP officers shot to death in Mayerthorpe, Alberta, in 2005, renowned true crime writer Edward Butts takes a hard-hitting, compassionate, probing look at some of the stories involving the hundreds of Canadian law-enforcement officers who have found themselves in harm's way.

2013 Heritage Toronto Award — Shortlisted Redcoated Ploughboys brings the story of the Battalion of Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada to life, revealing a fascinating lost chapter in military history. In 1812, the future of British North America hung in the balance as the United States declared war with the avowed goal of conquering the Canadas and removing British influence from the continent forever.

By every principle of war, every shred of military logic, logistics support to Canada’s Task Force Orion in Afghanistan should have collapsed in July 2006. There are few countries that offer a greater challenge to logistics than Afghanistan, and yet Canadian soldiers lived through an enormous test on this deadly international stage - a monumental accomplishment. Canadian combat operations were widespread across southern Afghanistan in 2006, and logistics soldiers worked in quiet desperation to keep the battle group moving.

Random Shots tells the stories of survival against the odds, the life of a well-travelled risking-taking Maritime son. Fortunate to have survived numerous near misses during the lead-up to his eightieth trip around the Sun, Mossman has much to be grateful for along the paths taken to adventure.

Three different fishing communities, three different countries, but in their pursuit of fish on the banks they would have much in common, including the terrors of the North Atlantic storms. The August Gales is a richly detailed history of the banks fishery, the perils of the North Atlantic, and more specifically, the three powerful, and ultimately deadly, August storms that devastated not only an industry, but entire communities.

A miserly miller with a stash of gold, an island with an ever-changing list alias, some sly smugglers who nevertheless remember to send a thank you note, a stern schoolmaster who couldn’t tell time, and a thief with two left feet are just some of the shady individuals who grace the pages of Scamps and Scoundrels. Riotous, and witty, Bob Kroll writes these tales of infamy in a delightfully folksy style, bringing to life snippets of the Maritimes’ somewhat less glorious history.