National Network for Equitable Library Service

At the midpoint of the twentieth century, the First Nations people of Ontario's underdeveloped hinterland lived primarily from the land. They congregated in summer in defined communities but in early autumn dispersed to winter camps to hunt, fish, and trap. Increasingly, however, they found they had to adapt to a different way of life, one closer to the Canadian mainstream. While lifestyles and expectations were clearly changing, the native people's desire to maintain their rich and distinctive cultural traditions remained strong.

A colourful and revealing look at more than 500 years of commerce conducted at the renowned Frankfurt Book Fair, from its beginnings in the Middle Ages. Even then, in spite of internal strife and religious upheaval, books were becoming increasingly accessible to those who found their way to Frankfurt to buy, sell, and promote. The fact that King Henry VIII sent Sir Thomas Bodley as his personal emissary to purchase books for the new library at Oxford University is an indication of the Fair’s growing importance outside Germany.

In early 1812, as the British and the Americans were on the brink of war in North America, Fort St. Joseph was not thought to be of much importance to the British cause. It was disregarded as a useless, poorly located post. But when war was delcared, the garrison at Fort St. Joseph pulled off a miracle: it captured the American Fort Mackinac, and for the remainder of the War of 1812 the British never relinquished control of the Upper Great Lakes. Built in the aftermath of the American Revolution, Fort St. joseph played an important role in the defence of Canada.

Historical Distillates examines the history of the Chemistry Department at the University of Toronto from its beginnings in 1843, when it was housed in simple quarters in the Parliament Buildings on Front Street and had just one faculty member. During the founding era (1843-1920) three British gentlemen professors guided the department through four homes; between 1920 and 1960 three Canadian heads built a highly influential department. Since 1960 eight chairmen have effectively managed a growing and diverse department while it ventured into exciting new fields and emerging sub-disciplines.

For 16-year-old Jan Kamienski, life as he knows it ends when Germany invades Poland on September 1, 1939. After a great deal of hardship, he joins the Polish Resistance and eventually, in 1941, is sent to Dresden, Germany, to take up Underground activities there. Armed with false papers, he works at various jobs, maintains a clandestine stopover for Allied couriers, produces Polish-language news bulletins for Poles housed in forced-labour camps, and does everything he can within the heartland of the Third Reich to sabotage the Nazis' war effort.

Although it has been overshadowed by other events of the Second World War, Canada’s role in the Italian Campaign, from 1943 to 1945, was significant. Canadian forces played a major role in this campaign, whose goal was to open a second front in order to ease the pressure on Russian forces in the east.

A hard-luck Yankee fortune seeker. A Hamilton wagon maker hoping to sell cars to the new railways. A howling swamp so isolated and foul that pioneer farmers had steered it a wide miss. An unlikely trio indeed. And yet these three seemingly unconnected elements came together at just the right moment in time, to create one of the great but little known stories of Canada’s early years.Hard Oiler!

There have been guidebooks to military sites before, but no other book has covered the War of 1812 in its entirety. This well-illustrated updated edition covers more than 400 historic sites of the War of 1812, both well-known and obscure, in both Canada and the United States.The author has used old pen and ink drawings from the last century to give a "then and now" feel to the book. Curious to know what is at the site of the Battle of Queenston Heights?

Canada's gold rush of the late 1890s attracted dreamers and schemers from all over North America. Guarding the Goldfields is the story of the men sent to guard the Yukon and maintain order.

Women in the military? To many, never was too soon. But by 1940, British women were out "doing their bit" for the war effort, and Canadians battled for that same right. Young Canadian women wanted to serve their country, "to free a man to fight," as the recruiting posters urged. By the war’s end almost 50,000 of them were in the forces.Carolyn Gossage has compiled a fascinating collage of anecdotal and documentary material.