National Network for Equitable Library Service

Ivan Mazepa (1639-1709), hetman of the Zaporozhian Host in what is now Ukraine, is a controversial figure, famous for abandoning his allegiance to Tsar Peter I and joining Charles XII's Swedish army during the Battle of Poltava. Although he is discussed in almost every survey and major book on Russian and Ukrainian history, Ivan Mazepa and the Russian Empire is the first English-language biography of the hetman in sixty years. A translation and revision of Tatiana Tairova-Yakovleva's 2007 Russian-language book, Ivan Mazepa and the Russian Empire presents an updated perspective.

"Lecker's deep knowledge of the history of Canada's publishing industry and his keen curiosity allows him a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era of Canadian writing and of Anglo Montreal life. This thoroughly researched and well-written book includes a wealth of information about the economic conditions under which writers, agents, and publishers labored in at the time." Patrick Coleman, University of California, Los Angeles, and author of Equivocal City: French and English Novels of Postwar Montreal.

"Ten Thousand Crossroadsis upbeat, full of excitement, fair-minded when dealing with opposing views, highly emotional at times, and very funny at others. Balfour Mount has been the leader in the palliative care movement in Canada and this story of struggle and triumph will interest anyone with questions about general care at end of life." Peter Kopplin, emeritus professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

"Mark Dickinson's Canadian Primalis a decisive event in Canadian literary criticism, comparable to Margaret Atwood's Survival and Northrop Frye's The Bush Garden. Dickinson brings us the lives and achievements of five great poets who sing powerfully of what philosophy has forgotten, which is how to live intensely when the life around us, even as it suffocates, is nearer to our spirit than it has been for millennia." Gordon Teskey, Harvard University.

A moving, unflinching exploration of life in Prince Albert on Treaty Six territory, as told through one family's multigenerational story.

Robert Boschman grew up in the living quarters of the King Koin Launderette in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, sandwiched between a residential school and a jail built in the aftermath of the Riel Resistance of 1885. White Coal City is the story of this hard hockey-obsessed white-settler town on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River and Boschman's troubled family who traveled these lands.

A Trip to Labrador contains the letters and journal of Edward Caldwell Moore, who accompanied Sir Wilfred Grenfell to Labrador in 1905 on the hospital ship Strathcona. A Presbyterian minister and professor at Harvard University, Moore writes of his impressions of the land and the people and of the difficulties of travel and communications. He describes, in surprisingly frank terms, both the positive and negative aspects of Grenfell's early efforts as a doctor, justice of the peace and missionary.

An engrossing story of a bright John Hopkins graduate who fell in love with Newfoundland as a student, and who stayed to become the medical care system in north-easte Newfoundland for forty years. Crusty, caring and unconventional, Dr. Olds' skill and devotion made him such a folk hero that Newfoundland declared a province-wide Doctor Olds Day. Asked why he came to Twillingate for one year and stayed for forty. Newfoundland's Connecticut Yankee tersely replied, Because I liked it.

An insider’s view into the early days of Hollywood and the motion picture industry. This is the story of one man’s meteoric rise from obscurity in an isolated Canadian province to becoming one of the most famous Broadway starsin the world.

Thirty-three nurses who graduated before 1950 were interviewed about nursing in communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. Their nursing experiences cover a 60 year period and the stories reflect the nurses' perceptions and feelings about the nursing school experience, practicing nursing in various settings and communities, and the changes in the nursing profession throughout their career. The stories also give insight into the commitment and strength of a generation of nurses.

This work represents trailblazing artists, dedicated activists, innovative entrepreneurs – people who made their mark through their work or their calling. It includes long-loved eccentrics and exceptional young adults who met with tragedy, as well as those who happened on momentous events and those who were swept along by them. Together they touch on a myriad of incidents and adventures significant to the politics, industry and culture of this province, our country and the world, and leave the gift and legacy of their work and ideals.