NNELS Upgrade

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.

Winner of the 1999 International Gallery of Superb Printing Gold Award for Superb Craftsmanship in Production Franz Johnston is the missing man of Canadian painting. The most prolific and financially successful of the original Group of Seven, Johnston’s paintings were among the most sought after in Canada in the years between the mid-1920s and his death in 1949. They appear in the collections of dozens of discriminating private collectors, and in institutions such as the National Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the McMichael Canadian Collection, and the Canadian War Museum.

East Sandling Camp. 1 June 1915"Captain Boyer and I are leaving for London to buy a motor car for the regiment. We will be staying at the Savoy."Flanders. 27 October 1915. Diary entry: 4:00 p.m."Returned to the trenches. After two days of rain, they are in a deplorable state. There is mud up to our knees. The parapets have collapsed in several spots. The nights are frigid, our feet are cold, and we have not yet received our supplies of wood and charcoal."In the field.

Lieutenant-General Richard Rohmer is arguably Canada's most decorated citizen. A commander of the Order of Military Merit and an Officer of the Order of Canada, his career began in World War II where he earned the reputation as one of Canada's top Mustang reconnaissance pilots. For his service, which includes flying over the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Juan Pujol, a young Spanish antifascist, became agent GARBO, a master of deception and intrigue. His story contains all the hallmarks of classic spy adventure—enciphered messages, secret inks, items concealed in cakes—culminating in one of the greatest strategic deceptions in history. Through a ring of invented subagents, GARBO and his MI5 controllers succeeded in convincing the Germans that the DDay landings were only a diversionary tactic, thus safeguarding the Allied landings and hastening the end of the war in Europe.

Soldier, university professor, lawyer, political candidate, and judge; David Vanek's compelling life story has seen him in many roles, all of which are played out in these memoirs. The child of Jewish-Russian immigrants, Vanek encountered anti-semitism while growing up, but was able to overcome prejudice and rise to prominence. He was educated at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School (where he was in a Jewish fraternity with Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster) before serving in the Second World War.

William Van Horne was one of North America's most accomplished men. Born in Illinois in 1843, he became a prominent railway figure in the United States before coming to Canada in 1881 to become general manager of the fledgling Canadian Pacific Railway. Van Horne pushed through construction of the CPR's transcontinental line and went on to become company president. He also became one of Canada's foremost financiers and art collectors, capping his career by opening Cuba's interior with a railway.

The Franklin Conspiracy is an absorbing account of the single most enigmatic event in Canadian history. In 1845, two British Royal Navy ships, the Erebus and the Terror, commanded by Sir John Franklin, entered the Canadian Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage. Neither ship returned. A fifteen-year search uncovered evidence of unparalleled disaster, but to this day no one knows exactly how the 129 men of the Franklin Expedition met their deaths. Although the expedition did not run out of food, there is clear evidence of cannibalism.

Among the many technological advances of this century that have shrunk our country, few have had as great an impact as aviation. Technologies evolve and national priorities change, but the qualities necessary to design aircraft, fly them in war and peace, and manage airlines remain constant. In this, his second book about pioneers of Canadian aviation, Peter Pigott brings a richness and understanding of the individuals themselves to the reader. Flying Canucks II takes us into Air Canada’s boardroom with Claude I.

Flying Canucks tells the fascinating story of aviation in Canada through this collection of 37 biographies of important aviators in our nation’s history. As early as 1908, having read the Wright brothers’ invention, Alberta farm boys and mechanics in Quebec villages were constructing large kites, attempting to fly them. Within a decade, Canadian air aces, like Bishop and Barker, swept the wartime skies over Frances, piloting deadly machines in mortal combat.