National Network for Equitable Library Service

"You’ll like Louis Mayer," Mary Pickford told Charles Foster in 1943. "He is from Canada, too." As Foster was soon to discover, Mayer was not alone: a great many of those who helped shape Hollywood into the movie capital of the world were Canadian. Stardust and Shadows brings together the stories of 18 Canadians who were celebrities during Hollywood’s formative years.

They come from the cities and farms, military bases and tourist towns, seaside bungalows and urban apartments. All are ordinary people who did extraordinary things. Not one of them sought recognition, yet all are worthy of our admiration.

In 1934, fifty-three-year-old beer tycoon John Sackville Labatt was kidnapped from his Lake Huron summer home and held ransom for three days. His captors, a group of ex-rumrunners, desperate in the days following prohibition and the Great Depression, were hoping for a big payday. This bizarre true crime story traces the abduction through to the trials of the abductors. From a heavily populated hideout to a case of mistaken identity, follow the story of Labatt, the first person in Canada to be kidnapped for high ransom.

What do Northtrop Frye, French dairy cows, and Historic Fort York have in common? They’re all part of Ward McBurney’s lyric and personal stories from CBC Radio’s Fresh Air, which are now available for the first time in print. Broadcasting live on Saturday mornings, with Jeff Goodes as host, Ward has been performing his own work for over four years.

For the first time, Sing a New Song tells the stories of four Canadian bishops who pushed the envelope and changed the world. All have faced severe opposition; one was involved in the only Anglican schism in Canadian history; two jeopardized their careers; and one was voted the sixth most important person of the twentieth century whose world view has transformed the wider society. Over the last 150 years, George Hills, David Somerville, Douglas Hambidge, and Michael Ingham adopted unpopular causes with their eyes wide open.

Show No Fear is a collection of essays that captures the richness of Canadian military history. Although Canadians see their nation as a peaceable kingdom and themselves as an unmilitary people, the truth is that Canada has a proud military heritage. Moreover, the nations citizens and their descendants share a legacy of courage, tenacity, and warfighting prowess. This volume of daring actions showcases the country’s rich and distinct national military experience while capturing the indomitable spirit of the Canadian soldier.

The stories of many POW escapees are well known, but what about those who miraculously evaded capture in the first place and returned to fight another day? This compelling book tells some of the epic stories of the thousands of shot-down airmen, including Canadians from across the country, who got out from behind enemy lines in Europe, the Far East, and Africa during the Second World War. Based on special first-hand interviews and new research into official debriefing documents held at Britain's National Archives, many of these accounts have never been published before.

In the 450 years since Jacques Cartier’s arrival, Prince Edward Island’s history has been tied to the sea and to ships. From the first explorers through immigrants, traders, sailors, and fishermen, thousands of seafaring people and their ships have come and gone – many lost to the relentless sea. Julie Watson has dug through the archives and unearthed harrowing accounts, from the expulsion of the Acadians to the amazing 1836 adventure of Tommy Tuplin, age six, who was washed overboard in a storm then washed back into the ship’s rigging.

One of only fifty infantry battalions to see action with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I, the 58th nevertheless had no official history. Second to None tells the story of this important, yet forgotten, battalion. The soldiers who formed the 58th exemplified the ideal citizen soldiers and later evolved into the tough, battle-savvy veterans who destroyed the cream of the German Imperial Army and won battle honours.

The image of the scrum – a beleaguered politican surrounded by jockeying reporters – is central to our perception of Ottawa. The modern scrum began with the arrival of television, but even in Sir John A. Macdonald’s day, a century earlier, reporters in the parliamentary press gallery had waited outside the prime minister’s office, pen in hand, hoping for a quote for the next edition. The scrum represents the test of wills, the contest of wits, and the battle for control that have characterized the relationship between Canadian prime ministers and journalists for more than 125 years.