National Network for Equitable Library Service

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.

From the 1890s through the 1920s, as horse gave way to machine, the look of Toronto and the lifestyles of its inhabitants were irrevocably altered. From Horse Power to Horsepower is a pictorial history of the vehicles of the era.

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.

Flim Flam explores the world of Canadian white-collar crime, a place inhabited by hustlers, wild gamblers, and crazy dreamers. It takes the reader to the Vancouver Stock Exchange, where dream salesmen have peddled wild stories of easy money, through the "moose pasture" scams of northern Canada, to the con artists who have been drawn to Toronto's financial district.

Cairine Wilson, Canada’s first female senator, was one of nine children raised in an atmosphere of rugged Scots liberalism and strict presbyterianism by affluent Montreal parents in the late nineteenth century. She displayed an interest in politics early in life and through her father’s position in the Senate, was befriended by many notable politicians of the period, including Sir Wilfrid Laurier, an experience that left a permanent mark on her.

In The Firebrand, William Kilbourn brings to life the rebel Canadian hero William Lyon Mackenzie. A skilled historian and an entertaining writer, Kilbourn reveals Mackenzie's complex character: able political editor, shrewd recorder of his times, efficient first mayor of Toronto, and gadfly of the House of Assembly.

On February 20, 1959, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker announced to the House of Commons the cancellation of the CF-105 Arrow. Its development costs to that time were $340 million. The Arrow was to be the world’s unsurpassed interceptor aircraft. Yet within two months of the Prime Minister’s announcement, six completed aircraft were dismantled and all papers and documents associated with the project were destroyed. Here is the history and development of the Arrow - the plane that would make Canada the leader in supersonic flight technology.

Frederick Horsman Varley was unique among the members of the Group of Seven. One of the greatest Canadian portraitists of the twentieth century, he is an intriguing example of an artist who, despite his fame as a portrait painter, remains better known for his landscapes. This is due mainly to his position as one of the founding members of the Group of Seven and their deliberate attempt to raise awareness of our national identity by depicting the Canadian landscape.