Reviews (1)

one of the greatest women's adventures of all time
This is one of the greatest women's adventures of all time, and for sure, one of the greatest womens memoirs of the gold rush era. Anna de Graf is a favorite of all our readers of Gold Rush Women. ... Read more

Book Description

In the late 1800s, Canada’s prairies were the destination for thousands of settlers. Among them were the Caswells, who made the long journey from a comfortable home in Ontario. Before fourteen-year-old Maryanne departs from her hometown of Palmerston in 1887, she promises to write to her grandmother about her journey to Clark’s Crossing, near the present day city of Saskatoon.

In these fascinating, true letters, Maryanne writes vividly about the fun of the train ride and the near impossible trek across muddy cart tracks with the family’s laden wagon. As the oldest, Maryanne helps with many of the back-breaking and never-ending chores in the fields and at the homestead. Tales of courage, adventure, loneliness, sorrow, and delight flow from Maryanne’s pen. This is a powerful testament from an astute and sensitive young girl. ... Read more

Book Description

Lilies and Fireweed is packed with unforgettable stories of women surviving in the unforgiving, sometimes hostile environment of pioneer and aboriginal British Columbia. Based on award-winning journalist Stephen Hume's popular series "Frontier Women of BC" that appeared in the Vancouver Sun in 2002, this collection of essays contains stories, photographs and other materials that have never before been published.From hospitals to dance halls, and from the classroom to the cannery floor, this insightful pictorial history examines indigenous and immigrant women's positions in the workplace, home and wilderness. Hume delves into the lives of aboriginal and pioneer women who had an important and multifaceted influence on the development of British Columbia.We meet women such as 17-year-old Frances Barkley, who insisted on accompanying her husband on a merchant voyage to British Columbia in 1786 and subsequently twice circumnavigated the world; Lady Amelia Douglas - a Cree woman and wife of Governor James Douglas - who had her own important but often overlooked role in the forging of British Columbia; Mrs. Washiji Oya, the first Japanese woman to settle in Canada in 1887; and Maria Pollard Grant, who, in 1895, became the first woman elected to public office in BC.Brimming with fascinating historical photographs, Lilies and Fireweed brings to light the forgotten stories of mothers, dance-hall girls, artists, teachers and adventurers that are as enthralling and diverse as BC itself. ... Read more

Book Description

A popular history of the multi-ethnic mining cultures that thrived in North America from 1900-1950.The stormy history of Eastern European and Chinese immigrants in hardrock mining camps has never fit into the comfortable cliches of official history.Angus unearths the dark sides of this history--the wild tales of bootleggers, mobsters, and prostitution rings--and opens up a new perspective on our history and culture.Louis Palu's stunning photography explores landscapes of memory--the immigrant graveyards of the Porcupine--and moves in compelling counterpoint to the text. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The first white man to cross North America, Scottish-born Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820) was typical of his generation of explorers: this bold adventurer who surveyed the untamed wilderness with impressive accuracy was also a hardheaded businessman who ventured into unknown Canadian territory in search of profits from fur trading. Canadian historian Barry Gough admires Mackenzie's toughness and daring without glossing over the towering ego and knack for self-promotion that won him a knighthood from England in 1802. First Across the Continent is another enjoyable entry in the University of Oklahoma's WesternBiographies series. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Factual narrative
Pretty good book.Gives a rather matter-of-fact account of MacKenzie's life.Not alot of detail or passion in either of his 2 great voyages.Interesting in all the other people brought into the story.Now I want toread about Peter Pond, MacKenzies' predecessor.Short and a quick read. ... Read more

Book Description

Published from the manuscript copy in the National Archives, Eunice Harrison's memoir of life in British Columbia from 1860 to 1906 offers one of the earliest accounts of the province by a woman. With verve and humour she describes everyday life in early Victoria and Vancouver.

As a young woman, she travelled across the Strait in the tugboat Etta White to make music, take part in theatricals and witness a Native ceremonial dance. After her marriage to Eli Harrison, a well known circuit court judge, she travelled the Cariboo road with her husband, recording her impressions of justice being meted out in the rough, pioneer world of the BC Interior. Her account of the social customs of the day, through the eyes of a woman, is both acute and in structive. The memoir concludes with her experience of the catastrophic 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire which she lived through while on a visit to the city with her two young children. Her account of the destruction and chaos she witnessed as she made her way to safety through the burning city makes for gripping reading. The Judge's Wife includes many historic photographs. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Better Bios Out There
Rose Collis' bio of k.d. lang isn't bad, but there are better. It's a short, breezy read, although Collis' attempts to be saucy can get a bit wearing over time. There's not a lot of depth of information here, and the book shows signs of having been hastily edited. But as a basic introduction to the career of lang up to 1999 (pre-Endless Summer), it'll do. ... Read more

Book Description

Just when Solange De Santis had achieved success and security in the white-collar world of journalism, she decided to leave it all to work on the line during the final year and a half of a General Motors van plant in Scarborough, Ontario.

In Life on the Line, De Santis recounts in vivid detail just how and why she undertook this path of seemingly reverse ambition. What she found at the moribund GM plant was at turns surprising, monotonous, humorous, and grim. She encountered competent hard workers, raging alcoholics, mindless bureaucrats, and good friends.

Life on the Line is a penetrating look into a world that many of us shy from acknowledging, even as we accept the keys to our new cars. Completely candid, and as unexpectedly poignant as it is funny, this book will change the way you view blue-collar industry and the people who fuel its engine with their labour.

Reviews (5)

Stands with the best works on working.
Solange De Santis was obviously not looking to "rip the lid off" assembly line work when she began either her experience at GM or her book. This is greatly to her credit. LIFE ON THE LINE does all readers the service of allowing them to make up their own minds. The author's point of view develops in the text at the same pace as her time passed on the line.

Crisp and insightful, this book can stand with the best of writing on the subject. The twofold treat is that those with no "shopfloor" experience may come to value more highly those who toil, and those who work on the line may be able to understand that they can be recognized and appreciated by ones not standing next to them in the heat and din.

Brava! From the author's brother.

Rich in detail and anecdote
How many Ivy-League educated journalists would be willing to break their backs and go work on the assembly line to relay this story authentically? Very few! This writer does, and so gets to know the tasks, the workers and the business of making vehicles from the most telling perspective of all. Thoroughly familiar with the corporate point of view from years of business writing, De Santis joins those people whose sweat and toil actually build our world. She gives us the private musings and dreams of hardworking folks who didn't get all the breaks in life that she did, and shows their courage and determination to survive the brutal decisions of an unfeeling corporation. It's sad that management just can't understand the rage of these people whose jobs have been given a death sentence for the sake of higher profits, yet who are expected to give 100% down to the last day. But their voices need to be heard.

An insightful look at the life of a line worker.
Ms.De Santis begins with the valid premise that the gulf between white-collar and blue-collar workers in widening, and that it's important for one group to understand the other. From there, she walks her readers through that life with an authenticity that only her real-life experience could provide. Interesting reading for anyone who cares about the present and future of manufacturing in North America.

An outstanding read
June 12, 1999 Title: Life on the Line Author: Solange De Santis

After graduating from the highly touted Ivy schools with her master's degree in journalism and a BA in English, Solange De Santis toiled in a very successful white collared workplace. Her fascination though, with "the other side", "the blue collar workers" would somehow overpower all sanity and she would seek out employment in the bowls of the workforce. Her dreams of writing a book and her journalistic past are her rational for exploring her curiosities. Hiding her outstanding employment credentials, she lands an assembler job with General Motor's lisping Scarborough Van plant. Solange, nicknamed Sally by her line mates, would now have 18 months in which to "spy" and compile enough material on life within the plant, before being laid-off, along with its 2,700 strong population. This fascinating account of Sally's perseverance, and demanding requirements associated with manual labor, are truly astonishing. Pushing herself beyond physical limits she thought ever existed, she finds herself becoming attached to her co-workers, "a cog in the wheel". A strong bond develops with her work mates through common hardships somewhat like a "boot camp". Her vivid descriptions of the sites and sounds within the plant and the people she works with have clear images and sounds popping into my head. Her circle of friends, "from all woks of life", are so typical of the many groups within the plant. Reading through her book I find Sally dredging up raw nerve endings I thought were buried long ago, for I am one of the 2,700 employee's of the Scarborough Van Plant that devoted the better part of my working life, along with so many others, to that job, as one of Sally's co-workers, on a different shift, with a different circle of friends, only to find myself one day, writing my resume. This book should appeal to anyone looking for a realistic account of life within those "dark window factories", and the typical "labels" these people are saddled with. Bravo Sally, an outstanding read in contrast to your Wall Street journalism.

Really great, compassionate investigative reporting
De Santis brings to light a working world too often dismissed as "low class" or alien, but full of real people. Her descriptions of life on the assembly line are brutal and unforgettable. I would have liked to hear more about her personal life among the blue collar folks though, and to get to know her coworkers better. But a very great idea well-written. With guts ... Read more

Book Description

Starting in the 1800s and continuing into the 20th century, First Nations children were forcibly taken to government-sponsored residential schools to erase their traditional languages and cultures. This moving book tells of one such child, author Larry Loyie, and his last summer with his Cree tribe. It is a time of learning and adventure. He cares for an abandoned baby owl, watches his grandmother make winter moccasins, and sees her kill a huge grizzly with one shot. The sensitive text and Heather Holmlund's expressive illustrations beautifully capture the joy and drama of a First Nations family's last summer together. ... Read more

Book Description

In Crazy Man's Creek, author Jack Boudreau tells of the characters who have "caught the fever" in the rugged McGregor Mountain Range east of Prince George. Long recognized as some of the toughest bush in British Columbia, it was home to many who chose to lose themselves.Once there, life included confrontations with grizzly bears and raids by wolves. But if men were to snap, it was the long cold winters and the deafening silence that did them in. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Trials and Tribulations In Early Twentieth Century B.C.
Jack Boudreau grew up in the central BC lumber town of Penny, which is located along the Canadian National Railway line that runs through the Fraser valley in central B.C. He was regaled as a youth with stories of the guides, trappers, settlers, prospectors and others who tried to make this inhospitable wilderness their home during the beginning of the twentieth century. He decided that these stories were too valuable to let disappear with the passing of the original taletellers and began to record their stories. After several decades of collecting data from/about these individuals, Jack has done an excellent job of consolidating the best of their stories in this pleasurably readable collection. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in outdoor adventures. The wondrous thing is that the stories are true and these robust individuals actually went through trials that the contemporary reader might find incredible.

I may be a biased reviewer in that, J. Boudreau is my mother's brother and I also grew up listening to a few of the tales depicted in this book. I can guarantee that once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down until it's finished. In my case, I read it several times. This book is worth every penny and will bring you much pleasure. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, published by Performing Arts and Entertainment in Canada on September 22, 2002. The length of the article is 1312 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Breathing the blues: Toronto's Jerome Godboo digs deep down.(Biography)
Author: Jonathan St. Rose
Publication: Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2002
Publisher: Performing Arts and Entertainment in Canada
Volume: 34Issue: 1Page: 36(2)

Article Type: Biography

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

When Woodsmen of the West first appeared in 1908, most readers could not relate to its rendering of the rough edges of logging-camp life. M. Allerdale Grainger refused to sentimentalize the West – he drew from life. While his dramatic and loosely structured tale is at heart a love story, it also tells of what happens when the novel’s British narrator encounters a small-time logging operator whose obsession with lumber is matched by his lust for power over other men.

Today the novel is recognized as marking a significant shift in fiction written in and about the Canadian West. The accuracy of its detail makes it one of the finest examples of local realism in Canadian writing. It is also a fascinating chronicle of conflicting personalities, and of the genius of British Columbia hand-loggers, the culture of camp life, and the intrigues and corruption of the lumber business at the turn of the century.

The New Canadian Library edition is an unabridged reprint of the original text, complete with the original photographs. ... Read more