Passing Through Missing Pages: The Intriguing Story of Annie Garland Foster
Frances Welwood
Annie Garland Foster was born in Fredericton, NB, in 1875. She was an educator, nurse, politician, social reformer, journalist and biographer of Pauline Johnson. But she was also a bit of a mystery. In 1939, Annie wrote an autobiography titled Passing Through in which she described the adventures of her earlier life: as a co-ed at UNB in the 1890s, teaching in rural Saskatchewan and BC, nursing the Great War's wounded, being elected to the City Council and consorting with suffragettes. Her memoir, peppered with pseudonyms and cryptic information, reveals her mysterious character which is emphasized by the discovery of her deliberate removal of one of the most intriguing and critical chapters of her story. Frances Welwood begins her work where Foster abandons her tale. Welwood follows her elusive subject, giving historical context to Annie's insightful and cinematic prose. But most exciting of all, Welwood finally sheds light on the events described in the six pages excised from Passing Through: the circumstances connecting Annie to a 1926 murder trial.
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I Just Ran: Percy Williams, World’s Fastest Human
Samuel Hawley
At the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics an unknown Vancouver runner named Percy Williams shocked the sports world by capturing the 100- and 200-metre gold medals. Some said the feat was a fluke. It wasn't. In 1929 Percy silenced naysayers by sweeping the US indoor track circuit, then he went on to set a world record in the 100 metres that would stand until the advent of Jesse Owens. I Just Ran, based on extensive research that included access to Percy's private letters, diary and scrapbooks, is the first full-length account of this sports legend, one of the most famous Canadians of his day but now largely forgotten. It begins as the Cinderella story of a youth who conquers a sport dominated by American sprinters. Then it gets grittier, for success and fame had a dark side. I Just Ran follows Percy and his janitor-coach Bob Granger as they journey through the world of elite running in the 1920s and '30s — a world that was not always pretty beneath the veneer of amateurism.
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Outside the Box: The Life and Legacy of Writer Mona Gould, the Grandmother I Thought I Knew
Maria Meindl
Years after Mona Gould's death, her granddaughter Maria took on the daunting task of sorting through Mona's mountain of papers to create an archive. The chaotic state of the boxes reflected Mona's flamboyant and demanding personality, yet they also drew an important picture of the life of a Canadian freelancer in the 20th century. Mona had begun publishing poetry and features in newspapers in the 1920s and published three books of poetry in the 1940s. In the 1950s, at a time when many women were retreating from the public sphere, she had a successful radio career. Her later journals and letters recount, in agonizing detail, a downward spiral into self-doubt, poverty, and addiction. Maria soon discovered that the truth of Mona's life was even more fascinating than her stories. Outside the Box brings to life a thinly documented era in Canadian letters through the story of one passionate and conflicted woman. It also charts the journey of an unwilling archivist, coming to terms with family secrets, forgotten history, and the stories that are never told.
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King: A Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny
Allan Levine
The first biography in a generation of Canada's most eccentric and most important prime minister — Mackenzie King — and his defining influence on our 20th century. Most Canadian historians consider William Lyon Mackenzie King to be not only the country's greatest prime minister but also its most peculiar. From 1919 to 1948 he occasionally lorded over the Liberal Party, also serving as prime minister for much of that time.
King comes at a time when the Canadian people have resoundingly rebuffed the Liberal party under Michael Ignatieff; while the party's future remains uncertain, this definitive biography sheds light on its history under its greatest leader. This first major biography of Mackenzie King in 30 years is a guide to the deep and often moving inner conflicts that haunted Mackenzie King. With animated prose and a subtle wit, Allan Levine draws a multidimensional portrait of this most compelling of politicians.
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The Lives of Conn Smythe: From the Battlefield to Maple Leaf Gardens: A Hockey Icon’s Story
Kelly McParland
Smythe's story is much deeper and richer than the tale of a cantankerous hockey owner. Smythe fought in both world wars, fighting at Ypres and Passchendaele in the first war and landing at Normandy in the second. He was wounded in both and spent two years as a POW in a German camp after being shot down in 1917. He grew up in poverty and vowed to escape the life that was so incredibly hard on his family. Smythe was active in politics and ignited a national crisis over conscription that split the Liberal government in two and brought Mackenzie King to the brink of resignation.
This book tells the life of one of the country's great characters, a man who helped shape and define us and who left behind national habits and institutions that continue to lay at the heart of what makes Canada, Canada.
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