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This illustrated history of Ottawa traces the citys development from the days when Bytown was a lumber village to its emergence as Canadas capital and fourth-largest urban area. From the earliest photographs of the original Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, through the VE-Day and VJ-Day celebrations at the end of World War II and beyond, this beautiful book of superb black-and-white photographs and informative text offers a charming glimpse of the evolving city.

The photographs have been chosen both for their historical importance and their quality as visual art. They show a cross-section of life in the developing capital from the formality of Rideau Hall to working people selling wood and straw in Byward Market. This art, among the best from Canadas early photographers, has been culled from major collections in the National Archives of Canada and Ottawas city archives. Many of the photographs have never been published before.

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Winner of the 2006 Fred Landon Award

Osgoode Hall is a national monument and one of the architectural treasures of Canada. Of the many public buildings erected in pre-confederation Canada and British North America, it best encapsulates the diverse stylistic forces that shaped public buildings in the first half of the nineteenth century. The gated lawns, grandly Venetian rotunda, the noble dimensions of its library, handsome and ornate courtroom, portrait-lined walls and stained glass evoke a venerable dignity to which few Canadian institutions even aspire. It has been the seat of the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1832 and of several of the Superior Courts of the province for almost as long. Intended to be the focal point of the legal profession in Upper Canada it has become a symbol of the legal tradition not only in Ontario but throughout Canada and beyond.

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Enigma and Tragedy: Surgeon-Lieutenant George Hendry and HMCS Ottawa, 1942

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During the Battle of the Atlantic, Dr. George Hendry had just finished performing two major surgical operations on board the destroyer HMCS Ottawa when his ship was ambushed by 13 German U-boats. Canadian warships like Ottawa had inadequate radar sets that were incapable of detecting submarines approaching in the dark. On September 13, 1942, U-91 stole in and torpedoed Ottawa, sinking her in 20 minutes. utterly exhausted, Dr. Hendry was lost along with 113 of his shipmates.

George Hendry was a much-loved man, a great university athlete, and a very good doctor. Unfortunately, he was also naive and too trusting. One night in January 1941, he committed a very foolish indiscretion. He would spend the rest of his tragically short life making amends for this mistake.

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The Orillia Spirit tells the history of the city through the stories of its people, who insisted on making their lives and their community alive with significance.

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The Canadian Opera Company The First Fifty Years

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It started with a festival - three classic operas performed in a theatre in Toronto. But when it became apparent that there was a need for a national opera company, an organization was founded that would go on to become one of the largest performing arts organizations in the country.

The Canadian Opera Company was born in 1950, and is now one of the major opera companies in North America. The Company has toured extensively throughout Canada and the United States, and has delighted audiences as far away as Australia and Hong Kong, all the while finding the time to record frequently and develop special operatic presentations for children.

More than just a group of performers, the COC also provides a training program for young professional singers, and a series of commissions of new works from both up-and-coming and established composers.

Opera Viva is a history of the Company, but it is more than that: it is also a history of Canadas cultural growth in the second half of the twentieth century, a time when the Canadian Opera Company became central to Canadas musical life. As the story of the Company unfolds, the figures and personalities that were integral to the building of this landmark of Canadian culture are brought to life.

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This official account of the crisis in the Persian Gulf traces the Canadian Forces commitment to the Gulf region in response to Iraqi aggression in 1990-1991. Written by two officers who served in the Persian Gulf during the period of hostilities in 1991, this official account is the fruit of four years of detailed research. Based upon their personal experiences, numerous interviews, and unrestricted access to official papers, they have produced a candid account of value for both the military professional and the interested civilian.

In January 1991, the Chief of Defence Staff authorized the Director of History to post Major Jean Morin as field historian to the staff of the Commander, Canadian Forces Middle East (Commodore Ken Summers). It was the first time since the Korean War that a historical officer had been posted to the staff of a Canadian commander overseas.

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The Selected Sermons of W. Gunther Plaut

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W. Gunther Plaut is an internationally recognized rabbi and scholar, and one of the greatest preachers of the twentieth century. He was born in Germany, but in 1935 fled the Nazis for the United States, where he became a rabbi. He served in Chicago and St. Paul, and, from 1961 to 1977 was Senior Rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Upon his retirement he was appointed Senior Scholar.

Published on the occasion of his ninety-fifth birthday, this collection of sermons delivered over a period of fifty years includes discussions about religion, faith, and God; ethics and values; being a Jew, Reform Judaism, and Israel; and aging and death. Each sermon is as relevant and meaningful today as it was when first delivered. W. Gunther Plaut is an electrifying speaker who held his audiences spellbound with his charisma and wit. This anthology of his sermons is a fitting tribute to the wisdom and spirit of this great man!

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The Ontario Book of Days is a light-hearted and whimsical chronicle of some of the most interesting events in Ontarios history. Events and happenings of all sorts from all parts of the province from politics, sports, and business, to cultural events and natural disasters are happily intermingled whether they took place two centuries or two years ago.

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If Ontario is the land that is ours to discover then surely Randall White has written a book of discovery. Ontario 1610-1985 fulfills the need for a comprehensive text that chronicles the history of one of the founding provinces of Confederation, a province that has provided a vital legacy for Canada.

Ontario 1610-1985 is for the general reader and an invaluable text for teachers and students of Canadian and Ontario history. Randall white concentrates his account of Ontarios past and present on the political and economic events that have shaped the province. The book is supplemented with annotated photographs and illustrations that highlight the social and cultural context.

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From the Fall of Hong Kong to the Defeat of Japan

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This is the story of a seventeen year old boy who ran away from home to join the Canadian Army at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. It describes the fateful adventures of two regiments dispatched to the Pacific to face the Japanese, and the courage of two thousand young soldiers who, when faced with an impossible task thousands of miles from home, behaved with honour and distinction. Though they lost the battle of Hong Kong, they succeeded in showing the world the mettle of which they were made.

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Canadians in the Golden Age of Hollywood

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When sound arrived in Hollywood in the late 1920s, Canadians were already holding some of the most important roles in the motion picture industry. Louis B. Mayer, from New Brunswick, was boss at MGM; Jack Warner, from Ontario, was head of Warner Bros. Studio; and Mack Sennett, from Quebec, was still King of Comedy.

Canadians like Mary Pickford, Marie Dressler, and Norma Shearer moved easily from silents to talkies - this illustrious trio won the first three Academy Awards for Best Actress.

Canadians arriving in sunny California in the 1930s and 1940s were principally actors, including Yvonne de Carlo, Walter Pidgeon, Ruby Keeler, and many others. You will be amazed at the Canadian influence on Hollywoods Golden Age.

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Confronting the Challenges to Aboriginal Self-Determination

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It is from the land that the Native peoples of Canada draw their strength.

If the people of Quebec claim a right to sovereignty, Inuit of Quebec argue their right of self-determination empowers them with the choice to remain part of Quebec, of Canada or to secede on their own.

The James Bay Cree consider Hydro Quebecs "mad plans to engineer and dam the vast ecosystem" where they have lived for centuries an affront to their own right to control their land.

The Labrador Innu are struggling with both the federal and provincial governments to protect their traditional hunting territories from threats imposed by military training flights and mineral exploration.

All of these are challenges. As the Native peoples of Canada are meeting them, asserting their right to make choices for themselves, they stand steadfastly "on the land" from which flow their inherent rights to self-determination.

"We are not willing to be bystanders and spectators. We are not willing to have our political status once again determined by others."

Zebedee Nungak, President of Makivik, representing Inuit of Northern Quebec

"Great Whale is only a symptom. The attempted dispossession of my people, and the purported extinguishment of our rights, is the cause."

Matthew Coon Come, Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Cree

"The real solution to the problems that face the Innu people is recognition by Canada and Newfoundland of our rights, rights to our land and our way of life. We can not and will not settle for anything less."

Daniel Ashini, Director of Innu Rights and Environment for the Innu Nation

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Royal recognition in Canada is accorded through a variety of honours and awards, including the Royal Victorian Order, Medal, and Chain; Vice-Regal and Commissioners Commendations; and Vice-Regal and Commissioners Recognition Badges. On Her Majestys Service examines the history and development of these marks of honour from the Crown in detail and also provides complete lists of Canadian recipients and a section on heraldry.

The Royal Victorian Order and Medal have been used since 1896 to honour Canadians who have rendered extraordinary or personal services to the Sovereign, while the Royal Victorian Chain was instituted in 1902. The Vice-Regal and Commissioners Commendations are valuable awards presented by lieutenant-governors and territorial commissioners for important services to a viceregal or territorial commissioner; lieutenant-governors, territorial commissioners, and their spouses are accorded royal recognition through the Vice-Regal and Commissioners Recognition Badges.

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Stephen Leacock: Memories and Reflections, 1935-1944

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In the last decade of his life, Leacock turned to writing informal essays that blended humour with a conversational style and ripened wisdom to address the issues he cared about most - education, literature, economics, Canada and its place in the world - and to confront the joys and sorrows of his own life. With an introduction that sets them in the context of his life, thoughts and times, these essays reveal a passionate, intellegent, personal Leacock, against a backdrop of Depression and war, finding hope and conveying the timeless message that only the human spirit can bring social justice, peace, and progress.

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Be prepared to soar! Whether you are an aviation enthusiast, history buff, or air traveller, dont miss the third in a series of photo essays on aviation in Canada, covering almost 100 years of flight by Canadians. Dramatic visuals accompany each step of aviations advances, from Canadas first military aircraft to Billy Bishops Nieuport, from the earliest bush planes to the beginnings of passenger travel. This comprehensive history showcases 50 aircraft. Whether famous or forgotten, all were designed, built, and/or flown by Canadians. Insightful analysis is complemented by gorgeous photos, many in colour, some with rare archival significance. The history of our desire to conquer gravity is encapsulated within these covers.

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In ten original studies, former students and colleagues of Maurice Careless, one of Canadas most distinguished historians, explore both traditional and hitherto neglected topics in the development of nineteenth-century Ontario. Their papers incorporate the three themes that characterize their mentors scholarly efforts: metropolitan-hinterland relations; urban development; and the impact of limited identities gender, class, ethnicity and regionalism that shaped the lives of Old Ontarians.

Traditional topics colonial-imperial tension and the growth of Canadian autonomy in the Union period, the making of a compact in early York, politics in pre-Rebellion Toronto, and the social vision of the late Upper Canadian elites are re-examined with fresh sensitivity and new sources. Maters about which little has been written urban perspectives on rural and Northern Ontario, Protestant revivals, an Ontario style in church architecture, the late-nineteenth-century ready-made clothing industry, Native-Newcomer conflict to the 1860s, and the separate and unequal experiences of women and men student teachers at the Provincial Normal school receive equally insightful treatment.

An appreciative biography of Careless, an analysis of the relativism underpinning his approach to national and Ontario history, and a listing of Carelesss publications, complete this stimulating collection.

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Is impotence contagious? At what age should a senior be surgically separated from his automobile, or obligated to donate his sex toys to the Salvation Army?

These and other timely questions are among those not answered in Eric Nicols latest cure for serious reading, Old Is In. This palsied opus responds to demographics warning that our Western society is about to be engulfed by a tidal wave of seniors.

How to cope? Is stoicism the answer? Hell, no! The best way to relieve the stiff upper lip is with a smile. And that prescription is filled, merrily, by Eric Nicols Old Is In.

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Here we have the personal account of the misadventures that preceded the opening to the public of the Leacock home in 1958.

Forty years ago, in October 1954, a committee was formed, chaired by Pete McGarvey, to acquire and preserve Stephen Leacocks summer home, known as The Old Brewery Bay. Four years later a golden key opened the front door of the home, allowing Leacock fans to pay homage to the humorist in a setting he had prized above every other. As the years have passed, appreciation of Leacocks genius has grown and today the Leacock Museum is open year-round to visitors from all parts of the globe.

The Old Brewery Bay is a Leacockian yarn full of ironies, the greatest one being that the salvation of Leacocks home was accomplished not by a national campaign involving governments, philanthropists, McGill alumni, and foundations (all of whom were approached in a spirit of urgency and all of whom backed away), but by a gang of naive and stubborn Orillians, using old-fashioned political moxie. Leacock would have loved that - his Mariposans showing the big sophisticated world how to get things done.

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As Bob and Mildred Lee, they amazed audiences with their death-defying motorcycle act. In reality they were Bob and Mildred Restall, parents of three, who balanced their glamorous show-business career with a happy, stable home life.

In October 1959, the Restalls embarked on the ultimate family adventure, as Bob led his family to the east coast of Canada to dig for the famous treasure of Oak Island. For nearly six years they lived without telephone, hydro, or running water while newspapers and magazines chronicled their attempts to solve the mystery of the Money Pit. On August 17, 1965, their quest ended in tragedy when four men died.

This biography, compiled by their daughter, includes material written by each family member. Lyrical descriptions of nature, amusing anecdotes, details of the dig, and numerous photographs help to tell the story. This book is a must for Oak Island enthusiasts.

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Building on the success of his previous bestsellers, Now You Know, Now You Know More, and Now You Know Almost Everything, this fourth volume is headed straight for the bestseller list! It is Doug Lennox at his best as he masterfully dispenses the answers to quirky questions, never losing sight of the joy of discovering the "why" of ordinary things.

Discover the fascinating histories behind people, places, and words:

WHY DO WE SAY THAT SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN TREATED BADLY HAS BEEN "HUNG OUT TO DRY"?

Discipline on early British sailing ships was necessary but often extreme. The cat-o-nine-tails left sailors scarred for life, but keelhauling (tying a victim with a rope and pulling him under a ship) was feared most. If the prisoner survived, he was suspended from a yardarm where he was left hanging for a predetermined period of time.

WHY IS A MILITARY DINING HALL CALLED A "MESS"?

The term goes back to the Middle Ages, when British sailors began calling their meagre and often grub-infested meals a "mess." It evolved into meaning the general area where the sailors gathered to eat. Later it referred to a specific area where men gathered to eat, drink, and socialize.