Book
Prisoners of the North / Pierre Berton.
Record details
- ISBN: 0385660464 (hc)
- Physical Description: 328 p. : ill. maps
- Publisher: [Toronto] : Doubleday Canada, c2004.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Includes index. Maps on lining papers. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Adventure and adventurers > Canada, Northern > Biography. Canada, Northern > Biography Northwest, Canadian > Biography. Canada, Northern > History. Northwest, Canadian > History > 1870-1905 |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stroud Branch | 971.90099 Ber | 31681001510262 | NONFIC | Available | - |
- Blackwell North Amer
In Prisoners of the North, Pierre Berton depicts five extraordinary characters who were in thrall to the Artic's forbidding landscapes: a mining tycoon; an explorer; a titled lady; a backwoods eccentric; and a best-selling poet. Their life stories give us a compelling portrait of the north, long before it was tamed by the bush plane, the snowmobile, and the paved highway. - Random House, Inc.
Canadaâs master storyteller returns to the North to chronicle the extraordinary stories of five inspiring and controversial characters.
Canadaâs master storyteller returns to the North to bring history to life. Prisoners of the North tells the extraordinary stories of five inspiring and controversial characters whose adventures in Canadaâs frozen wilderness are no less fascinating today than they were a hundred years ago.
We meet Joseph Boyle, the self-made millionaire gold prospector from Woodstock, Ontario, who went off to the Great War with the word âYukonâ inscribed on his shoulder straps, and solid-gold maple-leaf lapel badges. There he survived several scrapes with rogue Bolsheviks, earned the admiration of Trotsky, saved Romania from the advancing Germans, and entered into a passionate affair with its queen.
We meet Vilhjalmur Steffansson, who knew every corner of the Canadian North better than any explorer. His claim to have discovered a tribe of âBlond Eskimosâ brought him world-wide attention and landed him in controversy that would dog him the rest of his life.
There is John Hornby, the eccentric public-school Englishman so enthralled with the Barren Grounds where he lived that he finally starved to death there with the two young men who had joined his adventures.
Berton gives us a riveting account of the contradictory life of Robert Service â a world-famous poet whose self-effacement was completely at odds with his public persona.
And we meet the extraordinary Lady Jane Franklin, who belied every last stereotype about Victorian women with her immense determination, energy, and sense of adventure. She travelled more widely than even her famous explorer husband, Sir John. And her indefatigable efforts to find him after his disappearance were legendary.
A Yukoner himself, Berton weaves these tales of courage, fortitude, and reckless lust for adventure with a love for Canadaâs harsh north. With his sharp eye for detail and faultless ear for a good story, Pierre Berton shows once again why he is Canadaâs favourite historian.
