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Better the blood / by Bennett, Michael,1964-author.;
"An absorbing, clever debut thriller that speaks to the longstanding injustices faced by New Zealand's indigenous peoples, by an acclaimed Māori screenwriter and director. A tenacious Māori detective, Hana Westerman juggles single motherhood, endemic prejudice, and the pressures of her career in Auckland CIB. Led to a crime scene by a mysterious video, she discovers a man ritualistically hanging in a secret room and a puzzling inward-curving inscription. Delving into the investigation after a second, apparently unrelated, death, she uncovers a chilling connection to a historic crime: 160 years before, during the brutal and bloody British colonization of New Zealand, a troop of colonial soldiers unjustly executed a Māori Chief. Hana realizes that the murders are utu-the Māori tradition of rebalancing for the crime committed eight generations ago. There were six soldiers in the British troop, and since descendants of two of the soldiers have been killed, four more potential murders remain. Hana is thus hunting New Zealand's first serial killer. The pursuit soon becomes frighteningly personal, recalling the painful event when as a new cop two decades before, Hana was part of a police team sent to end by force a land rights occupation by indigenous peoples on the same ancestral mountain where the Chief was killed, calling once more into question her loyalty to her roots. Worse still, a genealogical link to the British soldiers brings the case terrifyingly close to Hana's own family. Twisty and thought-provoking, Better the Blood is the debut of a remarkable new talent in crime fiction."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Novels.; Maori (New Zealand people); Murder; Serial murderers; Single mothers; Women detectives;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Shanghai Grand : forbidden love and international intrigue on the eve of the Second World War / by Grescoe, Taras,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."On the eve of WWII, the foreign-controlled port of Shanghai was the rendezvous for the twentieth century's most outlandish adventurers, all under the watchful eye of the fabulously wealthy Sir Victor Sassoon. Emily 'Mickey' Hahn was a legendary New Yorker journalist whose vivid writing played a crucial role in opening Western eyes to the realities of life in China. At the height of the Depression, Hahn arrived in Shanghai after a disappointing affair with an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter, convinced she will never love again. After checking in to Sassoon's glamorous Cathay Hotel, Hahn is absorbed into the social swirl of the expats drawn to pre-war China, among them Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, Harold Acton, and a colourful gangster named Morris 'Two-Gun' Cohen. But when she meets Zau Sinmay, a Chinese poet from an illustrious family, she discovers the real Shanghai through his eyes: the city of rich colonials, triple agents, opium-smokers, displaced Chinese peasants, and increasingly desperate White Russian and Jewish refugees--places her innate curiosity will lead her to explore first hand. Danger lurks on the horizon, though, as the brutal Japanese occupation destroys the seductive world of pre-war Shanghai, paving the way for Mao Tse-tung's Communists rise to power"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Biographies.; Hahn, Emily, 1905-1997; Hahn, Emily, 1905-1997; Sassoon, Elias Victor, 1881-1961; Cathay Hotel (Shanghai, China); Adventure and adventurers; Aliens; Americans; Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A mind spread out on the ground / by Elliott, Alicia,author.;
"A bold and profound work by Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is a personal and critical meditation on trauma, legacy, oppression and racism in North America. In an urgent and visceral work that asks essential questions about Native people in North America while drawing on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma, Alicia Elliott offers indispensable insight and understanding to the ongoing legacy of colonialism. What are the links between depression, colonialism and loss of language--both figurative and literal? How does white privilege operate in different contexts? How do we navigate the painful contours of mental illness in loved ones without turning them into their sickness? How does colonialism operate on the level of literary criticism? A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is Alicia Elliott's attempt to answer these questions and more. In the process, she engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, sexuality, love, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, writing and representation. Elliott makes connections both large and small between the past and present, the personal and political--from overcoming a years-long history with head lice to the way Native writers are treated within the Canadian literary industry; her unplanned teenage pregnancy to the history of dark matter and how it relates to racism in the court system; her childhood diet of Kraft dinner to how systematic oppression is linked to depression in Native communities. With deep consideration and searing prose, Elliott extends far beyond her own experiences to provide a candid look at our past, an illuminating portrait of our present and a powerful tool for a better future."--
Subjects: Native peoples; Racism; Colonization;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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When the Irish invaded Canada : the incredible true story of the Civil War veterans who fought for Ireland's freedom / by Klein, Christopher,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The outlandish, untold story of the Irish-American revolutionaries who tried to free Ireland by invading Canada. Just over a year after Robert E. Lee relinquished his sword, a band of Union and Confederate veterans dusted off their guns. But these former foes had no intention of reigniting the Civil War. Instead, they were bound by a common goal: to seize the British province of Canada and to hold it hostage until the independence of Ireland was secured. By the time that these invasions--known together as the Fenian Raids--began in 1866, Ireland had been Britain's unwilling colony for seven hundred years. Thousands of Civil War veterans considered themselves Irishmen before they were Americans. They were those who fled rather than perish in the wake of the Great Hunger, and now they took their cue from a previous generation of successful American revolutionaries. With the tacit support of the U.S. government, the Fenian Brotherhood established a state in exile, planned prison breaks, weathered infighting, stockpiled weapons, and assassinated enemies. Defiantly, this motley group, including a one-armed war hero, an English spy infiltrating rebel forces, and a radical who staged his own funeral, managed to seize a piece of Canada--if only for three days. When the Irish Invaded Canada is the untold tale of a band of fiercely patriotic Irish-Americans and their chapter in Ireland's centuries-long fight for independence. Inspiring, lively, and often undeniably comic, this is a story of fighting for what's right in the face of impossible odds"--
Subjects: Fenians.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Witchcraft : a history in thirteen trials / by Gibson, Marion,1970-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Witchcraft is a ... journey through thirteen witch trials across history, some famous-like the Salem witch trials-and some lesser-known: on Vardø island, Norway, in the 1620s, where an indigenous Sami woman was accused of murder; in France in 1731, during the country's last witch trial, where a young woman was pitted against her confessor and cult leader; in Pennsylvania in 1929 where a magical healer was labelled a 'witch'; in Lesotho in 1948, where British colonial authorities executed local leaders. Exploring how witchcraft became feared, decriminalized, reimagined, and eventually reframed as gendered persecution, Witchcraft takes on the intersections between gender and power, indigenous spirituality and colonial rule, and political conspiracy and individual resistance. Offering a vivid, compelling, and dramatic story, unspooling through centuries, about the men and women who were accused-some of whom survived their trials, and some who did not-Witchcraft empowers the people who were and are victimized and marginalized, giving a voice to those who were silenced by history."--
Subjects: Marginality, Social.; Trials (Witchcraft); Witch hunting; Witchcraft;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A genocide foretold : reporting on survival and resistance in occupied Palestine / by Hedges, Chris,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."With intimate and harrowing portraits of the human consequences of oppression, occupation, and violence experienced in Palestine today, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges issues a call to action urging us to bear witness and engage with the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Hedges wrote the first section of the book when he was in Ramallah in July 2024, and he draws from his experience doing extensive reporting from the Middle East, including Gaza, for the New York Times. A Genocide Foretold confronts the stark realities of life under siege in Gaza and the heroic effort ordinary Palestinians are waging to resist and survive. Weaving together personal stories, historical context, and unflinching journalism, Chris Hedges provides an intimate portrait of systemic oppression, occupation, and violence. The book includes chapters on: What life is like in Gaza City and Ramallah in the midst of approaching bombs and gunfire. The history of the dispossession of Palestinians of their land in relation to the ideology of Zionism. A portrait of Amr, a 17-year-old high school student who is forced to evacuate his village with his family. Psychoanalysis of the state of permanent war that has led to the destruction of hospitals, telecommunications centers, governmental buildings, roads, homes universities, schools, and libraries and archaeological and heritage sites in Gaza. The ways in which the collective retribution against innocents is a familiar tactic employed by colonial rulers. A heartbreaking final chapter called "Letter to the Children of Gaza.""--
Subjects: Arab-Israeli conflict; Palestinian Arabs; Palestinian Arabs;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The blue diamond / by Goldberg, Leonard S.,author.;
"The fate of the allied forces lies in the hands of Joanna and the Watsons in the next Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mystery from USA Today bestselling author Leonard Goldberg. During a critical stage in World War One, the Governor-General of South Africa journeys to London for a meeting of The Imperial War Conference. Days prior to the conference, the Governor-General is scheduled to have an audience at Buckingham Palace at which time a most precious blue diamond will be presented to King Edward as a symbolic gesture of the colonies' resolute and never-ending allegiance to England. The flawless blue diamond, with its magnificent luster, weighs nearly 3000 carats which renders it one of the world's largest and most valuable gems. On the Governor-General's arrival, he is ensconced at the fashionable Windsor Hotel under the tightest security, with his entire entourage and formidable security team occupying the entire penthouse floor. All entrances and exits are locked down and closely guarded, and no one is allowed entrance after 6 PM. Despite the extreme precautions, the famous diamond is stolen from the Governor-General's suite in the middle of the night, with no clues left behind. With Scotland Yard baffled, Joanna and the Watsons are called in to investigate the theft and it becomes clear that the crime is not simply the work of a master thief, but one that could greatly aid the Germans and turn the tide of war in their favor. Time is of the essence and the blue diamond must be recovered before it begins its travels which could cause irreparable damage to the allied war plans"--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Blalock, Joanna (Fictitious character); Diamonds; Jewelry theft; Theft; Women detectives; Women private investigators;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Entangled life : how fungi make our worlds, change our minds & shape our futures / by Sheldrake, Merlin,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Living at the border between life and non-life, fungi use diverse cocktails of potent enzymes and acids to disassemble some of the most stubborn substances on the planet, turning rock into soil and wood into compost, allowing plants to grow. Fungi not only help create soil, they send out networks of tubes that enmesh roots and link plants together in the "Wood Wide Web." Fungi also drive many long-standing human fascinations: from yeasts that cause bread to rise and orchestrate the fermentation of sugar into alcohol; to psychedelic fungi; to the mold that produces penicillin and revolutionized modern medicine. And we can partner with fungi to heal the damage we've done to the planet. Fungi are already being used to make sustainable building materials and wearable leather, but they can do so much more. Fungi can digest many stubborn and toxic pollutants from crude oil to human-made polyurethane plastics and the explosive TNT. They can grow food from renewable sources: edible mushrooms can be grown on anything from plant waste to cigarette butts. And some fungi's antiviral compounds might be able to ease the colony collapse of bees. Merlin Sheldrake's revelatory introduction to this world will show us how fungi, and our relationships with them, are more astonishing than we could have imagined. Bringing to light science's latest discoveries and ingeniously parsing the varieties and behaviors of the fungi themselves, he points us toward the fundamental questions about the nature of intelligence and identity this massively diverse, little understood kingdom provokes"--
Subjects: Fungi.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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How the West stole democracy from the Arabs : the Syrian Arab Congress of 1920 and the destruction of its historic liberal-Islamic alliance / by Thompson, Elizabeth F.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."When Europe's Great War engulfed the Ottoman Empire, Arab nationalists rose in revolt against their Turkish rulers and allied with the British on the promise of an independent Arab state. In October 1918, the Arabs' military leader, Prince Faisal, victoriously entered Damascus and proclaimed a constitutional government in an independent Greater Syria. Faisal won American support for self-determination at the Paris Peace Conference, but other Entente powers plotted to protect their colonial interests. Under threat of European occupation, the Syrian-Arab Congress declared independence on March 8, 1920 and crowned Faisal king of a "civil representative monarchy." Sheikh Rashid Rida, the most prominent Islamic thinker of the day, became Congress president and supervised the drafting of a constitution that established the world's first Arab democracy and guaranteed equal rights for all citizens, including non-Muslims. But France and Britain refused to recognize the Damascus government and instead imposed a system of mandates on the pretext that Arabs were not yet ready for self-government. In July 1920, the French invaded and crushed the Syrian state. The fragile coalition of secular modernizers and Islamic reformers that had established democracy was destroyed, with profound consequences that reverberate still. Using previously untapped primary sources, including contemporary newspaper accounts, reports of the Syrian-Arab Congress, and letters and diaries from participants, How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs is a groundbreaking account of an extraordinary, brief moment of unity and hope-and of its destruction"--
Subjects: Muʼtamar al-Sūrī al-ʻĀmm (1919-1920); Arab nationalism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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1945 : the year that made modern Canada / by Cuthbertson, Ken,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."1945 was a watershed year for Canada and the world. It ushered in the modern era and set Canada on a new course. With the momentous dropping of the Atomic bomb on Japan, everything had changed. There was a sense of relief at the ending of hostilities, but there was also great uncertainty and fear of the brave new world unfolding. On the eve of WWII, Canada's population was just 10 million. The country was a sleepy backwater where nothing of much significance ever happened. If we accept that the country forged its national identity in World War I, it's fair to say that it came of age in the six years of WWII. As a result, Canada stepped into the modern era in 1945 completely changed and ready to assume its place in the world as an independent nation, no longer under the colonial sway of the mother country. As he did with The Halifax Explosion, bestselling author Ken Cuthbertson has written a compelling narrative about the year 1945 and the events and personalities that shaped our country and created our future. From Mackenzie King, Rocket Richard, and Emily Carr to E.P. Taylor, Igor Gouzenko, Hugh MacLennan, Agnes McPhail and Gabrielle Roy, among others, 1945 weaves an unforgettable portrait of our nation at the moment of its modern birth. Just as writer Bill Bryson's recent bestseller One Summer: America, 1927 chronicled a pivotal year in American history by focusing on the experiences of a select group of American historical figures, 1945: The Year That Made Modern Canada will tell the stories of Canadians - some celebrated, some just ordinary people - who left their mark on this country during 1945 as they seeded its future."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: History.; Canadians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 271 to 280 of 389 | « previous |