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The Romanov empress : a novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna / by Gortner, C. W.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."For readers of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir comes a dramatic novel of the beloved Empress Maria, the Danish girl who became the mother of the last Russian tsar. Even from behind the throne, a woman can rule. Narrated by the mother of Russia's last tsar, this vivid, historically authentic novel brings to life the courageous story of Maria Feodorovna, one of Imperial Russia's most compelling women, who witnessed the splendor and tragic downfall of the Romanovs as she fought to save her dynasty in its final years. Barely nineteen, Minnie knows that her station in life as a Danish princess is to leave her family and enter into a royal marriage--as her older sister Alix has done, moving to England to wed Queen Victoria's eldest son. The winds of fortune bring Minnie to Russia, where she marries the Romanov heir, Alexander, and once he ascends the throne, becomes empress. When resistance to his reign strikes at the heart of her family and the tsar sets out to crush all who oppose him, Minnie--now called Maria--must tread a perilous path of compromise in a country she has come to love. Her husband's death leaves their son Nicholas as the inexperienced ruler of a deeply divided and crumbling empire. Determined to guide him to reforms that will bring Russia into the modern age, Maria faces implacable opposition from Nicholas's strong-willed wife, Alexandra, whose fervor has led her into a disturbing relationship with a mystic named Rasputin. As the unstoppable wave of revolution rises anew to engulf Russia, Maria will face her most dangerous challenge and her greatest heartache. From the opulent palaces of St. Petersburg and the intrigue-laced salons of the aristocracy to the World War I battlefields and the bloodied countryside occupied by the Bolsheviks, C. W. Gortner sweeps us into the anarchic fall of an empire and the complex, bold heart of the woman who tried to save it"--
Subjects: Biographical fiction.; Historical fiction.; Marīi͡a︡ Ḟeodorovna, Empress, consort of Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, 1847-1928; Romanov, House of; Empresses;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Weimar years : rise and fall 1918-1933 / by McDonough, Frank,1957-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Established in 1918-19, in the wake of Germany's catastrophic defeat in the First World War and the revolution that followed swiftly on its heels, the Weimar Republic ushered in widespread social reform, a radical cultural flowering and the most democratic conditions the German people had ever known. At its beginning, Weimar held out the hope that democracy, stability and prosperity would take root in Germany, but it was beset by frequent changes of government, waves of economic upheaval and spasms of violence of increasing intensity between the forces of left and right. Agitation and assassination by right-wing nationalists -- enraged by the severity of the Treaty of Versailles and the acceptance of its terms by liberal German politicians -- formed a threatening descant to the conciliatory efforts of successive coalition governments. Ultimately, the instabilities of Weimar would lead to the appointment as German Chancellor of the Nazi Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, who created a one-party dictatorship that abandoned the rule of law, democracy and civil rights. In the words of Gustav Stresemann, Germany's Nobel Peace Prize-winning Foreign Minister from 1923 to 1929, Weimar democracy was 'dancing on a volcano'. The Weimar Years is a vivid and compelling narrative of a dramatic period in German history. Year by year, from 1918 to 1933, Frank McDonough covers the major events in both domestic and foreign policy and the personalities who shaped them, together with developments in music, art, theatre and literature. McDonough places particular focus on the parliamentary history of Weimar, arguing that it was the failure of parliamentary democracy to bring stability that eroded public confidence and allowed the power of the elected Reichstag to gradually diminish, culminating in Hitler's accession to power in January 1933. The Weimar Years is the tragic story of a rise and fall, as well as a warning of how, under poor leadership, economic pressure and unrelenting political volatility, a democracy can drift towards a form of authoritarian rule that eventually destroys it.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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True Confessions from the Ninth Concession [electronic resource] : by Needles, Dan.aut; CloudLibrary;
Author and playwright Dan Needles has long delighted readers and audiences alike with his insightful and laugh-out-loud perspective on small-town life, published in such bestselling books as Wingfield's World (Random House, 2011), Wingfield's Hope (Key Porter, 2005), With Axe and Flask (McFarlane, Walter and Ross, 2002) and Letters From Wingfield Farm (Key Porter, 1988). In 1988, Needles and his wife left the city to start a family in a country community located two hours north of Toronto. Together they stocked their farm with sheep, cattle, chickens, pigs and, eventually, four children. Needles' charming chronicle unfolds in essays dated from 1997 to 2016, offering homespun advice for successful country living--like whether to wave from the elbow or to merely raise one finger from the steering wheel when passing a neighbour in the car. He cautions on rural superstitions, such as when his neighbour hesitated before selling him weaner pigs because every time he does the wife of the farmer who's buying them becomes pregnant--which turned out to be true. Here too is the tale of an unlikely friendship between a "borderline" collie ("he's never bitten anything in his life and the sheep are catching on") and an odd duck named Ferdinand, as well as other hilarious stories involving an assortment of farm animals, including the weapon of choice to properly dispatch a rooster-gone-bad; the risks of giving a name to a potential Sunday dinner entrée; and how to outsmart a free-range pig. With his witty insight, Needles shares the art of neighbouring in the country--a place made for visits, and "where a figure walking across your field is more of a reason to put the kettle on than to call the police." True Confessions from the Ninth Concession is a sesquicentennial crop of antics and aphorisms by Canada's funniest farmer--one that presents a wonderful escape for world-weary city dwellers, and affirmative reading for anyone who is from, or has moved to, rural Canada.General adult.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Essays; Animals; Personal Memoirs;
© 2017., Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd.,
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The woulda, coulda, shoulda guide to Canadian inventions / by Smith, Steve,1945-author.; Smith, David T.,1978-author.;
"One of Canada's greatest inventors takes on his peers, with mixed results. The author of How to do everything and Red Green's beginner's guide to women has never been reluctant to take on enormously difficult jobs that are doomed to failure. This latest project has turned out to be perhaps his nearest thing to a triumph yet. In Woulda, coulda, shoulda, Red surveys, analyzes, critiques and in some cases tells you how to replicate at home the best Canadian inventions, from the Wonderbra to the hard-cup jockstrap, by way of insulin, the walkie-talkie, synchronised swimming and more world-changing innovations than you can wave a Canadarm at. And speaking of the Canadarm, Red shows how by simply combining common household items such as a cordless drill, metal tape measure, broomstick, ice tongs, bungee cord, fishing reel and, of course, the handiman's secret weapon -- duct tape -- you will in no time at all be lifting oranges out of the fruit bowl like a trained astronaut. Elsewhere, Red tells the little-known story of how the BlackBerry inspired a freelance piccolo player from the Possum Lake area to create a WhistleBerry communication device requiring no internet connection, wireless or electricity. He explains definitively the difference between the alkaline battery and Al Kaline, who played right field for the Detroit Tigers. And he reveals how Lodge Member Dennis Holmsworth's test-run of magnetic shoes along the underside of the Mercury Creek Railway Bridge literally came undone as a result of poor lace-tying skills. The illustrations are inimitably -- because really, who else would want to? -- the work of the author himself, relieved throughout with a large number of photographs in vivid black and white. An important contribution to the sesquicentennial celebrations, and an inspiration to the handiman and handiwoman to aim high, however badly they might miss, The woulda, coulda, shoulda guide to Canadian inventions is a book no shed should be without"--
Subjects: Inventions;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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What the wild sea can be : the future of the world's ocean / by Scales, Helen,author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-290) and index."The acclaimed marine biologist and author of The Brilliant Abyss examines the existential threats the world's ocean will face in the coming decades and offers cautious optimism for much of the abundant life within. No matter where we live, "we are all ocean people," Helen Scales emphatically observes in her bracing yet hopeful exploration of the future of the ocean. Beginning with its fascinating deep history, Scales links past to present to show how the prehistoric ocean ecology was already working in ways similar to the ocean of today. In elegant, evocative prose, she takes readers into the realms of animals that epitomize today's increasingly challenging conditions. Ocean life everywhere is on the move as seas warm, and warm waters are an existential threat to emperor penguins, whose mating grounds in Antarctica are collapsing. Shark populations -- critical to balanced ecosystems -- have shrunk by 71 per cent since the 1970s, largely the result of massive and oft-unregulated industrial fishing. Orcas -- the apex predators -- have also drastically declined, victims of toxic chemicals and plastics with long half-lives that disrupt the immune system and the ability to breed. Yet despite these threats, many hopeful signs remain. Increasing numbers of no-fish zones around the world are restoring once-diminishing populations. Astonishing giant kelp and sea grass forests, rivaling those on land, are being regenerated and expanded. They may be our best defense against the storm surges caused by global warming, while efforts to reengineer coral reefs for a warmer world are growing. Offering innovative ideas for protecting coastlines and cleaning the toxic seas, Scales insists we need more ethical and sustainable fisheries and must prevent the existential threat of deep-sea mining, which could significantly alter life on Earth. Inspiring us all to maintain a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty beneath the waves, she urges us to fight for the better future that still exists for the Anthropocene ocean"--
Subjects: Marine ecology.; Marine ecosystem health.; Nature; Ocean.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The moment : standing up to Bill Cosby, speaking up for women / by Constand, Andrea,1973-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."An inspiring story of resilience and bravery by the Canadian woman who became the linchpin of the case to bring Bill Cosby to justice. Andrea Constand did the right thing, not just for herself, but for sixty other women. When Bill Cosby was convicted on three counts of sexual assault in 2018, the verdict sent shock waves around the globe. Some were outraged that a beloved icon of family values, the man dubbed "America's dad," had been accused, let alone convicted. Others were stunned because they had waited so long to see justice; in accusations going back decades, sixty women recounted how they'd been drugged, raped and assaulted at Cosby's hands. Andrea Constand is just one of these women, but she was the only one with the power to bring him to justice. Constand's decade-long legal marathon required her to endure an excruciating civil suit, and two harrowing criminal trials. It was her deep sense of personal and social responsibility, fostered by her close-knit immigrant family and values earned through team sports, that gave her the courage to testify at the criminal trial--something she agreed to do not for herself, but for the sixty other women whose stories would never be told in court. In The Moment, Constand opens up about the emotional and spiritual work she did to recover from the assault and the psychological regimen she developed to strengthen herself for the courtroom. Ultimately, Constand's testimony brought a powerful man to account. She also gained a new understanding of the resiliency of human spirit, and the affirming knowledge that stepping up and doing the right thing, even when the outcome is uncertain, is the surest path to true healing. From the woman who has been called "the true hero of #MeToo," The Moment is a memoir about the moment a life changes, as hers did when she was raped; about the moment, nearly a decade later, when she stood up for victims without a voice and put herself through an arduous criminal trial; and about the cultural moment, signified by the #MeToo movement, that made justice possible."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Constand, Andrea, 1973-; Constand, Andrea, 1973-; Cosby, Bill, 1937-; MeToo movement.; Rape victims; Sex crimes; Sexual abuse victims; Sexual harassment of women.; Trials (Sex crimes);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Can you hear me now? : how I found my voice and learned to live with passion and purpose / by Caesar-Chavannes, Celina,1974-author.;
"In Can You Hear Me Now?, Celina Caesar-Chavannes digs deep into her immigrant childhood, her life as a young black woman entrepreneur and as a politician, revealing all the ways she wrestled with how to be her authentic self--and showing us how to be heard, loud and clear. Celina Caesar-Chavannes, already a breaker of boundaries as a black woman in business, got into politics because she wanted to make a bigger difference in the world. But when she became the first black person elected to represent the federal riding of Whitby, Ontario, she hadn't really thought about the fact that Ottawa hadn't been designed for a person like her. Determined not to be silenced by the constant micro-aggressions and racist assumptions of political life, Celina soon found herself both making waves and breaking down, confronting at night, alone in her Ottawa apartment, all the painful beauty of her immigrant childhood and her troubled early adult life. She felt the cost of speaking out, for sure, but also felt the exhilaration and empowerment, too. As she writes, "This is not your typical leadership book where the person is placed in a situation and miraculously comes up with the right response for the wicked problem. This is the story of me falling in love, at last, with who I am, and finding my voice in the unlikeliest of places." And it is both her memoir and a leadership book, a funny, self-aware, poignant, confessional and fierce look at how failing badly and screwing things up completely are truly more powerful lessons in how to conduct a life than extraordinary success. How they build an utter honesty with yourself and others that allows you to say things nobody else dares to say, the necessary things about navigating the places that weren't built for you and holding firm to your principles. Because, if you do that, you will help build a world where inclusion is real and racism a thing of the past. Just as Celina is now trying to do, in all her brilliance and boldness."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Caesar-Chavannes, Celina, 1974-; Businesspeople; Leadership.; Politicians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Book of Records [electronic resource] : by Thien, Madeleine.aut; CloudLibrary;
Named a 2025 Most Anticipated Release by Toronto Star • Literary Hub • Esquire • The Washington Post • 49th Shelf • She Does the City The sublime, long-awaited, major new novel from the beloved author of the Governor General's Literary Award-winning, Booker Prize-shortlisted bestseller Do Not Say We Have Nothing. The Book of Records opens inside "The Sea," a mysterious shape-shifting enclave, a staging-post for waves of migrants coming and going, a building made of time where pasts and futures collide. Here, a girl named Lina cares for her ailing father. Having arrived carrying her few possessions by hand, Lina grows up with only three books to read—a trio taken from a grand 90-volume series about the lives of famous "voyagers" throughout history. As she goes about daily life in the building, finding food and necessities for herself and her father, she befriends three eccentric neighbours, each with a story to share. There's Bento, an ex-communicated Jewish scholar from seventeenth-century Amsterdam (who resembles voyager Baruch Spinoza in one of Lina's books); Blucher, a philosopher from 1930s Germany who escaped Nazi persecution (and whose life mirrors that of Hannah Arendt, from another of Lina's books); and Jupiter, a brilliant but impoverished poet of Tang Dynasty China (whose story shadows that of voyager Du Fu). As Lina grows up, she spends hours with these three, listening to their fascinating tales. But it is only when her father, his strength fading, reveals how he and Lina came to seek refuge in The Sea that she begins to understand her own story, and the acts of love and betrayal shaping her life. Exquisitely written with extraordinary subtlety of thought, The Book of Records leaps across centuries as if eras were separated by only a door. It holds a mirror to the role of fate, shows how a political moment may determine the course of an individual's life, and suggests the longings and consolations of a voyaging mind and heart. This is Madeleine Thien at her most exciting, sublime and engaging.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Political; Literary;
© 2025., Knopf Canada,
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Graveyard of the Pacific : shipwreck and survival on America's deadliest waterway / by Sullivan, Randall,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A vivid portrait of the Columbia River Bar that combines maritime history, adventure journalism, and memoir, bringing alive the history--and present--of one of the most notorious stretches of water in the world. Off the coast of Oregon, the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean and forms the Columbia River Bar: a watery collision so turbulent and deadly that it's nicknamed the Graveyard of the Pacific. Two thousand ships have been wrecked on the bar since the first European ship dared to try to cross it in the late eighteenth century. For decades ships continued to make the bar crossing with great peril, first with native guides and later with opportunistic newcomers, as Europeans settled in Washington and Oregon, displacing the natives and transforming the river into the hub of a booming region. Since then, the commercial importance of the Columbia River has only grown, and despite the construction of jetties on either side, the bar remains treacherous, even today a site of shipwrecks and dramatic rescues as well as power struggles between small fishermen, powerful shipowners, local communities in Washington and Oregon, the Coast Guard, and the Columbia River Bar Pilots--a small group of highly skilled navigators who help guide ships through the mouth of the Columbia. When Randall Sullivan and a friend set out to cross the bar in a two-man kayak, they're met with skepticism and concern. But on a clear day in July when the tides and weather seem right, they embark. As they plunge through the waves, Sullivan ponders the generations of sailors that made the crossing before him-including his own abusive father, a sailor himself who also once dared to cross the bar--and reflects on toxic masculinity, fatherhood, and what drives men to extremes. Rich with exhaustive research and propulsive narrative, Graveyard of the Pacific follows historical shipwrecks through the moment-by-moment details that often determined whether sailors would live or die, exposing the ways in which boats, sailors, and navigation have changed over the decades. As he makes his way across the bar, floating above the wrecks and across the same currents that have taken so many lives, Randall Sullivan faces the past, both in his own life and on the Columbia River Bar"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Sullivan, Randall.; Shipwrecks;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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In such good company : eleven years of laughter, mayhem, and fun in the sandbox / by Burnett, Carol,author.;
"Comedy legend Carol Burnett tells the hilarious behind-the-scenes story of her iconic weekly variety series, The Carol Burnett Show. Who but Carol Burnett herself has the timing, talent, and wit to pull back the curtain on the Emmy-Award winning show that made television history for eleven glorious seasons? In Such Good Company delves into little-known stories of the guests, sketches and antics that made the show legendary, as well as some favorite tales too good not to relive again. Carol lays it all out for us, from the show's original conception to its evolution into one of the most beloved primetime programs of its generation. Written with all the charm and humor fans expect from a masterful entertainer like Carol Burnett, In Such Good Company skillfully highlights the elements that made the show so successful in a competitive period when TV variety shows ruled the air waves. Putting the spotlight on everyone from her talented costars to her amazing guest stars--the most celebrated and popular entertainers of their day--Carol crafts a lively portrait of the talent and creativity that went into every episode. Here are all the topics readers want to know more about, including: how the show almost didn't air due to the misgivings of certain CBS vice presidents; how she discovered and hired Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway; anecdotes about guest stars and her close freindships with many of them, including Lucille Ball, Roddy Mcdowell, Jim Nabors, Bernadette Peters, Betty Grable, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Gloria Swanson, Rita Hayworth, and Betty White; the people behind the scenes from Bob Mackie, her costume designer and partner in crime, to the wickedly funny cameraman who became a fixture during the show's opening Q&A; and Carol's takes on her favorite sketches and the unpredictable moments that took both the cast and viewers by surprise. This book is Carol's love letter to a golden era in television history through the lens of her brilliant show which won no less than 25 Emmy Awards! Get the best seat in the house as she reminisces about the outrageous tales that made working on the show as much fun as watching it"--
Subjects: Burnett, Carol.; Carol Burnett Show (Television program : 1967-1978);
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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