Download or read book Why We Act Like Canadians written by Pierre Berton and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2012-06-19 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this challenging book, written as a series of open letters to an American friend, Pierre Berton reaches into his profound knowledge of the country’s history and geography to dissect, praise, explain and occasionally criticize the national character. He does so, not with abstract opinions but with apt and colourful examples taken from the past and the present: Sam Steele’s gold rush censorship of the Turkish Whirlwind Danseuse; Ontario’s grudging acceptance of beer in three Toronto ballparks; New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade; Lorne Greene’s rueful return to Toronto; William Van Horne’s tirade against winter carnivals; the role of Kentucky in the War of 1812; W.A.C. Bennett’s surprising takeover of the B.C. Electric Company on the day of its president’s funeral. All these apparently disconnected incidents are woven into a carefully thought-out dissection of the national character, a distillation of more than thirty years of Berton research.
Download or read book Pierre Berton s War of 1812 written by Pierre Berton and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 962 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To commemorate the bi-centenary of the War of 1812, Anchor Canada brings together Pierre Berton's two groundbreaking books on the subject. The Invasion of Canada is a remarkable account of the war's first year and the events that led up to it; Pierre Berton transforms history into an engrossing narrative that reads like a fast-paced novel. Drawing on personal memoirs and diaries as well as official dispatches, the author has been able to get inside the characters of the men who fought the war - the common soldiers as well as the generals, the bureaucrats and the profiteers, the traitors and the loyalists. The Canada-U.S. border was in flames as the War of 1812 continued. York's parliament buildings were on fire, Niagara-on-the-Lake burned to the ground and Buffalo lay in ashes. Even the American capital of Washington, far to the south, was put to the torch. The War of 1812 had become one of the nineteenth century's bloodiest struggles. Flames Across the Border is a compelling evocation of war at its most primeval - the muddy fields, the frozen forests and the ominous waters where men fought and died. Pierre Berton skilfully captures the courage, determination and terror of the universal soldier, giving new dimension and fresh perspective to this early conflict between the two emerging nations of North America.
Download or read book Prisoners of the North written by Pierre Berton and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2011-03-11 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Canada’s master storyteller returns to the North to chronicle the extraordinary stories of five inspiring and controversial characters. Canada’s 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 Canada’s 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 “Yukon” 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 “Blond Eskimos” 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 — 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 Canada’s harsh north. With his sharp eye for detail and faultless ear for a good story, Pierre Berton shows once again why he is Canada’s favourite historian.
Download or read book The Invasion of Canada written by Pierre Berton and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2011-02-11 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To America's leaders in 1812, an invasion of Canada seemed to be "a mere matter of marching," as Thomas Jefferson confidently predicted. How could a nation of 8 million fail to subdue a struggling colony of 300,000? Yet, when the campaign of 1812 ended, the only Americans left on Canadian soil were prisoners of war. Three American armies had been forced to surrender, and the British were in control of all of Michigan Territory and much of Indiana and Ohio. In this remarkable account of the war's first year and the events that led up to it, Pierre Berton transforms history into an engrossing narrative that reads like a fast-paced novel. Drawing on personal memoirs and diaries as well as official dispatches, the author has been able to get inside the characters of the men who fought the war — the common soldiers as well as the generals, the bureaucrats and the profiteers, the traitors and the loyalists. Berton believes that if there had been no war, most of Ontario would probably be American today; and if the war had been lost by the British, all of Canada would now be part of the United States. But the War of 1812, or more properly the myth of the war, served to give the new settlers a sense of community and set them on a different course from that of their neighbours.
Download or read book Pierre Berton s Canada written by Pierre Berton and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Map on endpages, biography of Canada, history.
Download or read book Hollywood s Canada written by Pierre Berton and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 1975 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Great Depression written by Pierre Berton and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2012-02-21 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 1.5 million Canadians were on relief, one in five was a public dependant, and 70,000 young men travelled like hoboes. Ordinary citizens were rioting in the streets, but their demonstrations met with indifference, and dissidents were jailed. Canada emerged from the Great Depression a different nation. The most searing decade in Canada's history began with the stock market crash of 1929 and ended with the Second World War. With formidable story-telling powers, Berton reconstructs its engrossing events vividly: the Regina Riot, the Great Birth Control Trial, the black blizzards of the dust bowl and the rise of Social Credit. The extraordinary cast of characters includes Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who praised Hitler and Mussolini but thought Winston Churchill "one of the most dangerous men I have ever known"; Maurice Duplessis, who padlocked the homes of private citizens for their political opinions; and Tim Buck, the Communist leader who narrowly escaped murder in Kingston Penitentiary. In this #1 best-selling book, Berton proves that Canada's political leaders failed to take the bold steps necessary to deal with the mass unemployment, drought and despair. A child of the era, he writes passionately of people starving in the midst of plenty.
Download or read book Vimy written by Pierre Berton and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2012-11-19 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling, award-winning author of The American Invasion of Canada “has given great drama and immediacy to that turning point in Canadian history” (Maclean’s). On Easter Monday 1917 with a blizzard blowing in their faces, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in France seized and held the best-defended German bastion on the Western Front—the muddy scarp of Vimy Ridge. The British had failed to take the Ridge, and so had the French who had lost 150,000 men in the attempt. Yet these magnificent colonial troops did so in a morning at the cost of only 10,000 casualties. The author recounts this remarkable feat of arms with both pace and style. He has gathered many personal accounts from soldiers who fought at Vimy. He describes the commanders and the men, the organization and the training, and above all notes the thorough preparation for the attack from which the British General Staff could have learned much. The action is placed within the context both of the Battle of Arras, of which this attack was part, and as a milestone in the development of Canada as a nation. “This wonderful book brings to life the amazing men who came across the Atlantic nearly a century ago and won a famous victory which helped change a nation forever . . . the wonderful prose of Pierre Berton is all from the heart and you should share in it.” —War History Online “The cinematic writing plunks the reader in the midst of the actual battle, and a judicious use of quotes from soldiers’ diaries and letters helps provide a ground-level perspective.” —Quill & Quire
Download or read book Niagara written by Pierre Berton and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2010-03-31 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping history of this natural wonder, from its geological beginnings to the present. "The noble cataract reflects the concerns, failings, and fancies of the times. If we gaze deeply into its shimmering image we can perhaps discern our own." - page 22 “[Pierre Berton] makes a serious and convincing case for Niagara's pivotal role in North American history. ... His Niagara is a lodestar for North American culture and invention: site of the first railway suspension bridge, inspiration for Nikola Tesla's discovery of the principle of alternating current, and the subject of Frederic Church's most celebrated landscape; a natural wonder that has bewitched generations of scientists, authors, and utopians, and stimulated innovations and social movements still casting long shadows. ... surprising, rich and engrossing.” -- Thurston Clarke, New York Times Book Review “Canadian historian Berton tells dozens of absorbing tales about the region and those who passed through it ... He tells them all superbly, aided by essential maps and a few reproductions of posters advertising some of the more bizarre stunts.” -- Publishers Weekly “Entertaining. . . . Berton brings to life the adventurers and dreamers, visionaries and industrialists, who over centuries have been drawn to the Falls.” -- Maclean’s "Berton at his storytelling best; there is something here for everyone. ... a vintage, full-bodied read." -- The London Free Press "A book worth diving into." -- Calgary Herald "By turns ironic, amused, shocked, horrified and awestruck, Berton traces Niagara's history through the deeds of those who came in contact with it ... all the while walking the fine line between detachment and emotion with agility and grace." -- The Whig-Standard (Kingston) Pierre Berton was one of Canada’s most popular and prolific authors, and is widely credited with popularizing Canadian history. His previous books include The Wild Frontier, Prisoners of the North, Klondike, The Invasion of Canada, and The Great Depression.
Download or read book Pierre Janet Berton s Canadian Food Guide written by Pierre Berton and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 1974 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A tour of our national eating styles from pioneer grub to the specialties of today.
Download or read book Winter written by Pierre Berton and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Canadians, Pierre Berton writes, are not only a winter people but are also, by reputation, a wintry people, 'frosty of mien, cool of temperament, chilly of countenance ... not given to public displays of not emotion'-except at the hockey rink, when players bash each other and the crowd calls for blood. And that, he says, is just a part of the paradox of our most fascinating season.
Download or read book The Joy of Writing written by Pierre Berton and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2010-04-30 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on his fifty years as an award-winning journalist and author of some of the finest books on Canadian history, Pierre Berton has written a witty and practical guide for writers. With almost every book a bestseller, clearly this writer knows what it takes to succeed in the publishing world. From the all-important rule of “knowing your audience” and other essential writing tips to down-to-earth advice on dealing with agents, publishers, and editors, The Joy of Writing covers every aspect of non-fiction writing and includes interviews with twenty-seven of Canada’s leading writers. Illustrated with more than thirty manuscript pages from Pierre Berton’s own works. Includes Interviews With: Alex Barris • Ted Barris • Jack Batten • Fred Bodsworth • June Callwood • Stevie Cameron • Robert Collins • Elaine Dewar • Will Ferguson • Trent Frayne • Bob Fulford • Charlotte Gray • Richard Gwyn • Stephen Kimber • Ken McGoogan • Roy McGregor • Linda McQuaig • Farley Mowat • Knowlton Nash • Peter Newman • Stephanie Nolen • John Sawatsky • Russell Smith • Edna Staebler • Walter Stewart • Betty Jane Wylie • Jan Wong
Download or read book Smug Minority written by Pierre Berton and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2012-12-18 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about freedom – and the lack of it – in Canada: freedom from useless and often degrading toil, freedom from want and freedom from ignorance. It is Pierre Berton’s thesis, documented by public statements made over the past generation, that a smug minority of business and political leaders has conspired to inhibit that freedom. The establishment, says Berton, has brainwashed the public into believing a series of myths which have no validity in a post-Puritan age. These myths include such old saws as “A woman’s place is in the home” . . . “Anybody can work his way through college” . . . “Satan finds more mischief still for idle hands to do” . . . “Too much security kills initiative” . . . “It’s your own fault you’re so poor. The author indicts his fellow countrymen for failing to invest in human beings in the same way that they invest in power plants, highways, and gold mines. His researches into poverty in Canada and into inequalities of the educational system will shock a good many readers just as his theories on work and leisure will enrage others raised in the Calvinist ethic. The book ranges over a wide variety of topics: the hippie movement in Toronto’s Yorkville village . . . the author’s personal experiences in a Yukon mining camp . . . the future of educational television in Canada . . . the Chamber of Commerce’s abortive “Operation Freedom” campaign. But always Berton hammers on his central theme – that the nation has been held back by an inbred power-elite: “Selfish, narrow, short-sighted men unable to grasp the vision of the future, imprisoned by a bookkeeping attitude to life, creeping silently and blindly along at the tag end of the parade of progress.” The Smug Minority is certain to stimulate the same kind of national debate that the author’s previous best-selling book about religion, The Comfortable Pew, engendered. Many will disagree with its central thesis but few will be able to put it down. It’s that kind of book.
Download or read book The Secret World of Og written by Pierre Berton and published by Doubleday Canada. This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The summer adventure of five children takes them into a strange country peopled by little green men.
Download or read book 1967 the Last Good Year written by Pierre Berton and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few Canadians over the age of forty can forget the feeling of joy and celebration that washed over the country during Canada's centennial year. We were, Pierre Berton reminds us, a nation in love with itself, basking in the warm glow of international applause brought on by the unexpected success of Expo 67 and pumped up by the year-long birthday party that had us all warbling "Ca-na-da, as Bobby Gimby and his gaggle of small children pranced down the byways of the nation. It was a turning-point year, a watershed year--a year of beginnings as well as endings. One royal commission finally came to a close with a warning about the need for a new approach to Quebec. Another was launched to investigate, for the first time, the status of Canadian women. New attitudes to divorce and homosexuality were enshrined in law. A charismatic figure, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, made clear that the state had no place in the bedrooms of the nation. The seeds of Women's Lib, Gay Pride, and even Red Power, were sown in the centennial year. (Of all the pavilions on the Expo site, Berton singles out the Indian pavilion as having the greatest impact.) The country was in a ferment that year. Canadians worried about the Americanization of every institution from the political convention to "Hockey Night in Canada. People talked about the Generation Gap as thousands of flower children held love-ins in city parks. The government tried to respond by launching the Company of Young Canadians, a project that was less than successful. The most significant event of 1967 was Charles de Gaulle's notorious "Vive le Quebec libre!" speech in Montreal. It gave the burgeoning separatist movement a new legitimacy, enhanced by Rene Levesque's departure from the Liberal party later that year. Throughout the book, the author gives us insightful profiles of some of the significant figures of 1967: the centennial activists Judy LaMarsh and John Fisher; the Expo entrepreneurs, Philippe de Gaspe Beaubien and Edward Churchill; Walter Gordon, the fervent nationalist, and his rival, Mitchell Sharp; Lester Pearson and his "bete noire, John Diefenbaker; the three "men of the world" who helped make Canada internationally famous: Marshall McLuhan, Glenn Gould, and Roy Thomson; hippie leaders like David dePoe, American draft dodgers like Mark Satin, women's activists like Doris Anderson and Laura Sabia, youth workers like Barbara Hall, radicals like Pierre Vallieres (author of "White Niggers of America) and such dedicated nationalists as Madame Chaput Rolland and Andre Laurendeau. In spite of the feeling of exultation that marked the centennial year, an opposite sentiment runs through the book like dark thread: the growing fear that the country was facing its gravest crisis. Berton points out that we are far better off today than we were in 1967. "Then why all the hand wringing?" he asks. Because of "the very real fear that the country we celebrated so joyously thirty years ago is in the process of falling apart. "In that sense, 1967 was the last good year before all Canadians began to be concerned about the future of our country."
Download or read book Marching as to War written by Pierre Berton and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 648 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Canada's twentieth century can be divided roughly into two halves. All the wars and all the unnecessary battles in which Canadian youth was squandered belong to the first -- from the autumn of 1899 to the summer of 1953. From the mid-1950s on, Canada has concerned itself not with war but with peace. The first war of the century, which took Canadian soldiers to South Africa, and the last, which sent them to Korea, bracket the bookends on the shelf of history. They have a good deal in common with, these two minor conflicts, whose chronicles pale when compared to the bloodbaths of the two world wars. Canada's wartime days are long past, and for many, the scars of war have healed. Vimy has been manicured clean, its pockmarked slopes softened by a green mantle of Canadian pines. Dieppe has reverted to a resort town, its beaches long since washed free of Canadian blood. Nowadays, Canadians are proud of their role as Peacekeepers, from which they have gained a modicum of international acclaim the nation has always craved, with precious little blood wasted in the process. In this monumental work, Pierre Berton bringsCanadian history to life once again, relying on a host of sources, including newspaper accounts and first-hand reports, to tell the story of these four wars through the eyes of the privates in the trenches, the generals at the front, and the politicians and families back home. By profiling the interwar years, Berton traces how one war led to the next, and how the country was changed in the process.
Download or read book The Last Spike written by Pierre Berton and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2010-12-22 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the four years between 1881 and 1885, Canada was forged into one nation by the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Last Spike reconstructs the incredible story of how some 2,000 miles of steel crossed the continent in just five years — exactly half the time stipulated in the contract. Pierre Berton recreates the adventures that were part of this vast undertaking: the railway on the brink of bankruptcy, with one hour between it and ruin; the extraordinary land boom of Winnipeg in 1881–1882; and the epic tale of how William Van Horne rushed 3,000 soldiers over a half-finished railway to quell the Riel Rebellion. Dominating the whole saga are the men who made it all possible — a host of astonishing characters: Van Horne, the powerhouse behind the vision of a transcontinental railroad; Rogers, the eccentric surveyor; Onderdonk, the cool New Yorker; Stephen, the most emotional of businessmen; Father Lacombe, the black-robed voyageur; Sam Steele, of the North West Mounted Police; Gabriel Dumont, the Prince of the Prairies; more than 7,000 Chinese workers, toiling and dying in the canyons of the Fraser Valley; and many more — land sharks, construction geniuses, politicians, and entrepreneurs — all of whom played a role in the founding of the new Canada west of Ontario.
