Prairie Warships

The story of the Northwest Rebellion is synonymous with Métis leader Louis Riel, whose allies joined together in 1885 to face the military forces of the Canadian government, engaging in a civil war on the Canadian Prairies. A lesser-known element of the story is the gripping tale of river warfare along the banks of rivers in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. InPrairie Warships: River Navigation in the Northwest Rebellion, historian Gordon E. Tolton tells of the follies and triumphs of a small prairie war that was fought using steamboats, ferries and other river craft. This was an adventure experienced at water level by warriors and soldiers on all sides--European settlers, First Nations and Métis. Richly illustrated and thoroughly researched, Prairie Warshipstakes readers to an era when the frontier was under siege, when prairie towns were ports of call, when a region's lifeblood depended on transport and when the mood of the river determined the fate of a nation.

From rubber landing boats to picket boats to minesweepers, smaller support vessels did much of the work of the Korean War, and endured many of the dangers and hardships. Rarely mentioned in histories of the war, they served functions essential to keeping the United States Navy and the United Nations partners in active duty. This volume delivers an overview of the various kinds of vessels involved, the difficulties of mobilizing the aging American fleet at a time when a significant downsizing had been expected, and the design and specification considerations of the support vessels needed for the new war effort. It lists the individual support vessels and details the degree of their involvement, often providing photographs as well as comments from men who served aboard the ships.

When Native and Métis unrest escalated into the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, white settlers in southern Alberta`s cattle country were terrified. Three major First Nations bordered their range, and war seemed certain. In anticipation, 114 men mustered to form the Rocky Mountain Rangers, a volunteer militia charged with ensuring the safety of the open range between the Rocky Mountains and the Cypress Hills. The Rangers were a motley crew, from ex-Mounties and ex-cons to retired, high-ranking military officials and working ranch hands. Membership qualifications were scant: ability to ride a horse, knowledge of the prairies, and preparedness to die. The Rangers were resolutely prepared to fight, as mounted cavalry, should the rebellion spread. This is their story, inextricably linked to the dissensions of the day, rife with skirmishes, corruption, jealousies, rumour, innuendo and gross media sensationalizing . . . all bound together with what author Gordon Tolton terms "a generous helping of gunpowder."

The bicycle is fast becoming a ubiquitous form of transportation in cities all over the world, making our urban spaces more efficient, more livable and healthier. But many of those bicycles disappear into basements and garages when the warm months end, parked there by owners fearful of the cold, snow and ice that winter brings. But does it have to be that way? Canadian writer and journalist Tom Babin started questioning this dogma after being stuck in winter commuter traffic one dreary and cold December morning and dreaming about the happiness that bicycle commuting had brought him all summer long. So he did something about it. He pulled on some thermal underwear, dragged his bike down from the rafters of his garage and set out on a mission to answer a simple but beguiling question: is it possible to happily ride a bike in winter? That question took him places he never expected. Over years of trial and error, research and more than his share of snow and ice, he discovered an unknown history of biking for snow and ice, and a new generation designed to make riding in winter safe and fun. He unearthed the world’s most bike-friendly winter city and some new approaches to winter cycling from places all over the world. He also looked inward, to discover how the modern world shapes our attitudes toward winter. And perhaps most importantly, he discovered the unique kind of bliss that can only come by pedalling through softly falling snow on a quiet winter night.

Roots of Entanglement offers an historical exploration of the relationships between Indigenous peoples and European newcomers in the territory that would become Canada. Various engagements between Indigenous peoples and the state are emphasized and questions are raised about the ways in which the past has been perceived and how those perceptions have shaped identity and, in turn, interaction both past and present. Specific topics such as land, resources, treaties, laws, policies, and cultural politics are explored through a range of perspectives that reflect state-of-the-art research in the field of Indigenous history. Editors Myra Rutherdale, Whitney Lackenbauer, and Kerry Abel have assembled an array of top scholars including luminaries such as Keith Carlson, Bill Waiser, Skip Ray, and Ken Coates. Roots of Entanglement is a direct response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call for a better appreciation of the complexities of history in the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.

An illustrated study of premier US anti-ship missile, the AGM/RGM-84 Harpoon, and its 1986 and '88 uses against Libyan and Iranian naval vessels. In this study, defence technology expert Lon Nordeen details the role played by the Harpoon missile in two Cold War flare-ups in the 1980s. The Harpoon was the first tactical anti-ship missile developed by the US Navy to provide a counter to the anti-ship missiles exported around the world by the Soviet Union and China. It was deployed on ships, aircraft, submarines and land vehicles and soon became the most widely used anti-ship missile system in the West, with 7,000+ having been produced since 1977, operated by the military forces of more than 30 nations. This exciting book explores the engagements of the Harpoon by the US Navy against its Libyan and Iranian adversaries, using original photographs and specially commissioned artwork to examine the naval systems and weapons employed by both counterparts. Drawing upon interviews with the US Navy A-6 Intruder crews that deployed the AGM084 variant of the Harpoon in 1986 and 1988, the author brings unique insight to his examination of these fascinating duels.

This three-part work presents a comprehensive look at a unique woman whose life spanned almost the full 20th Century. Educated well beyond her peers in the 1920’s, never satisfied with less than the high standards her upbringing had trained her to value and expect, Eva Marshall Totah struck out across the world to pursue her calling. She sought to pass on her prairie-bred character to those around her, to create beauty and to uplift her surrounding environment. Readers interested in the history of the American Midwest and the history of American Quakers will be drawn to her story, which begins with her birth in the claim shanty of her parents’ homestead in the new State of South Dakota. Genealogy buffs will enjoy the well-documented family genealogical histories of Eva’s eight great grandparents. Students of the history of the modern Middle East will be fascinated by her first-person accounts of life in Palestine during the waning years of the British Mandate, before the creation of Israel. Part I – The Autobiography of Eva Marshall Totah From the South Dakota prairie, a young Quaker woman was recruited in 1927 to teach for a year in the Holy Land. Well-prepared by her college and graduate studies, as well as two years as a Bible teacher in a Chicago after-school religious education program, she ventures overseas. Not realizing there were Arabs in Palestine, Eva Rae Marshall was expecting to teach Jewish children at the Friends’ Girls School in Ramallah. Discovering the varied religious landscape in Jerusalem’s environs was only one of many surprises in store for her! In Eva’s autobiography, she recounts her childhood in Wessington Springs, South Dakota and the choices she made that took her across the world at a time when most women did not even finish high school. Always supported and guided by her loving parents, Eva describes how she found her life’s purpose at the Quaker school in Palestine among the varied and colorful religious groups that called the country their home, and recounts her travels throughout the surrounding Levantine region during the British Mandate period. Eva found love and purpose in Palestine, eventually marrying a Palestinian Quaker, Dr. Khalil Totah. She spent 17 years in Palestine before she and Dr. Totah moved their family to America, sailing on a Liberty Ship through the mine-strewn Mediterranean waters during World War II. After several years on the East Coast, Eva lived the rest of her years in California. Part II – Eva’s Letters Home from Palestine (1927 - 1944) The second section contains Eva’s letters to her family in South Dakota from Palestine. The letters are the only ones known to remain from a correspondence that was carried on weekly for 17 years. They span from her arrival in 1927 to the family’s departure from Palestine in 1944, and include remarkable observations of the colorful life of the Middle East of that period. CENTERPart III – Genealogy of Eva Marshall TotahCENTER The third portion of the book contains well researched genealogy and family history narratives of eight of Eva’s ancestral families: Jesse Marshall, Mary Pickering, William Owen Lancaster, Olive Ruddick, Phillip Strahl, Rhoda Ann French, Arthur Ginn and Mary Eliza Barton. Since Eva was of almost completely Quaker stock, the research benefits from the volume of rich sources of information available on members of the Society of Friends. Eva Rae Marshall was also a direct descendant of Mayflower pilgrim Stephen Hopkins.