The Voyageur Canadian Biographies 5 Book Bundle

Voyageur Classics is a series of special versions of Canadian classics, with added material and new introductory notes. In this bundle we find five biographical and autobiographical titles that shed light on some of Canada’s most important figures at crucial times in the country’s development. William Kilbourn brings to life the rebel Canadian hero William Lyon Mackenzie: able political editor, first mayor of Toronto, and the gadfly of the House of Assembly. The Scalpel, the Sword celebrates the turbulent career of Dr. Norman Bethune, a brilliant surgeon, campaigner for socialized medicine, and communist. Elizabeth Simcoe’s diary, describing Canada from 1791 to 1796, is history written as it was being made, an account instilled with excitement and delight. And finally, two titles by the legendary Grey Owl tell his own astonishing story and advocate for a closeness with and respect for nature. Each of these books is an essential classic of Canadian literature. Includes The Firebrand Mrs. Simcoe’s Diary The Scalpel, the Sword The Men of the Last Frontier Pilgrims of the Wild

Voyageur Classics is a series of special versions of Canadian classics, with added material and new introductions. In this bundle we find five classic works of twentieth century fiction, drama and poetry, a period when Canada’s literary identity was shaped. Originally published in 1962, The Silence on the Shore is considered by many critics to be renowned Hugh Garner’s best, most ambitious novel. Originally published in 1967, Combat Journal for Place d’Armes was initially met with shock and anger by most reviewers but has become a literary touchstone. The Donnellys tells the tale of a secret society and a massacre that shocked the Canadian public, a story overlooked by the artistic community until Reaney’s 1975 play elevated the events to the level of legend. In This Poem I Am presents the best of poet Robin Skelton’s adventurous poetry. And Exploration Literature is a groundbreaking collection of early writing inspired by the opening of a continent, an entry point into the beginnings of a literate response to the awe and wonder inspired by an unfolding geography. Includes Canadian Exploration Literature Combat Journal for Place d’Armes The Donnellys In This Poem I Am The Silence on the Shore

Presenting six titles in the Quest Biography series that profiles prominent figures in Canada’s history. Canada is a vast land with many remote regions to be explored. Among the intrepid explorers who travelled the wilderness and mapped Canada’s geography are: the French founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain; surveyor David Thompson; doomed seeker of the Northwest Passage Sir John Franklin; Arctic explorer Vilhjamur Stefansson; legendary Upper Canada governor Sir George Simpson; and mountaineer Phyllis Munday. Their stories are detailed in these entertaining and informative biographies. Includes Samuel de Champlain John Franklin David Thompson Vilhjamur Stefansson George Simpson Phyllis Munday

This book is an account of one man's introduction to modern Canada. It is a memoir, a primer on social change, and a portrayal of the nuances that make Canada its own place in the North American landscape. It is about Canadian identity-especially as contrasted with the neighbor to the south. It tells of the continuing drama of Canada's first people and their relationship with the dominant settler society. The author sees his life as part of the weave in the Canadian fabric-similar to the voyageurs whose ventures opened the country to a new people-and he follows the thread of it for over forty years of discovery.

Originally published in the early 1950s, The Scalpel, the Sword celebrates the turbulent career of Dr. Norman Bethune (1890-1939), a brilliant surgeon, campaigner against private medicine, communist, and graphic artist. Bethune belonged to that international contingent of individuals who recognized the threat of fascism in the world and went out courageously to try to defeat it. Born in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Bethune introduced innovative techniques in treating battlefield injuries and pioneered the use of blood transfusions to save lives, which made him a legend first in Spain during the civil war and later in China when he served with the armies of Mao Zedong in their fight against the invading Japanese. He is today remembered amongst the pantheon of Chinese revolutionary heroes. In Canada Bethune’s strong left-wing views made him persona non grata, but this highly readable and engaging account has helped to sustain the memory of a great man.

Best-selling author of Angry White Pyjamas travels across the Rocky Mountains by canoe Fifteen years before Lewis and Clark, Scotsman Alexander Mackenzie, looking to open up a trade route, set out from Lake Athabasca in central Northern Canada in search of the Pacific Ocean. Mackenzie travelled by bark canoe and had a cache of rum and a crew of Canadian voyageurs, hard-living backwoodsmen, for company. Two centuries later, Robert Twigger decides to follow in Mackenzie's wake. He too travels the traditional way, having painstakingly built a canoe from birchbark sewn together with pine roots, and assembled a crew made up of fellow travelers, ex-tree-planters and a former sailor from the US Navy. Several had tried before them but they were the first people to successfully complete Mackenzie's diabolical route over the Rockies in a birchbark canoe since 1793. Their journey takes them to the remotest parts of the wilderness, through Native American reservations, over mountains, through rapids and across lakes, meeting descendants of Mackenzie and unhinged Canadian trappers, running out of food, getting lost and miraculously found again, disfigured for life (the ex-sailor loses his thumb), bears brown and black, docile and grizzly.