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Marshall McLuhan
Phyllis Munday
Emma Albani: Victorian Diva
Ebook series30 titles

Quest Biography 35-Book Bundle Series

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About this series

Presenting ten titles in the Quest Biography series that profiles prominent figures in Canada’s history. The important Canadian lives detailed here are: painters Tom Thomson and James Wilson Morrice; explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson; frontiersman Simon Girty; railway baron William C. Van Horne; early politicians George Simpson and James Douglas; revolutionary Metis leader Louis Riel; writer Robertson Davies; and early movie star Mary Pickford.

Includes
  • Louis Riel
  • James Wilson Morrice
  • Vilhjalmur Stefansson
  • Robertson Davies
  • James Douglas
  • William C. Van Horne
  • George Simpson
  • Tom Thomson
  • Simon Girty
  • Mary Pickford
LanguageEnglish
PublisherDundurn
Release dateJan 1, 2001
Marshall McLuhan
Phyllis Munday
Emma Albani: Victorian Diva

Titles in the series (38)

  • Emma Albani: Victorian Diva

    1

    Emma Albani: Victorian Diva
    Emma Albani: Victorian Diva

    Born in Quebec, Emma Lajeunesse studied in Europe and in 1869 at the age of 23 launched her opera career in Italy. Almost overnight she became Albani, the world-renowned diva.

  • Marshall McLuhan

    7

    Marshall McLuhan
    Marshall McLuhan

    Communications theorist Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) predicted the effects of electronic media on modern culture as early as 1964. McLuhan published several breakthrough books and coined terms like "hot" and "cool" media, "the global village," and "the medium is the message."

  • Phyllis Munday

    8

    Phyllis Munday
    Phyllis Munday

    In 1924 Phyllis (Phyl) Munday did what no other woman had done before - reached the summit of Mt. Robson. She climbed close to 100 mountains in her lifetime, many of those first ascents. She honed her outdoor skills as a Girl Guide leader and remained active in Guides throughout her life. During the 1920s and 1930s, Phyl and her partner Don Munday pioneered exploration into the heart of the Coast Mountains.

  • John Diefenbaker

    5

    John Diefenbaker
    John Diefenbaker

    At the age of nine, John Diefenbaker announced, "I’m going to be prime minister when I grow up." He never lost sight of his goal. Diefenbaker was prime minister of Canada from 1957-1963. He believed in social justice, opening up the North, and making things better for western farmers. Canadians responded to his campaign call to "Follow John." This compelling book recreates the tensions of the Diefenbaker era - the time of the Cold War, spy scandals, and the Cuban Missile Crisis - when the world seemed on the brink of nuclear war.

  • Emily Carr: Rebel Artist

    2

    Emily Carr: Rebel Artist
    Emily Carr: Rebel Artist

    As a child she was "contrary,"as a young woman she defied convention to choose art over marriage, and as a middle-aged woman she was considered a full-blown eccentric. Listening to her own inner voice, Emily Carr created an art unique to British Columbia.

  • George Grant

    3

    George Grant
    George Grant

    George Grants Lament for a Nation led some to call him a Red Tory and the dominant force behind the Canadian nationalist movement of the 1970s. Today, reading George Grants books helps us to understand the full implications of American-led, technology-driven globalization on everyday life.

  • Jacques Plante

    4

    Jacques Plante
    Jacques Plante

    Jacque Plante, the first National Hockey League goalie to regularly wear protective facemask, was known for roving out of his net. "The Masked Marvel" won the Vezina trophy seven times and became a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

  • René Lévesque: Charismatic Leader

    12

    René Lévesque: Charismatic Leader
    René Lévesque: Charismatic Leader

    René Lévesque entered provincial politics in 1960 when Jean Lesage persuaded him to join his Liberal dream team. In 1968 he founded the Parti Québécois  (PQ). Under the PQ banner, Lévesque served as premier from 1976 to 1985.

  • Nellie McClung

    10

    Nellie McClung
    Nellie McClung

    Writer, activist, and politician Nellie McLung (1873-1951) was a strong and effective voice for the women’s movement. She was one of the Famous Five suffragists from Alberta whose court challenge in the Persons Case led to women in Canada being declared to be legal "persons" in 1929. | Margaret Macpherson holds a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and has worked as a teacher and journalist in Halifax, Bermuda, and Vancouver. She currently lives in Edmonton with her husband and four children.

  • Wilfrid Laurier

    9

    Wilfrid Laurier
    Wilfrid Laurier

    Wilfrid Laurier’s life journey took him from a small Quebec village to the Parliament of Canada. He possessed a rare combination of the common touch and political savvy, which he effectively used to remain prime minister of Canada for fifteen years (1896-1911).

  • John Grierson

    14

    John Grierson
    John Grierson

    John Grierson, founder of both the British documentary film movement and the National Film Board of Canada, was one of the twentieth centurys most influential personalities in film culture. He gave the word "documentary" to the English language.

  • Samuel de Champlain

    13

    Samuel de Champlain
    Samuel de Champlain

    A navigator and cartographer, Samuel de Champlain’s passion was for America, which he struggled to explore and have recognized. He still dreamed of reaching India, with its spices and its many riches, by continuing further to the West. But the land called New France – a harsh land from India – was his greatest love. He defended it fiercely to those in power in France and was responsible for its development. Champlain thus ensured the birth of the country that today is Canada. He is undisputedly the Father of New France.

  • Mazo de la Roche

    18

    Mazo de la Roche
    Mazo de la Roche

    In 1927, Mazo de la Roche was an impoverished writer in Toronto when she won a $10,000 prize from the American magazine Atlantic Monthly for her novel Jalna. The book became an immediate bestseller. In 1929, the sequel Whiteoaks also went to the top of bestseller lists. Mazo went on to publish 16 novels in the popular series about a Canadian family named Whiteoak, living in a house called Jalna. Her success allowed her to travel the world and to live in a mansion near Windsor Castle. Mazo created unforgettable characters who come to life for her readers, but she was secretive about her own life and tried to escape the public attention her fame brought.

  • James Wilson Morrice: Painter of Light and Shadow

    22

    James Wilson Morrice: Painter of Light and Shadow
    James Wilson Morrice: Painter of Light and Shadow

    James Wilson Morrice (1865–1924) was a Canadian painter of extraordinary passion and simplicity whose canvases and oil sketches are valued throughout the world and cherished in Canada as our first real examples of modern art. Though cut short by chronic alcohol abuse, Morrice’s restless bohemian life was spent in constant motion. From the colourful canals of Venice to the sun-drenched markets of North Africa to the snowy streets of Quebec City, he was, as his friend Henri Matisse described him, "always over hill and dale, a little like a migrating bird but without any very fixed landing place." In James Wilson Morrice, Wayne Larsen chronicles the creative but often troubled life of this early cultural icon as he travels in search of the colours, compositions, and subtle effects of light that would inspire a revolution in Canadian art.

  • David Thompson

    17

    David Thompson
    David Thompson

    Across North America in 2007-2009, communities will celebrate the David Thompson Bicentennials. For 34 years the great explorer, surveyor, and fur trader travelled across the continent, finding and mapping the routes between the St. Lawrence and the Pacific. Trusting the stars and his sextant, he surveyed a continental area so vast it remains a mapping achievement unequalled in human history. This is the story of David Thompsons epic journey his trail by stars.

  • Lucille Teasdale

    15

    Lucille Teasdale
    Lucille Teasdale

    Canadian surgeon Lucille Teasdale and her husband founded Lacor Hospital in northern Uganda in 1961. For 35 years the two doctors treated such contagious diseases as malaria, TB, and AIDS, and Teasdale performed thousands of operations under difficult conditions. They lived through civil war, hostage takings, and epidemics. Teasdale received the highest humanitarian awards from the U.N. for her lifes work in Africa.

  • Robertson Davies: Magician of Words

    24

    Robertson Davies: Magician of Words
    Robertson Davies: Magician of Words

    Born in Thamesville, Ontario, a student at Queen’s University in Kingston in the 1930’s, and editor and later publisher of the Peterborough Examiner from the 1940s to the mid-1960s, playwright, essayist, critic, professor, and novelist Robertson Davies (1913-1995) was one of Canada’s pre-eminent literary voices for more than a half-century. Davies, with his generous beard and donnish manner, was the very epitome of the "man of letters," a term he abhorred. Best known for his Deptford Trilogy of novels (Fifth Business, The Manticore, World of Wonders), he also wrote two other trilogies (Salterton and Cornish) and was at work on the third volume of another trilogy (Toronto) when he died. With a life as rich in character and colour as that found in his fiction and essays, Davies had a great fondness for magic and myth, both of which are found in abundance in his work, along with a prodigious streak of wry humour.

  • William Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows

    11

    William Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows
    William Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows

    Mackenzie King (1874-1950) was Canadas tenth and longest serving prime minister and an important figure on the international scene, especially during the Second World War. This book provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of Mackenzie King.

  • Laura Secord: Heroine of the War of 1812

    32

    Laura Secord: Heroine of the War of 1812
    Laura Secord: Heroine of the War of 1812

    2013 Speaker’s Book Award — Shortlisted Laura Secord is now famous for her singular feat of bravery during the War of 1812, but did she warn the British and help defeat the American invaders as her legend says? After dragging her injured husband off the battlefield during the War of 1812, Laura Secord (1775-1868) was forced to house American soldiers for financial support while she nursed him back to health. It was during this time that she overheard the American plan to ambush British troops at Beaver Dams. Through an outstanding act of perseverance and courage in 1813, Laura walked an astonishing 30 kilometers from her home to a British outpost to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. Despite facing rough terrain, the ever-present danger of being caught by American troops, and rather delicate encounters with Native forces, Laura reached FitzGibbon just in time for the British to prepare and execute an ambush on American military nearby, forcing the U.S. general to surrender. Laura lived a very long time, dying at the age of 93. In her lifetime the government never formally recognized her singular feat of bravery, and much controversy still envelopes her legacy.

  • Maurice Duplessis

    16

    Maurice Duplessis
    Maurice Duplessis

    During his 18-year reign as premier of Quebec, Maurice Duplessis dominated the province and shaped it to his image. A brilliant orator and a scathing wit, Duplessis exercised complete control over his caucus and the Cabinet. If he couldnt get a vote, he bought it. Politics was the fuel that drove his life. He died on the job.

  • Gabrielle Roy

    20

    Gabrielle Roy
    Gabrielle Roy

    In 1945, Gabrielle Roy skyrocketed to fame and fortune when her first novel, The Tin Flute, was an instant hit. Over 700,000 copies sold in the United States, and the book was awarded the prestigious Prix Fna in France. In Canada, The Tin Flute received a Governor Generals Award. Gabrielle Roy dedicated herself to her vocation as a writer.

  • James Douglas: Father of British Columbia

    25

    James Douglas: Father of British Columbia
    James Douglas: Father of British Columbia

    James Douglas’s story is one of high adventure in pre-Confederation Canada. It weaves through the heart of Canadian and Pacific Northwest history when British Columbia was a wild land, Vancouver didn’t exist, and Victoria was a muddy village. Part black and illegitimate, Douglas was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1803 to a Scottish plantation owner and a mixed-race woman. After schooling in Scotland, the fifteen-year-old Douglas sailed to Canada in 1819 to join the fur trade. With roads non-existent, he travelled thousands of miles each year, using the rivers and lakes as his highways. He paddled canoes, drove dogsleds, and snowshoed to his destinations. Douglas became a hard-nosed fur trader, married a part-Cree wife, and nearly provoked a war between Britain and the United States over the San Juan Islands on the West Coast. When he was in his prime, he established Victoria and secrured the western region of British North America from the Russian Empire and the expansionist Americans. Eventually, Douglas became the controversial governor of the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia and oversaw the frenzied Fraser and Cariboo gold rushes.

  • Susanna Moodie

    19

    Susanna Moodie
    Susanna Moodie

    Susanna Moodie was already a published author when she emigrated from England to Upper Canada with her husband and baby in 1832. The Moodies were seeking financial security and a better life in the colony, but they found themselves struggling to make a living on a bush farm. Despite her primitive life in the backwoods and the demands of caring for her children, Susanna continued to write and publish. In 1852 her best-known book, Roughing It in the Bush, was published in England. A Canadian edition appeared in 1871. Roughing It in the Bush has endured both as a valuable social document of the Canadian pioneer experience and as a work of literature.

  • Vilhjalmur Stefansson: Arctic Adventurer

    23

    Vilhjalmur Stefansson: Arctic Adventurer
    Vilhjalmur Stefansson: Arctic Adventurer

    Born in Manitoba of Icelandic parents, Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962) became one of Canada’s most famous and controversial Arctic explorers. After graduate studies in anthropology at Harvard University, Stefansson lived with and studied Inuit in the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories in the winter of 1906-07. In two subsequent expeditions he completed a major anthropological survey of the Central and Western Arctic coasts and islands of North America; located and lived with the Copper Inuit, a previously unknown group of aboriginal people; and discovered the world’s last major land masses. During his third and final great Arctic expedition from 1913 to 1918, some of Stefansson’s men perished tragically, an outcome that severely damaged his reputation. Nevertheless, the hardy explorer contributed immensely to knowledge about the Far North, particularly in his championing of the "Friendly Arctic." Part scientist, part showman, Vilhjalmur Stefansson was truly unique among polar adventurers.

  • Tom Thomson: Artist of the North

    28

    Tom Thomson: Artist of the North
    Tom Thomson: Artist of the North

    Tom Thomson (1877-1917) occupies a prominent position in Canada’s national culture and has become a celebrated icon for his magnificent landscapes as well as for his brief life and mysterious death. The shy, enigmatic artist and woodsman’s innovative painting style produced such seminal Canadian images as The Jack Pine and The West Wind, while his untimely drowning nearly a century ago is still a popular subject of fierce debate. Originally a commercial artist, Thomson fell in love with the forests and lakes of Ontario’s Algonquin Park and devoted himself to rendering the north country’s changing seasons in a series of colourful sketches and canvases. Dividing his time between his beloved wilderness and a shack behind the Studio Building near downtown Toronto, Thomson was a major inspiration to his painter friends who, not long after his death, went on to change the course of Canadian art as the influential - and equally controversial - Group of Seven.

  • Louis Riel: Firebrand

    21

    Louis Riel: Firebrand
    Louis Riel: Firebrand

    Louis Riel devoted his life to the Metis cause. A fiery activist, he struggled against injustice as he saw it. He was a pioneer in the field of Aboriginal rights and land claims but was branded an outlaw in his own time. In 1885, he was executed for treason. In 1992, the House of Commons declared Riel a founder of Manitoba. November 16 is now designated Louis Riel Day in Canada.

  • William C. Van Horne: Railway Titan

    26

    William C. Van Horne: Railway Titan
    William C. Van Horne: Railway Titan

    William C. Van Horne was one of North America’s most accomplished men. Born in Illinois in 1843, Van Horne started working in the railway business at a young age. In 1881 he was lured north to Canada to become general manager of the fledgling Canadian Pacific Ralway. The railroading general pushed through construction of the CPR’s transcontinental line and then went on to become the company’s president. During his time with the CPR, Van Horne developed a telegraph service, launched the Empress line of Pacific steamships in 1891, and founded CP Hotels. He capped his career by opening up Cuba’s interior with a railway. A man of prodigious energy and many talents, he also became Canada’s foremost art collector and one of the country’s leading financiers. For all of his amazing accomplishments, Van Horne was knighted in 1894. When he died church bells throughout the length and breadth of Cuba tolled to mark his passing, and when his funeral train made its way across Canada, all traffic on the CPR system was suspended for five minutes.

  • Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior

    29

    Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior
    Simon Girty: Wilderness Warrior

    During the American Revolution and the border conflicts that followed, Simon Girty’s name struck terror into the hearts of U.S. settlers in the Ohio Valley and the territory of Kentucky. Girty (1741-1818) had lived with the Natives most of his life. Scorned by his fellow white frontiersmen as an "Indian lover," Girty became an Indian agent for the British. He accompanied Native raids against Americans, spied deep into enemy territory, and was influential in convincing the tribes to fight for the British. The Americans declared Girty an outlaw. In U.S. history books he is a villain even worse than Benedict Arnold. Yet in Canada, Girty is regarded as a Loyalist hero, and a historic plaque marks the site of his homestead on the Ontario side of the Detroit River. In Native history, Girty stands out as one of the few white men who championed their cause against American expansion. But was he truly the "White Savage" of legend, or a hero whose story was twisted by his foes?

  • Quest Biographies Bundle — Books 31–35: Harriet Tubman / Laura Secord / Joey Smallwood / Prince Edward, Duke of Kent / John A. Macdonald

    Quest Biographies Bundle — Books 31–35: Harriet Tubman / Laura Secord / Joey Smallwood / Prince Edward, Duke of Kent / John A. Macdonald
    Quest Biographies Bundle — Books 31–35: Harriet Tubman / Laura Secord / Joey Smallwood / Prince Edward, Duke of Kent / John A. Macdonald

    Presenting five titles in the Quest Biography series that profiles prominent figures in Canada’s history. The important Canadian lives detailed here are: legendary Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman; Laura Secord, heroine of the War of 1812; Newfoundland politician Joey Smallwood, the final Father of Confederation; Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, the primary founder of Canada; and onetime governor general Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, an important figure in Canada’s early development. Includes Harriet Tubman Laura Secord Joey Smallwood Prince Edward, Duke of Kent John A. Macdonald

  • Quest Biographies Bundle — Books 11–20: William Lyon Mackenzie King / René Lévesque / Samuel de Champlain / John Grierson / Lucille Teasdale / Maurice Duplessis / David Thompson / Mazo de la Roche / Susanna Moodie / Gabrielle Roy

    Quest Biographies Bundle — Books 11–20: William Lyon Mackenzie King / René Lévesque / Samuel de Champlain / John Grierson / Lucille Teasdale / Maurice Duplessis / David Thompson / Mazo de la Roche / Susanna Moodie / Gabrielle Roy
    Quest Biographies Bundle — Books 11–20: William Lyon Mackenzie King / René Lévesque / Samuel de Champlain / John Grierson / Lucille Teasdale / Maurice Duplessis / David Thompson / Mazo de la Roche / Susanna Moodie / Gabrielle Roy

    Presenting ten titles in the Quest Biography series that profiles prominent figures in Canada’s history. The important Canadian lives detailed here are: influential politicians Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and Premiers René Lévesque and Maurice Duplessis; intrepid explorers Samuel de Champlain and David Thompson; National Film Board founder John Grierson; medical humanitarian Lucille Teasdale; and renowned writers Mazo de la Roche, Susanna Moodie, and Gabrielle Roy. Includes Willam Lyon Mackenzie King René Lévesque Maurice Duplessis Samuel de Champlain David Thompson John Grierson Lucille Teasdale Susanna Moodie Gabrielle Roy Mazo de la Roche

Author

Arthur Slade

ARTHUR SLADE was raised on a ranch in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan. He is the author of seventeen novels for young readers including The Hunchback Assignments, which won the prestigious TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, and its three sequels, and Dust, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature. He is also the author of the acclaimed graphic novel Modo: Ember’s End. He lives in the mythical city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Web: arthurslade.com Twitter: @arthurslade

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