Nonfiction Books

A unique and rare collection of postcards from Essex County, David Newman’s Postcards from Essex County documents the churches, factories, fairgrounds, houses, beaches, trains and cars of old Essex. Over 315 cards have been catalogued into fourteen chapters, including sections on Harrow, Leamington, Kingsville, Maidstone and more. A beautiful gift book in hardcover with full-colour illustrations.

By the end of World War II, Windsor had established itself as one of the greatest industrial cities in the British Commonwealth. The region seemed on an easy path to prosperity. But history took a different turn. Starting with the closure of Ford Plant One in 1953, the city was hit by several unanticipated challenges. How would its residents respond? How would they react to rapid changes that swept North America?

From the Vault, Volume II: 1950-1980 explores what were perhaps the three most important and exciting decades of our history. Revealing how Windsor-Essex County overcame obstacles to achieve later triumphs, the book touches on the region’s baby boom, building craze, auto industry, labour struggles, arts and culture, immigration, Black history, and more.

With a foreword by The Windsor Star’s former photographer and photo editor Bill Bishop, From the Vault, Volume II illustrates the era by featuring over 1,250 iconic images, from the 1954 Centennial celebrations and Queen Elizabeth II’s visit in 1959, through the Bulldogs’ Allan Cup victory in 1963 and Windsor’s reaction to the 1967 Detroit Riot, to the Curling Club Disaster of 1974 and to the assassination of Charlie Brooks in 1977.

As Windsor-Essex’s paper of record for over 150 years, The Windsor Star remains our region’s greatest source of historical photography and eyewitness testimony. Like its predecessor, the national best-selling From the Vault, winner of the inaugural Kulisek Prize, this book—the most authoritative and beautifully produced of its kind—sets a new standard for Canadian excellence in regional history. Documenting landmark events, timeless memories, and unforgettable characters, it is a “must have” for history lovers.

A 10,000 copy seller in Canada, The Rumrunners offers a photographic history of the regular men and women who smuggled Canadian liquor to the United States during the roaring ’20s. Essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Prohibition.

“I can’t imagine a walk through Windsor’s history with anyone else…A colourful time in Windsor’s history, told by one of our best storytellers.”—Sandra Pupatello, M.P.P. Windsor West

“Prohibition certainly was a colourful era, filled with characters and stories the likes of which we may never see again. If not for Marty Gervais’s research into the phenomenon that was Prohibition, many of these stories would have faded with the memories of their leading players.”—Laryssa Landsale, Walkerville Times Magazine

Ford City was a town steeped in the history of the auto industry. Companies including Ford, E.M.F., Studebaker, Chalmers and Chrysler all called Ford City their home of Canadian operations. But it was more than just an industrial town. It was a rumrunning hub, a communist hotbed, and a thriving cultural centre for the people of the Border Cities. From the town’s inception, through amalgamation, to the revitalization of the Ford plant in the 1990s, Ford City is the story of the industrial heart of Windsor.

PRAISE FOR HERB COLLING

“Colling rebuts the curious notion that Canadian history, even when told in relation to major U.S. events, is not compelling or important.”—Quill & Quire

Windsor, Ontario: the City of Roses, the Automotive Capital of Canada, South Detroit. Whatever name you know it by, this is a city that has flourished and transformed over the years, growing and changing with its industrial nature. In Windsor: Then & Now, architectural specialist Andrew Foot partners with landscape photographer Ian Virtue to explore the life of this mid-sized, blue-collar town through photographs. By contrasting historic images, stretching from the turn of the century to the modernist 1970s, with photographs of today’s Windsor, we see a cityscape in vivid relief. From the Gothic towers of St. Mary’s Academy, levelled for a suburban neighbourhood, to the vibrant downtown Norwich Block replaced by the skyscraping Chrysler tower, Windsor: Then & Now shows us a city balancing a rich heritage with a taste for the new—a constant flux, shifting and renewing itself with the times.

The Canadian border city facing Detroit was not always simply “Windsor, Ontario”—it was a patchwork of multiple communities that amalgamated into Windsor throughout the 20th Century. In Five Days Walking Five Towns, fabled local raconteur Marty Gervais puts on his boots and takes the reader on a street-by-street walking tour through Riverside, Ford City, Walkerville, Windsor, and Sandwich—weaving together his own memories with the booms and busts of his eclectic, storied city. Along the way, tales of Indigenous curses, rum-running, union-busting, and murderous ministers abound.

With intimate, conversational prose and an acute eye for lore that time forgot, Marty Gervais has created a work not just for Ontario history buffs but for anybody who cares about the evolution of cities and the strange, beautiful people who inhabit them.

Praise for Five Days Walking Five Towns

“Windsor like we’ve never seen it”—Nino Ricci, author of Where She Has Gone

“Gervais does not tire, and never fails to amuse.”—Patrick Brode, author of Border Cities Powerhouse

The unbelievable true story of Canada’s first known spree killer, told by a veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

In June 1966, Matthew Charles Lamb took his uncle’s shotgun and wandered down Ford Blvd in Windsor, Ontario. At the end of the bloody night, two teenagers lay dead, with multiple others injured after an unprovoked shooting spree. In his investigation into Lamb’s story, Will Toffan pieces together the troubled childhood and history of violence that culminated in the young man’s dubious distinction as Canada’s first known spree killer—at which point the story becomes, the author writes “too strange for fiction.” Travelling from the border city streets, to the courtroom, to the Oak Ridge rehabilitation centre, and finally Rhodesia, Watching the Devil Dance is both a thrilling narrative about a shocking true crime and its bizarre aftermath and an insightful analysis of the 1960s criminal justice system.

Canada Reads 2019 longlist.

National best-seller.

New York Times best-seller.

Finalist for the 2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

Finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Awards.

Long-listed for the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize.

A New York Times Editor's Choice.

A Globe and Mail best book of 2018.

A CBC best book of 2018.

A Toronto Star best book of 2018.

A Walrus best book of 2018.

An NPR best book of 2018.

A Chatelaine best book of 2018.

A Bustle best book of 2018.

A GQ best book of 2018.

A Thrillist best book of 2018.

A Book Riot best book of 2018.

An Electric Lit best book of 2018.

An Entropy best book of 2018.

A Hill Times best book of 2018.

A BookPage best book of 2018.

A Library Journal best book of 2018.

A Goodreads best book of 2018.

A New York Public Library best book of 2018.

Named one of the most anticipated books of 2018 by: Chatelaine, Entertainment Weekly, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Huffington Post, B*tch, NYLON, BuzzFeed, Bustle, The Rumpus, and Goodreads.

Selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick for March/April 2018.   

Guileless and refreshingly honest, Terese Mailhot's debut memoir chronicles her struggle to balance the beauty of her Native heritage with the often desperate and chaotic reality of life on the reservation.

Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in British Columbia. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II, Terese Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father - an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist - who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.

Mailhot "trusts the reader to understand that memory isn't exact, but melded to imagination, pain and what we can bring ourselves to accept." Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people, and to her place in the world.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

In this stunning assemblage of words and images, novelist and avid birdwatcher Graeme Gibson offers an extraordinary tribute to the venerable relationship between humans and birds.
 
From the Aztec plumed serpent to the Christian dove to Plato's vision of the human soul growing wings, religion and philosophy use birds to represent our aspirational selves. Winged creatures appear in mythology and folk tales, and in literature by writers as diverse as Ovid, Thoreau, and T. S. Eliot. They've been omens, allegories, and guides; they've been worshipped, eaten, and feared. Birds figure tellingly in the work of such nature writers as Gilbert White and Peter Matthiessen, and are synonymous with the science of Darwin. Gibson spent years collecting this gorgeously illustrated celebration of centuries of human response to the delights of the feathered tribes. The Bedside Book of Birds is for everyone who is intrigued by the artistic forms that humanity creates to represent its soul.

 

In You Are Here, astronaut Chris Hadfield creates a surprisingly intimate and compelling visual essay about the planet we live on, choosing the best from the thousands of photos he took on the International Space Station.

     Chris Hadfield's new book shows us our home--our city, country, continent, our whole planet--from a unique perspective. The millions of us who followed Chris's Twitter feed from the ISS thought we knew what we were looking at when we saw his photos. This photo documentary shows us we didn't. We caught the beauty but missed the meaning. Curated from images never before shared, Chris's big picture reveals why our planet looks the way it does and why we live where we do. Chris sees more in these images than we do, not just because he's spent months in space but because his in-depth knowledge of geology, geography and meteorology allows him to read the mysteries the photos reveal.

     Divided by continent, You Are Here represents one (idealized) orbit of the ISS. This planetary photo tour--surprising, playful, thought-provoking and visually delightful--is punctuated with fun, fascinating commentary on life in zero gravity, too. In the spirit of his #1 bestselling An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, You Are Here opens a singular window on our planet, using remarkable photographs to illuminate the history and consequences of human settlement, the magnificence (and wit) of never-before-noticed landscapes, and the power of the natural forces shaping our world and the future of our species.

Craft a life filled with your own magic―a guided grimoire journal for new witches

A witch’s grimoire, or book of spells, is their magical companion and most powerful tool―and The Grimoire Journal is your personal guide to building your own. Learn to bless your home, scry with stars, craft your own tarot reading, or brew an enchanted tea. Then follow the journal prompts to create your own spells, recipes, and rituals for clearing writer’s block, protecting a friend, opening yourself up to new opportunities, and so much more.

The Grimoire Journal provides:

• For all kinds of magic―You’ll work with candles, crystals, herbs, and more. Plus, find inspiration in quotes about magic, illustrations of the moon phases, and a write-in Wheel of the Year.
• Empower yourself―Tune in to your inner magic and develop a custom keepsake that will evolve along with your craft.
• Ample writing space―Find plenty of room to reflect on the included spells, along with enough space to write your own.

Explore, channel, and preserve your magic with a journal that guides you as you build a beautiful grimoire.

FINALIST FOR THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NON-FICTION
FINALIST FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FOR GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
FINALIST FOR THE JIM DEVA PRIZE FOR WRITING THAT PROVOKES
FINALIST FOR THE HUBERT EVANS NON-FICTION PRIZE

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

A slim but electrifying debut memoir about the preciousness and precariousness of queer Indigenous life.

Opening with a tender letter to his kokum and memories of his early life on the Driftpile First Nation, Billy-Ray Belcourt delivers a searing account of Indigenous life that’s part love letter, part rallying cry.
 
With the lyricism and emotional power of his award-winning poetry, Belcourt cracks apart his history and shares it with us one fragment at a time. He shines a light on Canada’s legacy of colonial violence and the joy that flourishes in spite of it. He revisits sexual encounters, ruminates on first loves and first loves lost, and navigates the racial politics of gay hookup apps. Among the hard truths he distills, the outline of a brighter future takes shape.
 
Bringing in influences from James Baldwin to Ocean Vuong, this book is a testament to the power of language—to devastate us, to console us, to help us grieve, to help us survive. Destined to be dog-eared, underlined, treasured, and studied for years to come, A History of My Brief Body is a stunning achievement from one of this generation’s finest young minds.

As Commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield captivated the world with stunning photos and commentary from space. Now, in his first book, Chris offers readers extraordinary stories from his life as an astronaut, and shows how to make the impossible a reality.
 
Chris Hadfield decided to become an astronaut after watching the Apollo moon landing with his family on Stag Island, Ontario, when he was nine years old, and it was impossible for Canadians to be astronauts. In 2013, he served as Commander of the International Space Station orbiting the Earth during a five-month mission. Fulfilling this lifelong dream required intense focus, natural ability and a singular commitment to “thinking like an astronaut.” In An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Chris gives us a rare insider’s perspective on just what that kind of thinking involves, and how earthbound humans can use it to achieve success and happiness in their lives.
Astronaut training turns popular wisdom about how to be successful on its head. Instead of visualizing victory, astronauts prepare for the worst; always sweat the small stuff; and do care what others think. Chris shows how this unique education comes into play with dramatic anecdotes about going blind during a spacewalk, getting rid of a live snake while piloting a plane, and docking with space station Mir when laser tracking systems fail at the critical moment. Along the way, he shares exhilarating experiences, and challenges, from his 144 days on the ISS, and provides an unforgettable answer to his most-asked question: What’s it really like in outer space?
Written with humour, humility and a profound optimism for the future of space exploration, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth offers readers not just the inspiring story of one man’s journey to the ISS, but the opportunity to step into his space-boots and think like an astronaut—and renew their commitment to pursuing their own dreams, big or small.

CHRIS HADFIELD is one of the most seasoned and accomplished astronauts in the world. The top graduate of the U.S. Air Force test pilot school in 1988 and U.S. Navy test pilot of the year in 1991, Colonel Hadfield was CAPCOM for twenty-five Shuttle missions and NASA’s Director of Operations in Russia. Hadfield served as Commander of the International Space Station where, while conducting a record-setting number of scientific experiments and overseeing an emergency spacewalk, he gained worldwide acclaim for his breathtaking photographs and educational videos about life in space. His music video, a zero-gravity version of David Bowie's “Space Oddity,” has nearly 50 million views, and his TED Talk on fear has been viewed over 10 million times. He helped create and host the National Geographic miniseries One Strange Rock, with Will Smith, and has a MasterClass on exploration. Chris Hadfield's books, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, You Are Here and The Darkest Dark, have been bestsellers all around the world, topping the charts for months in his Canadian homeland.

Sprung from their hugely successful podcast Canadianity, Taggart (that guy from that band) and Torrens (that guy from that show) share a collection of showbiz tales from the road and relatable everyday anecdotes, all wrapped up in a nostalgic fondness for this great country. Canadianity takes readers on a cross-country journey, shining the spotlight on notable local heroes (or bahds), the best places to crush food and the greasiest watering holes, coast to coast to coast.

Replete with lists of Canada’s top bands, television shows and athletes, as well as random observations about everything this country has to offer, Canadianity is often provocative and always hilarious. Drawing on their combined experiences as a legendary drummer (Our Lady Peace) and a veteran talk-show host (Jonovision) respectively, Taggart and Torrens have infused their first book with equal parts beer and pop culture and added a heaping helping of irreverence.

The Principal Chronicles is a collection of funny and poignant short stories that follow the arc of one man’s life and career in education. These works of creative non-fiction—or, to be precise, of semi-autobiographical, pseudo-non-fictional memoir—have been refined by many years of telling and re-telling to David Garlick’s friends, family and, especially, to fellow educators. Some stories, such as “You’ve Got to Eat a Pound of Dirt Before You Die” depict childhood and teenage hijinks. Others, such as “Elvis Presley and My Second Teaching Report,” deal with Garlick’s years in the classroom. Many stories, bearing such salient titles as “I Hate High School Swimming Pools” and “Sometimes—in Fact, Almost Always—They Grow Up,” detail his years as a high school vice-principal and principal. Garlick spins lively, engaging tales about the funny situations in which he has so often found himself, from his earliest years all the way to retirement and beyond. By turns candid, poignant, insightful, and surprising, and always gently humorous, these stories invite readers to laugh about humanity’s quirks and appreciate the many large and small ways that people show each other kindness every day.

________________________

David Garlick is a retired educator who spent fourteen years of his thirty-three year career as a high school principal. His long-suffering wife has no idea what he does to cause the incidents he writes about that always seem to happen to him, but he must do 'something.' She's been saying this for more than thirty-two years. They live together in Windsor, Ontario.

He has been denied entry into the National Curmudgeon Club, because he always gives the neighbour kids' balls back when they're kicked over his fence.