Friday, April 11, 2014

New Biographies










Canada’s Prime Ministers, Governors General and Fathers of Confederation by Irma Coucill
This book tells the stories of 21 Canadian Prime Ministers, from Sir John A. Macdonald through Paul Martin. It also includes 26 Governors General, and all 36 Fathers of Confederation. The 83 portraits are accompanied by concise biographies that provide a unique look at the people who led our nation through its most important events. –Summary.

Journey To God’s House by Brock Talon
“A naive young man named Brock Talon journeys to the World Headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in New York City, seeking a spiritual paradise. But things are not at all what he expects. Join Brock as he rubs shoulders with the powerful leaders of the faith, explores the mysteries of Armageddon, investigates the secrets of paradise and wrestles with the conundrum of sex, romance, drinking and sin.” –Publisher.

Millions of Souls: A Holocaust Memoir by Philip Riteman
Philip Riteman is a Holocaust survivor who educates today’s youth on the atrocities committed against millions of Jews by the Nazi regime during World War II. From the Pruzhany Ghetto in Poland, Philip and his family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where Philip’s entire family was exterminated. As the lone survivor, Philip was used as a forced labourer in five concentration camps. At these camps he witnessed the cruelest treatments that can be inflicted on human beings. This is his story. –Summary.

My Journey by Olivia Chow
Olivia Chow, Member of Parliament, seasoned politician and widow of former New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, tells her story in this candid memoir. –Summary.

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
”Solomon Northup was an entrepreneur and dedicated family man, father to three young children, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. What little free time he had after long days of manual and farm labor, he spent reading books and playing the violin. Though his father was born into slavery, Solomon was born and lived free. In March 1841, two strangers approached Northup, offering him employment as a violinist in a town hundreds of miles away from his home in Saratoga Springs, New York. Solomon bid his wife farewell until his return. Only after he was drugged and bound, did he realize the strangers were kidnappers—that nefarious brand of criminals in the business of capturing runaway and free blacks for profit. Thus began Northup's life as a slave” –Jacket.