It’s time for your annual reminder that spring is not that far away. Our spring catalogue cover will remind you of yellow daffodils, tulips, and warm sunshine. We always look forward to a new catalogue season because it means we have the opportunity to learn something new—whether it’s the history of Vorkuta, the site of an infamous gulag in northern Russia, or activism in 1960s Alberta. Here’s a brief overview of what you’ll learn from our forthcoming 2019 titles.
From Turtle Island to Gaza by David Groulx
With a sure voice, Groulx, an Anishinaabe writer, artistically weaves together the experiences of Indigenous peoples in settler Canada with those of the people of Palestine, revealing a shared understanding of colonial pasts and presents.
“David Groulx is an important poetic voice. Intellectually and emotionally generous, his poetry both gives and demands presence, and a willingness to acknowledge reality and engage at a deeper level.” —Joanne Arnott, author of A Night for the Lady and Halfling Spring
“Truth Behind Bars”: Reflections on the Fate of the Russian Revolution by Paul Kellogg
“Kellogg has written an intellectual tour de force—engaging, compelling, controversial, and erudite, the result of a lifetime of thought about the hope and horror generated by the Russian Revolution. Through a close and original survey of classic left literature it triumphs self-liberation over substitutionism, democracy over dictatorship, and the centrality of moral means to good ends. A work of genuine commitment and honesty, ‘Truth Behind Bars’ is essential reading for historians and contemporary political activists.” —Ian D. Thatcher, Ulster University
Bucking Conservatism: Alternative Stories of Alberta from the 1960s and 1970s edited by Leon Crane Bear, Larry Hannant, and Karissa Robyn Patton
This book uncovers the lasting influence of Alberta’s noncomformists—those who recognized the need for dissent in a province defined by wealth and right-wing politics—and poses thought-provoking questions for contemporary activists
”Bucking Conservatism is a must read for everyone interested in peering behind the stereotypes of Alberta conservatism, for a look at the grassroots rebels, radicals, queers, feminists, hippies, Indigenous activists, socialists, and environmentalists who tweaked the noses of the political elites and their business interests. This rich collection introduces us to a range of individuals who made change, defied convention, and spoke truth to power during Alberta’s “long sixties.” Bucking Conservatism is a welcome chinook of revisionist social and political history that will resonate with scholars, students, and readers. Beautifully written, bristling with verve, insight and political nuance, this anthology deserves a wide audience of readers.” —Valerie Korinek, author of Prairie Fairies: A History of Queer Communities and People in Western Canada, 1930–1985
Unforgetting Private Charles Smith by Jonathan Locke Hart
Private Charles Smith had been dead for close to a century when Jonathan Hart discovered the soldier’s small diary in the Baldwin Collection at the Toronto Reference Library. The diary’s first entry was marked 28 June 1915. After some research, Hart discovered that Charles Smith was an Anglo-Canadian, born in Kent, and that this diary was almost all that remained of this forgotten man, who like so many soldiers from ordinary families had lost his life in the First World War. In reading the diary, Hart discovered a voice full of life, and the presence of a rhythm, a cadence that urged him to bring forth the poetry in Smith’s words. Unforgetting Private Charles Smith is the poetic setting of the words in Smith’s diary, work undertaken by Hart with the intention of remembering Smith’s life rather than commemorating his death.
