Primary Sites:
The Beaver puts on a new face *
Canada's oldest history magazine is staying up to date with a redesign.
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A&E / The History Channel *
The history Channel honours your roots -- a look back that informs the future.
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Alan Bullock, 89 *
Alan Bullock, distinguished historian and author of an important postwar biography of Adolf Hitler, died Monday. He was 89.
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Barry Broadfoot, 77 *
Noted Canadian oral historian and journalist Barry Samuel Broadfoot has died at the age of 77.
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Canadian war hero makes triumphant return to former battleground *
Spitfire Ace goes back to Malta where he is given a hero's welcome. . .
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Cracking the code of Sir Francis Drake *
It was a whim that led former B.C. cabinet minister Samuel Bawlf to wonder if Drake might have sailed the coast of British Columbia before Captain Cook. As MARK HUME reports, it became a fascination
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Dragon of Heaven: The Memoirs of the Last Empress of China **** 1/2
The Memoirs of the Last Empress of China -- Highlighted by breathtakingly beautiful "portraits" by Regina-based fine artist Zhong-Yang Huang, David Bouchard's tale of the real-life Empress of China is re-imagined (as they say) in vivid detail that displays a true love of language.
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Elementary, dear teacher *
Schools are discovering a new way to promote interest in history, writes ALANNA MITCHELL, by resurrecting cold cases from Canada's past -- and asking gumshoes across the country to crack them.
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Experts 'do a number' on U of T's Lost Tomb of Jesus statistician *
Prof. Andrey Feuerverger's one-in-600 calculation is based on many assumptions about the prevalence of the names and their biblical significance.
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Eyewitness Travel Paris (Keyes review) *****
Like most of the books in this series, Eyewitness's Paris guide is so visually brilliant that visiting the city itself is almost an anti-climactic experience.
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Fifty years a monarch... *
Queen Elizabeth II celebrated the 50th anniversary of her coronation on Monday.
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Finding Home: In the Footsteps of the Jewish Fusgeyers *
ISBN:1-894549-40-6
Author:Jill Culiner
Publisher:Sumach Press
Jewish Community Centre, November 21, 2004, Vancouver, BC., 8:00 p.m. -- Author Jill Culiner has uncovered a largely forgotten corner of Jewish history, The Fusgeyers (the Yiddish word for 'foot-goers' — wayfarers) were Jews who fled persecution in Romania in the early 1900s in order to find refuge, ultimately, in the New World.
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Hunt for Billy the Kid continues *
The state of New Mexico is lending its 21st-century crime-fighting resources to determine once and for all whether Wild West outlaw Billy the Kid was killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in 1881 or lived to a ripe old age in Texas.
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It's hard to ride a motorcycle through three feet of snow... *
Sixty years ago this week, 76 Allied airmen broke out of a German prison camp in a bold but ill-fated quest for freedom. Only three got away. Fifty of those caught were executed. Yet thanks to a classic film their legend lives on. Has Hollywood done justice to history? JONATHAN VANCE investigates
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Krakatoa author: 'I still marvel at things' ****
There are few subjects that aren't of interest to the magpie mind of author Simon Winchester. ALEXANDRA GILL discusses his book on Krakatoa, a first love in Canada and his famous mentor
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Miracle of the Dead Sea Scrolls *
Some of the world's oldest biblical material is about to go on display in Canada for the first time and prove that tattered, 2,000-year-old fragments can still draw a crowd
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Profs untangle mystery of Frobisher gold scam *
A team of professors from Laval University think they have finally solved some of the mystery surrounding Canada's first great gold scandal.
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Readers, please scour your attics *
By now, everyone must realize that something powerful and paradoxical has transpired in recent years in the realm of Canadian nationalism.
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Separatist sagas *
Neither the FLQ nor the October Crisis figures largely in Canadian arts and letters. Now, writes SANDRA MARTIN, three novels are tackling one of the most disturbing chapters in our history
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Stevenson Under the Palm Trees: The strange case of Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Baker ****
"I have become a terrible missionary of late days," Robert Louis Stevenson wrote as he sailed from Australia to his last home, Samoa, in September, 1890. Three missionaries were on the same ship. The novelist declared he was "very much interested in their work, errors and merits; perhaps it's in the blood. . . . I remember I always liked the type."
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The Adventurous life of Lola Montez *
Notorious as the King of Bavaria’s mistress, Lola Montez travelled the world and lectured on man, fashion and politics. Her recipes for cosmetics have been passed down for generations.
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The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America ****
Larson's conceit here is that architect Daniel Hudson Burnham's brilliant masterminding of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and serial killer H. H. Holmes's murderous scheming were parallel entry points to a new America.
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The peace goes to pieces *
It will take more than a commitment of 500 Canadians, needed as they are, to save Afghanistan, says Human Rights Watch's SAMAN ZIA-ZARIFI.
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The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake (review): 'The boldness of this low man' *
Author Samuel Bawlf demonstrates that Francis Drake, best remembered as an Elizabethan privateer, explored the northern Pacific coast of North America in 1579 -- two centuries before James Cook and George Vancouver, who are usually regarded as the first to accomplish that task.
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Thunderstruck (Keyes review) **
"Disappointed" was the chief word John Keyes had for this promising new volume from Seattle's Eric Larson. Two stars out of five.
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Why the world needs a Mein Kampf sequel *
The translation of a second book by Adolf Hitler, unpublished in his lifetime, may be unpleasant business, writes CHRISTOPHER DREHER. But historians argue that it offers an uncensored look at his rise to power, and how much sooner the world should have recognized the danger.
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Secondary Sites:
Bitter root, sweet harvest *
Next week, the Governor-General officially acknowledges the Acadian expulsion of 1755. We Canadians have learned much from this tragedy, says political scientist DONALD SAVOIE.
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Blood spatters the American road map *
To borrow from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel, the fate of the American road map already seems like a "chronicle of a death foretold." To really understand what happened, one has to go back to last week's summit in Aqaba and its respective impact on Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud, Mr. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
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D-Day: The Greatest Invasion – A People's History (Keyes review) ****
Of course the American troops were the sine qua non of the Allied victory, and the book doesn't suggest otherwise. But author Dan van der Vat has always been acutely aware of Canada's contribution to the war effort.
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Did FDR suffer from Guillain-Barré syndrome? *
A new examination says there's a 75-per-cent chance FDR suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome.
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Letter to the editor by Louis Riel unveiled in Regina *
It's a few lines on a small piece of paper but its significance is large.
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Liberia is chained to its past *
Former U.S. slaves seized land from indigenous peoples, and even set up their own slave trade, says ROGER MORRIS
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Nothing More Comforting (Garber review) ****
Dorothy Duncan's ode to Canada's Heritage Food wins kudos . . .and four stars from Anne Garber.
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Sir Wilfrid Laurier: A 'most distinguished son' *
Our first French Canadian prime minister, Laurier led us through rancorous division and war. A salute to Canada's Abe Lincoln from MP JOHN GODFREY and historian J.D.M. STEWART.
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So, is Hillary lying or just stupid? *
the face of it, the central revelation in Hillary Rodham Clinton's "tell just enough but not too much" memoir is, simply, incredible. She wants us to believe that everybody in the world knew the truth about Monica but her.
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Tax THIS, Brian: Elbowing aside Brian's legacy *
As he prepares to leave office, Jean Chrétien, heavily into the process of peeling back the Mulroney revolution in Canada-U.S. relations, is sending a message to the Tory crooner and other Americanists.
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U.S. history book prize awarded to Canadians *
A U.S. children's book prize intended to celebrate American history has been won by a pair of Canadians. Author Peter Busby of Vancouver and illustrator David Craig of Mississauga, Ont., received the $10,000 (U.S.) prize for their book First to Fly: How Wilbur & Orville Wright Invented the Airplane.
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