1 comments about The Torso Murder: The Untold Story of Evelyn Dick.

1. If you've seen the movie, or know of the case, this book provides some interesting information. It is relatively well-written, contains pictures, and is easy to read. I recommend it.

No comments about The Master's Wife (The Island Studies Series).

2 comments about Pierre:: Colleagues and Friends Talk about the Trudeau They Knew.

1. This offers largely the same puffy Trudeau hagiography that you'll find in the biographies of the man. Quoting Conrad Black's chapter on Trudeau, Mark Steyn of the Telegraph Group says:
   
   'Fortunately, Conrad Black is on hand to keep things in proportion. In 'Pierre: Colleagues and Friends Talk About the Trudeau They Knew', Black concludes his appreciation thus:
   
   "I always found him a delightful conversationalist and a gracious host, though perhaps slow to reach for the bill in a restaurant, even when we were there on his invitation."
   
   Too true. He left us with the bill, in every sense.'



2. This book is a memorable, entertaining, and moving compilation of memories of Canada's most intriguing and charismatic prime minister. Southam, a close personal friend of Trudeau, asked former colleagues, staff, lovers, friends, and fellow heads of state to write about the man that they knew. The result is a portrait of an amazingly gifted, shy, feisty, complex man with an insatiable love and curiosity for the world, and a deep love and closeness with his children.
   
   Whether you're Canadian or not, I promise you that you will enjoy reading this fascinating compilation of stories and thoughts about one of the most accomplished and intriguing people of the 20th century.

No comments about The The Diary of Abraham Ulrikab: Text and Context.

No comments about DAD'S WAR: The Story of a Courageous Canadian Youth who Flew with Bomber Command.

No comments about Dictionary of Canadian Biography / Dictionaire Biographique du Canada: Volume XII, 1891 - 1900 (Dictionary of Canadian Biography).

5 comments about The Donnelly Album: The Complete and Authentic Account of Canada's Famous Feuding Family.

1. I found the writing convoluted, the storytelling lacked flow, and was left dissatified overall. There's much reference to archaic and regional language that's never defined, thus one loses the gist of meaning or the character's point of view. I found myself irritated by the introduction of peripheral characters and relations that continously lead to confusion. Overall, I could not visualize the geography, the main characters were bereft of substance, and the cultural relationships were never adequately fleshed out.



2. This book is excellent. I came across it while looking for something entirely different but what a great thing.
   
   I fell in love with this mishappen family as women are wont to do with "bad boys."
   
   Couldn't put the book down!



3. 
   The fighting,feuding,barn burning,animal mutilation and general mayhem around Lucan,Ontario,went on for about 35 years,and finally ended with 5 members of the Donnelly family being murdered in their homes by a vigilante committee on that awful night of February 4,1880.It was a national story that shocked the young nation of Canada.Canada had only recently become a country in 1867.These were often rough and ready times ,both in Canada as well as the US.This is the same period when,with the
   American Civil War over in 1865,the west was opening up with range wars,cattle drives,gold strikes,train robberies,and outlaws like Jesse James and the shoot-out at the OK Corral with Wyatt Earp,Doc Holliday,and all.
   The fighting and feuding in the Donnelly story had all together different origins.The source of trouble came from a whole different scene of problems that were brought ,mainly by settlers who came from the County Tipperary,Ireland.
   The story of the massacre had just about disappeared from the radar scope when a pulp writer,Thomas P Kelly wrote a book,"The Black Donnellys"in 1954 and created a huge interest and sold millions of copies.Being a pulp writer he did only enough research to tell the essence of the story,filled in the details from his own imagination,including conversations as he saw them.It made for exciting reading but as time went on, readers and other authors spent a lot of time nit picking about what he wrote.
   The author of this book heard about the story on the radio in
   1962 got interested,read Kelley's book and spent years researching everything about the Donnellys and the history of the county;and finally in 1977 produced this book.He was a lawyer by profession and approached the whole story as would one preparing for a trial.He researched all the records,read everything ever written,talked to an endless stream of people,and,as as a result, produced a book that is totally factual and includes just about everything there is to know about what happened.The book is over 300 pages ,has pictures and/or illustrations of just about everyone and everything involved with the story.He has maps,documents,you name it,he's got it in the book.His writing style and overall organization is so good,the reading could not be easier.He not only researched the story,he has made it a lifelong hobby,interest,or or maybe even an obsession.Like I said,if there is anything you would want to know,you'll find it in this book,and you can count on it being as correct as one can make it.
   There is no doubt that there is nobody who has researched the story as he has,and for such a long time,and he gives it all to us in this book.
   If you have ever wanted to go into the real details of the story or plan to visit Lucan to see where it all took place and visit the church,graveyard,the Roman Line,the Swamp schoolhouse,the site of the Donnelly farm,the village of
   Lucan and the many buildings that still exist;this is the bible and guide for you.He also gives a lot of information on the people involved and what happened during the years after the murders.
   
   I have been following this story since my High School days of 1954 when Kelley's book first appeared and often talk to others about it.There are a lot of people who will tell you about someone knowing descendents of the Donnelly's.Well,let me tell you this.Mr Fazakas has researched that too.In 2001 he produced another super book "In Search of the Donnellys" of 300 pages. Again, he covers the whole history of the Donnellys ,all the way back to their roots in Ireland and the history of all the descendents.Another wonderful book and a great addition to the whole story.Like this "Album",it is filled with fabulous photos.I'll be doing a review of it shortly.
   If you haven't found it yet ,there is an excellent website
   "The Black Donnellys", where you can get lots of information and photos.
   If you happen to visit Lucan some day,take a little side trip to Exeter,about 20 miles north of Lucan and see the rare White Squirrels.These are not albinos, but very rare and occur in a few isolated spots in North America,having been introduced many years ago from Hawaii.You can find more about them on the web under "White Squirrels of Exeter".
   
   



4. This is the only authentic account of this tragedy, and there is another sequel by this author that is just as informing.



5. This the best and most interesting of the Donnellys era. One of those books you hate to set down to finish later.

5 comments about Tales of an Empty Cabin.

1. This is an excellent book. It explains a man of two nationalities, proudly recoginizing his Indian heritage. How can people say that he was an Englishman?? He focused on the wild-life because most people take the wild-life for granted. From his mother's side, he had the Scottish blood; his father's side a more dominant, showed up in his personality and his physical appearance. He was involved with Great Britian, he did most of the things an English lad would do, as far as I am concerned, he did not wrong to anyone, only to himself by the consumption of alcohol; which is known today as "A white man's disease" He was "brave enought to tell the truth" I recommend this book as the best.



2. Fantastic book.. wonderful stories told from a very perseptive individuals point of view. A man who loved to live life far from the modern day lifestyle of his day and enjoy the harshness and or the beauty that mother nature had to give. It definetly shows the stark reality of living a lifestyle in the Canadian wilderness. Yet he also conveys the beauty and peacefulness of living with nature and the animals.



3. If it weren't for his fantastic writing ability, Grey Owl would have gone down in history as a liar and a fraud (after his death, the world discovered that the "Indian" known as Grey Owl was actually an Englishman born Archibald "Archie" Belaney). However, his books - true works of art - made a statement in the early 1900's that have stood the test of time. Anyone who appreciates a walk in the woods or quiet mountain stream will understand Grey Owl's passionate plea for conservation. "Tales of An Empty Cabin" has always been my favorite, but all of his works were masterpieces.



4. Would it not be interesting for each of us to express our point of view regarding all those experiences that brought us to a certain point in our lives. Tales of an Empty Cabin does just that. The cabin is actually a make shift structure somewhere in the northern reaches of Quebec, at a placed called Birch Lake (1928). This is where a man's life, like Saul of Tarsus, was transformed from trapper, guide, and forest ranger, to one of Canada's leading "environmentalists' and respector of animal life. Grey Owl, in contradistinction to most, was a real individualist, who took upon himself the task of challenging the 'status quo' in his day. Each chapter is a short story describing "life" in certain situations, conditions, and circumstances. It is a marvelous attempt at the sharing of one's perception of things. Grey Owl was a gifted observer and prolific writter. He was like an Olympic Athlete in that he worked, indefatigably, towards a goal; namely, depicting with great insight, a variety of activities so prevalent during his days in the north of Canada. He perfected his writting skills so well, that millions around the world recognized his abilities and talent. In fact, one of the stories (XIII), The Tree, was so popular it was published as a separate book. In his Epilogue he ends with this moving statement, "And the cabin won't be empty any more, nor the grove again so silent and deserted, while yet remains a solitary reader whose sympathy and kindly understanding brings Life to that memory-haunted valley in the hills, and awakens those others, who have dreamed and waited there so long." Grey Owl was a man who did his best to share his heart. This is a noble cause.



5. The author emigrated from England to Canada early in the 20th century and adopted a Native American persona. He gained some fame as a Canadian nature writer, although he never attracted much attention in other countries.

   This book is a potpourri of stories, philosophy, commentaries on conservation politics and on the Canadian national spirit, and other writings impossible to classify. The author's prevailing style ages poorly. He is fond of elaborate Victorian phrases, and is liable to choke any reader with a low tolerance for corniness.

   The author's description of his life with beavers redeems the whole book. He is probably the only person ever to share his home with a family of these animals. (His cabin was built over the edge of a lake, and the beavers built their lodge in the wet end.) In this section of the book the author's overwrought style disappears. He describes his beaver friends' lives with a mixture of dry humor and passionate love that makes them vivid and unforgettable.

No comments about Steam Lion: A Biography of Samuel Cunard.

1 comments about With Wolfe in Canada: Or the Winning of a Continent (Works of G. A. Henty).

1. it is abut the fighting between england and france over canda. it is a read worth your time