1 comments about My 26 Stanley Cups: Memories of a Hockey Life.

1. An enjoyable trip amongst the stars and events of the past as told by one who was there. Dick Irvin is a kind, gentlemanly figure who avoids any attempt at contraversy in his writings. This book is on one hand a refreshing escape from the "tell all" books that aim to rip the halo from its heroes; on the other hand, it is a santitized look at the past which skirts a number of harsh issues and unsavoury incidents. As one who remembers as a lad watching the Rocket on tv, it is like sitting down with a friend as he reminisces about your youth and the people you knew. If you didn't know better, you would assume that you and Dick had grown up together, knowing as many of the same people as you do. A lightweight book that is a good summer afternoon retreat!

No comments about Marguerite Bourgeoys And the Congregation of Notre Dame, 1665-1700 (Mcgill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion).

No comments about David Thompson: The Epic Expeditions of a Great Canadian Explorer (Amazing Stories).

5 comments about Dylan and Cohen: Poets of Rock and Roll.

1. What makes this book such a unique and significant contribution to its genre is that it is written with the insight and sensitivity of a spirit that seems deeply attuned to those of its subjects. Not only does the reader come away with a better understanding of the historical times and political contexts that shaped these men, and the personal struggles and psychological bents that motivated their writing, but also with a clearer understanding of what attracts their devotees to their work.
   
   Throughout the book, Boucher weaves explorations of various aspects of the lives and cultural context of Dylan and Cohen that strongly affected them and their work. These include the civil rights movement, drugs, women, sexuality, God and religion, what it means to be reluctantly identified as the voice of a generation, and -- particularly for Cohen -- the holocaust. Boucher also explores the influence of other artists on their work, from Woody Guthrie for Dylan to Lorca for Cohen, as well as the influence that Dylan and Cohen had on each other.
   
   Just as Dylan and Cohen make poetry an accessible part of popular culture, with equal skill Boucher makes philosophy of art and interpretation accessible as well. He points out that our experience of lyric poetry is informed by the questions we bring to it and he explains that the richest experience is to be had when the most appropriate questions are asked. Boucher uses the theories of several philosophers such as R. G. Collingwood, Henry Jones, and Michael Oakeshott, to identify which questions are most appropriately asked of particular works at particular moments in the artists' creative development. He also shows the fruitlessness of asking the wrong kind of questions of a particular poem, as is the tendency of many thinkers. He describes various forms of artistic expression: pseudo-art, or art as magic; art as the expression of emotion, or imaginative art; and inspirational art, or poetry which delights in images. He then demonstrates how, at various stages in Dylan's artistic development, his work takes all three forms of expression, whereas Cohen's work primarily takes the form of the last two. He then offers examples from their poetry to illustrate which form(s) of expression is/are being inhabited by a particular work and he supports his demonstrations with quotations about their work from the artists themselves.
   
   Finally, Boucher helps to bring the period to life for his reader by including several pictures of book covers, concert and film posters, magazine covers and various photographs. The overall result of the book is that Boucher successfully positions his readers to have a richer experience and a deeper understanding and appreciation of the lyric poetry of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.



2. This is an excellent study of the music and lyrics of the 2 greatest rock "poets." Boucher explores whether or not their lyrics even qualify as poetry and keeps the subject interesting! He effectively delves into their psyches,as well, without getting hung up on personal, biographical details which have been over analyzed in other places. I found the final chapter "The Religious Experience" to be some of the best writing that I've seen on Dylan and Cohen's spiritual journeys. I highly recommend this to fans of either man's work.



3. The irate and intemperate person signing himself pepidude in a previous review seems incapable of being able to appreciate an argument or of understanding the nature of the exercise that David Boucher has undertaken. It is a thematic book with a wide range of references, not a book of facts about Bob Dylan.The author introduces us to the complexities of issues relating to the difference between popular music lyrics and poetry, between origins and originality, the poetry of imagination and inspiration and much more. Anyone interested in ideas and issues, and in theories as well as facts will find this book immensely stimulating and fascinating.



4. David Boucher has written a book that examines in detail the contribution of both artists to the worlds of both literature and rock & roll. In his intoduction he looks at the progress of Cohen from serious poet to rock & roll recording artist and performer. This transition cost him status in the literary world but aided by the legendary "golden voice" and some consummate musicians it allowed him to reach a hitherto undreamed of audience.

   Dylan, whom he refers to as "The Changing Man" in Chapter Three, was the chameleon-like performer who picked up, and discarded new personas and new musical styles at the drop of his very famous hat. The obvious example here is the infamous "electric tour" where Dylan was heckled and called "Judas". This abuse was, the book shows, not only for his perceived betrayal of the acoustic folk movement, but also a reaction to the contempt with which Dylan treated his audience. Dylan had always been a confrontational performer, and his response to such attacks was to become louder and less acoustic than ever. What David Boucher also shows is that this signified a shift from the community centred ethic of the folk movement to the excessive individualism and nihilism of the Beat poets who through the drug culture wanted, like Rimbaud, to experience the extremes.

   In other chapters the myriad influences on both performers are examined as well as their involvement with political and religious organisations. Finally David Boucher gives us an insight into the road travelled by both men in search of their own personal salvation.

   Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen are complex men and complex performers. To listen to, or to read the works of either man is always challenging. In this book the author has written an analysis that is equally challenging exploring, as it does, the anger and the angst of the 1960s and beyond. I enjoyed every minute of the challenge.




5. David Boucher's masterly work 'Dylan & Cohen' is essential reading, not simply for devotees of these 'Poets of Rock and Roll' but for anyone with an interest in the history of the radical cultural, political and musical changes in the last century.

   It is clear from this eloquent book that neither Dylan nor Cohen wished to speak for anyone but themselves and equally clear that the strength of their work would be seized upon by a generation looking for a new direction. Thankfully they both continued to write through their tribulations and we have a bank of some of the most evocative music to continue to listen to.

   I urge you to buy this book but with a word of warning: you won't want to stop reading once you've started.

1 comments about Aces, Warriors & Wingmen: The Firsthand Accounts of Canada's Fighter Pilots in the Second World War.

1. From 1990-2005, the author interviewed many of Canada's surviving WWII fighter pilots, and used the tape recorded interviews from 106 of them as the basis of this book. He undertook a daunting task: he traveled back and forth across Canada several times, tracking down individuals, following up on leads from previous interviews, and working diligently to get as much information as possible, as accurately as possible. The pilots, now in their seventies and eighties, remember the war with varying degrees of clarity. Some, referring to notes and logbooks, could provide amazing details, but others offer only vague recollections about their accomplishments, and sometimes, even about their decorations. The good thing about interviewing them now is that many are more candid and honest about their combat actions than they would have been with the war fresher in their memories.
   
   I'm not aware of any other book that gives such a broad and rich perspective of Canada's contribution to WWII's air war. It covers all theaters and aircraft types, and aviators serving in the RAF, RCAF, and RN. Other books about WWII aces tend to give more in-depth coverage to fewer pilots, whereas this book provides many more, but shorter, anecdotes.
   
   One source of frustration is the way the author sometimes introduces a pilot, gives no consequential information, then jumps on to the next pilot. Rather than covering each man's story in full, the author often splits up one person's recollections between several chapters. Another odd feature is the author's inclusion of spurious details. He sometime's includes a pilot's service number with great fanfare, but more often not, though it's not clear why it would ever be useful to know. Similarly, he may include details of one pilot's current home, or back yard, and nothing about another's. You rather get the impression that he tends to throw in every detail he put into his notes, whether they added anything to the story or not.
   
   That aside, this book is a must read for WWII aviation buffs, particularly those with an interest in the Commonwealth forces. In many cases, it's as fascinating to see what these pilots did after the war, as it is to see what they did in the war. And several of them have written books, which the author references, so you can often read further on someone who has particularly interested you. You may even have a chance to still meet some of these men, although several have died between being interviewed and the book's publication. Strongly recommended.

2 comments about Cross-Border Warriors: Canadians in American Forces, Americans in Canadian Forces : From the Civil War to the Gulf.

1. Canadian military historian Fred Gaffen's book Cross Border Warriors attempts to fill in the gaps in Canadian and American military history. He shares detailed anecdotes of the Americans who fought in the Royal Canadian Forces and the Canadians who fought for the American military, while grounding their stories deep in a macro-historical analysis of the conflicts and cooperation between the two nations. He recognizes both the strong anti-American sentiment in Canada and the occasional fear of Americans that Canada was about to attack the U.S. Ultimately, he wants to tell the stories of the 60,000 American and Canadian citizens who served in each other's armed forces since 1812.

   Gaffen begins with the American Civil War, which is commonly thought of as an American only conflict, but it had a definite impact on Canada as well, not only because many Canadians served in the American Union and Confederate armies, but because the civil war was the backdrop for Canadian confederation. As skeptical as Canada's founding fathers were of the civil unrest in the United States, many Canadians "with a taste for adventure " enlisted in the American forces both North and South. Many Canadians also fell prey to crimpers from the States who enticed them under false pretenses or even drugs and alcohol to join the war in the States, usually taking the place of someone rich enough to buy his way out of service.

   Crimping occurred on both sides of the border, however, and in World War I before the U.S. joined the war, Americans were crimped into duty for the Canadians. The American Foreign Enlistment Act of 1818 was supposed to prevent such abuses in recruiting, and it was finally enforced and the crimping came to a halt. Canada joined WWI in 1914, two and a half years before the U.S., and since the U.S. was officially neutral, it could not compel or explicitly let its men fight for the Canadians.

   However, Canadian minister of defense Sam Hughes assembled a brigade of Americans living in Canada to fight overseas, and then when America joined the war, an agreement was reached that Canada, the U.S., and Britain could all draft each other's citizens into any of their armed forces. Many Americans chose to join the British Air Force for the chance to fly.

   It is interesting to note that despite this seemingly open cooperation and trust between the two countries during WWI, the U.S. and Canada both had contingency plans in case of attack or invasion by the other or by Britain before World War II. When Canada entered WWII, many Americans crossed the border to join the Canadian Air Force Special Reserve, which they could do without losing their citizenship. They would take an oath of obedience to the Canadian army, but not an oath of allegiance, and therefore retain their American citizenship. However, when the U.S. entered the war in 1941, many Americans returned to the U.S. forces because of national pride and better compensation.

   Canada also had the Clayton Knight committee dedicated to recruiting American pilots to fly for the Royal Canadian Air Force, which many Americans joined because of the more relaxed education and training requirements.

   Canadian participation in American conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf was much less pronounced, mostly because of the smaller scale of these wars and less need for foreign soldiers. Canada did send a brigade of its own to fight in Korea, but most Canadians who fought in that war did so under U.S. command. Generally, Canadian Korea veterans had a much more positive experience than Canadian Vietnam veterans. Many Canadians went to fight for the U.S. in Vietnam seeking glory and adventure, but they were sadly disappointed, and most felt "used and abandoned by the American government." More Canadian veterans than American suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the horrors of Vietnam and they receive less public support. Canadian Vietnam veterans face considerable hostility from the Canadian public, and they are treated even more as outcasts than American Vietnam veterans in the U.S. Canadian involvement in the Persian Gulf war was limited mostly to Canadians already living in the U.S. or special forces assigned to help with the battle.

   Through detailed historical facts and personal anecdotes, Fred Gaffen makes an important contribution to the often neglected soldiers who fought across borders in the past two centuries. He provides the recognition that these brave men and women deserve and have often not received. He emphasizes the important and lasting ties that veterans from Canada and the United States keep to this day, and hopes that the two countries will continue their friendly relations and willingness to help a neighbor in times of crisis.




2. Gaffen shows our guys serving in each other's armed forces from the War of Northern Agression, through the World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf.

   Gaffen begins each section with a history of the conflict.The first part brings to us the lives of Canadians who served in the Federal Army, including several Medal of Honour winners, and details how Canada was a tacit ally of the Confederate States of America. This part also tells the stories of several Americans who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during 1914-1918, including author Raymond Chandler and several Victoria Cross winners. The 1939-45 section begins with Americans in the RAF and RCAF, and goes on to the accounts of several Americans and Canadians serving in each other's militaries, including the only member of the US Coast Guard to win the Medal of Honour. The Korea part is shorter, but does briefly mention one American from New Jersey who was KIA while serving with the Royal Canadian Regiment. The Vietnam chapter is patterned after Gaffen's previous book <>, and includes two of Canada's greatest heros, Fidele Joseph Bastarache, and Michael John "Bat" Masterson. The Gulf section discusses two Canadians who served in the US military during that war. The appendices on Canadian Medal of Honour recipients (including some from the Indian Campaigns, the Spanish American War, The Mexican capaign against Pancho Villa and others in between), Canadian casualties of Vietnam, Medal of Honour recipients buried in Canada, and American recipients of the Victoria Cross are informative and inspiring.

   The only thing Gaffen missed was the death of US Special Forces Sergeant Robert Deeks, killed by a landmine on 2, March 1993, while serving with the Canadian Airborne Regiment in Somalia. However, this can hardly be a fault or a flaw in the book, as Gaffen was probably doing the research or writing during that time frame.

   This is a very heartwarming and inspiring book. In an era when Canadian politicians and wrestlers, and Canadian and American sports fans work very hard to foment enmity between our people, Gaffen's book reminds us that we have a lot more in common than a border and a language. Gaffen also shows he truly cares about the people of which he writes, expressing his personal support for the cause of Canadian Vietnam Veterans. Given that Gaffen works for the Government (the Canadian War Museum), this took guts.

   A very informative and touching tome. I would make it required reading in high school history classes on both sides of the border.

4 comments about Halfbreed.

1. The way Maria Campbell literally bears her entire being onto paper is absolutely amazing. As Canadian citizens, it is important to still recognize the issues that plague our society. Campbell's book does just that, offering insight and a hope for something better.



2. The novel, "Half-breed" is based on the biography of Maria Campbell, a Metis woman who was born in northern Saskatchewan. Maria Campbell's family was a mixture of Scottish, French, Cree, English, and Irish. They spoke a language completely different from the people around them. The half-breeds lost their land when the authorities reclaimed it to offer to immigrants. Thus half-breeds settled down along the road lines and crown lands where they built cabins and bars, giving them the title of "Road Allowance people". Maria was born in a home where Cheecum, her father's Cree grandmother, taught ancient Cree rituals and legends. Maria's struggle for existence was strengthened by the Cree traditions and by Cheecum's wisdom. However, this was weakened by extreme discrimination and poverty.When she was fifteen, she tried to escape from poverty and discrimination by marrying a white person. However, soon after she broke up with him and found herself alone in the slums of Vancouver where she faced drug addiction, prostitution and depression. After many years of hardship and struggle, Maria made new friends who helped her to remember Cheechum's lessons, advice and her heritage. Eventually she returned to her own people and decided to work with native organisations all across Canada. The text is mainly concerned with the frequent discrimination, its negative impact and the extreme poverty in which the Metis- Indians had to live under. The narrator of the book, Maria Campbell, conveys her sorrows and frustrations by emphasising what it is like to be a Half-breed woman and grows up between two opposing worlds: white and native. The text clearly demonstrates the existing problems regarding race within the pluralistic Canadian society. The narrator develops the argument by describing her experiences. Through her experiences, she explains how badly whites treated her and her people. She grew up as a social outcast and was constantly teased and mistreated by other school children. Throughout the novel, Maria Campbell provides many examples to show the white society's mistrust and rejection of her people. The examples show the Indians' isolation on every level of society, including the church. Not only were she and her family excluded and driven out of church, but they also had to suffer verbal insult. Whenever the Half-breeds went downtown, the town's people would yell "Half-breeds are in town, hide your valuables." If they walked into stores, other white women and their children would leave while the shopkeepers'wives and children would watch to prevent the Half-breeds from stealing. The text discusses three important sociological concepts: discrimination, poverty and injustice. Defining these concepts in "cause-effect" context, one can see the interconnection among the three. Unjust government policies causes poverty, which in effect contributes to society's enhanced discrimination and mistrust of the Indians. While the Half-breeds represent a subculture, characterised by certain cultural traits that differs from others in the society, whites represent the dominant class who hold the power and influence. The Half-breeds were homeless because the Canadian government had unfairly taken their land away from them, so they have remained poor and unable to establish their own social institutions such as church and school. Consequently, the Half-breeds were subordinated and forced to speak the dominant language, behave the way whites do, and go to schools and churches that were built by the white society. Thus, the cultural diversity, different physical appearance, economical scarcity and a disordered life style, greatly influenced the discrimination against the Half-breeds. In the first fourteen chapters, the narrator relates the life style of half-breed families, their relationship with the white society, their traits, traditions, and their history. Through her experiences, she explains how badly whites treated her and her people. She grew up as a social ou, the Half-breeds remained relatively poorer and powerless. As the narrator states, due to poverty and lack of housing the Half-breeds had to move to "road-allowance-houses" (which are like shacks). The pages of these chapters also uncover the main cultural differences between whites and half-breeds by describing their family structure, distinct traditions and conception. These differences can be the structural elements that contribute to the uniqueness of Indian's situation. Firstly, unlike whites', half-breeds have extended family type in which two or more generations of the family members live together. Secondly, the half-breed families and other Indians live in a community where they practise their spiritual rituals, traditions and transmit their distinct cultural elements to the coming generation. It is also evident in the novel that Maria's family included her extended family and the Cheemchum taught Maria and her siblings their heritage, legends as well as cultural values and norms. Finally, the most important characteristic that sets the Indians apart from whites lies in their spiritual conception of the world. While the Indians are highly spiritual and believe in the interpretation of the natural and the supernatural, the whites strongly believe in subduing and dominating nature in order to create nature in men's image. With respect to such differences, in regards to family and community structure Indians try to sustain their distinct conception of the world as well as their distinct culture. Hence, their struggles to protect and sustain their uniqueness make them more distinct and marginal in the society. Maintaining these distinct elements also causes the Indians to remain economically weak in the contemporary industrialised Canadian society, since their belief is based on rationality rather than spirituality and the supernatural. The rest of the chapters are about Maria Campbell's life in Vancouver. The book mostly focuses on the realities of urban racism, prostitution, drug addiction and violence. Maria's husband left her without any money, which forced her to face prostitution. Within functional perspective, which is based on consensus and harmony for the benefit of society, prostitution seemed to be the only way for Maria to survive. Therefore she had to get involved in prostitution in order to survive and have enough money to raise her daughter; thus she carried out her function in society. In this process she also became addicted to drug and alcohol, because all the terrible circumstances that she faced were against her moral understanding and distinct (Half-breeds') conception of the world. So she lost her self-esteem and found herself in depression with the trap of drug addiction and alcoholism. At the end, she recovered from her addictions through the help of her own people. They helped her to regain her identity and dignity hence she started to work within "Native people" organisations throughout Canada.Campbell's experiences with discrimination, poverty, and other unfavourable things are realistic and persuasive. The examples that she gives in the novel strongly support her argument: the hardship of being "a half-breed woman in the white dominated Canadian society". Yet, at times her narrative tends to be biased since she conveys her story in a subjective manner. Especially, her easy and quick involvement in prostitution and drug addiction is questionable and difficult to understand since she was raised in a conservative and traditional Cree family. Nevertheless, The book "Half-breed" basically reflects an outstanding aspect of native people's difficulty in assimilating into the pluralistic Canadian society. It also provides a brief knowledge about how native people's distinct culture and subordinated economical or political weakness contribute their marginal and isolated position in the society. Overall, I personally think this book is useful for understanding the sociological concepts such as inequality, discrimination and poverty through the eyes of the distinct people who are discriminated against. The text offers an aspect of native people's lives in northern Saskatchewan through a half-breeds woman's experiences. The simple language and fascinating narrative makes the book more interesting and easy to read.



3. though her stories are not exclusive to the life of a Metis woman, the imagery is haunting. poverty, addiction, motherhood and the will of a society forced to make it on their own are all exposed. these themes are explored by other authors but not from this perspective. I would recommend this to every mother and/or women thinking of starting a family. this is a must read. for a guys perspective on similar themes check out alexie sherman's "the lone ranger and tanto fist fight in heaven". you won't be disappointed.



4. Maria Campbell tells a story of courageous survival from the perspective of a Metis woman. The reader becomes a part of Maria's journey through life, which begins amongst the Road Allowance People of Northern Saskatchewan. Her story describes a life dominated by basic survival. Hunting, trapping, poaching - if need be - and roasted gophers for a young school child's lunch. Her odyssey leads her through many dark places, one of them the Vancouver skids and a life as a junkie. Yet througout Maria Campbell manages to convey a sense of beauty, and her story, though often tragic, will become vivid in front of the reader's inner eyes. Half-Breed is a story of triumph over racial oppression. After reading this book, one can feel this woman's willingness to continue the fight that her great-grandmother's people began long ago in Riel country.

No comments about General Richard Montgomery and the American Revolution: From Redcoat to Rebel (American Social Experience Series, No 29).

3 comments about So Obstinately Loyal: James Moody, 1744-1809.

1. One cannot have a rounded view of the American revolution without seeing the extent to which it was also a civil war, and understanding the viewpoint of those in America who shared in the resentment of King George's policies, yet renounced violence as a remedy and saw no need to overthrow the existing rule of law. Susan Shenstone's thoroughly researched and detailed study of James Moody does precisely that. It is I believe at least as important for an American audience as for a Canadian one.



2. This is the first book I have read which describes the American revolutionaries unsympathetically. At one point, I thought the book must have been written during the current conflict in Iraq, but the copyright is dated 2000. I guess those who fight against authority have something in common with each other.
   
   I did not find this book exciting to read. Perhaps the author is trying to be authoritative at the price of being dull. Altogether, I suggest it's a great book to have read, not such a great book to read.



3. This is a very readable scholarly book about Captain James Moody of New Jersey. A man denounced by Washington ( he regularly swiped his mail) and all but forgotten in the parts of Nova Scotia where he was essential in civil development. Being a descendent of his compatriot, Lawrence Marr, I have an axe to grind, but if you have seen the movie "The Patriot" and find yourself distressed at the actions of the Loyalists in America, you owe it to yourself to read this. Moody, being aware of the usages of war at the time, was careful to wear his uniform and carry his commission on his adventures in the Delaware Gap area. His escapes were legendary and he became the subject of children's tales to the "patriot" third that remained behind when he and compatriots fled New York at the end of the Revolution. The first chapters reveal the situation at the beginning of the Revolution and the social web of the time. It is easy to understand his actions given the treatment of his in-laws and associates by the radicals, and one might suspect an element of class warfare motivated acts against the wealthy farmer class to which Moody, the Brittains, and the Marr families belonged. The later half of the book deals with his attempts to acquire a loyalist pension and his role in establishing a community in Nova Scotia. As such, the book is a valuable addition to the "Loyalist Studies" program of Canada's scholars. Nonetheless, it is also of great value to those of us in the States. It demonstrates the complex situation at the time of the Revolution with son against father, brother against brother. As one reads about denunciations and persecutions, one learns not only that "It could happen here" but that "It has happened here."

2 comments about Felix d`Herelle and the Origins of Molecular Biology.

1. This textbook is a combination book, partly the biography of an exceptional individual and partly a history of scientific discovery. The author, William Summers, is eminently qualified to write such a text, being a physician, scientist, and historian at Yale University.

   D'Herelle is a renowned Canadian Scientist about whom I was totally ignorant. Born in Montreal, he traveled and lived in numerous areas around the world, although France became his eventual home. He never gave up his Canadian citizenship, however. D'Herelle was born to a wealthy family in Montreal, and after high school he traveled extensively, thanks to a gift from his mother. He never found time to return to formal schooling, but he learned enormous amounts in his chosen field, microbiology. His seminal scientific discovery was the description of bacteriophages, and their possible application in human infectious diseases. For this he received numerous awards, and at one time was a research professor at Yale University despite his own lack of formal education. Dr. Summers clearly delineates the process of scientific discovery, and the subsequent controversies over the nature of this new discovery (was it really a living organism or an enzyme?), and the determination of scientific priority. There is a fair amount of technical description, but Dr. Summers is a clear and logical writer who is able to guide the reader through the scientific process.

   This book is an incredible work of scholarship, with extensive use of primary source documents. However, because the main thrust of this book is one of scientific discovery, we get very little analysis of d'Herelle's personality. I would have been interested in some speculation on how his lack of formal education might have influenced his often-stormy relationships with other scientists. Also, why was such a distinguished scientist so poorly treated at the Pasteur Institute, his spiritual home? There would be much to learn from a biography of this highly complex individual. Meanwhile, this is an excellent book that helps us understand the nature of scientific enquiry while saluting an outstanding scientist, who just happens to be Canadian.




2. This book reviews the life of Felix d'Herelle, the man responsible for the co-discovery, naming, and popularization of bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria. From bacteriophages came molecular genetics, and from molecular genetics came biotechnology as well as much of modern biology. Bacteriophages, in the guise of the bacteriophage therapy of bacterial diseases, may even change your life, serving as the next generation of truly effective antibacterial antimicrobials. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and benefited greatly from the insight provided into d'Herelle's life and influence on bacteriophagy. Without question, any individual interested in bacteriophage therapy, or just plain bacteriophages as more than just tools at the heart of molecular biology, will want to read this book.