Kings of Friday Night The Lincolns
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Over a span of ten years, The Lincolns played rock ‘n’ roll, R & B, and soul, not just in their hometown of Truro but at dances and on campuses across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They changed the lives of small-town kids clamouring for a beat that would move their feet, their hips, and their hearts. Through interviews, stories, and photos, The Lincolns will stir fond memories for the band’s countless fans.
Grand-Pré Landscape for the World
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95In 2012 the Landscape of Grand Pré, which includes the entire Grand Pré Marsh and portions of North Grand Pré, Hortonville, Grand Pré, and Lower Wolfville, was declared Nova Scotia’s third UNESCO World Heritage Site. This newest addition to the Stories of our Past series details the area’s physical and cultural evolution in an accessible, highly visual format.
Grand Pré explores the interrelationship of the peoples and landscape of Grand Pré, from the legacies of the dykelands to the record-breaking tides of the Minas Basin. With a focus on the resilient first peoples of Grand Pré—the Mi’kmaq and the Acadians—the book explores the implications of the Grand Dérangement, including the arrival of New England Planters, the twentieth-century Acadian Renaissance, and the creation of the “Land of Evangeline.” Includes informative sidebars and 50 colour photos.
Grand-Pré: Heart of Acadia
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95A.J.B. (John) Johnson, a historian with Parks Canada, has published extensively, on French colonial Louisbourg in particular. W.P. (Wayne) Kerr, an interpretation specialist with Parks Canada, has over seen the development of numerous exhibits and projects in Atlantic Canada
Storied Shores
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95Cape Breton Island has many claims to fame, yet far too few people are familiar with the rich and storied past of the coastal areas of Richmond County.For centuries the Mi’kmaq, and later the early European explorers and settlers, shortened their journeys between the Bras d’Or lake and the Atlantic Ocean by means of the narrow isthmus at St. Peter’s. This portage area -eventually a canal – became a haul-over road in the mid-1650s. The portage area and the surrounding shores and waterways of Cape Breton were sites of early and prolonged interaction between the French and the Mi’kmaq during a time when dreams of expansion and empire among European nations, met head on with the realities of North America’s aboriginal peoples.The busy corridor between Chapel Island, St. Peter’s, and Isle Madame was the backdrop for a colourful and intriguing era of our shared histories. Storied Shores presents a history of that time and place – the story of the promise of prosperity and the hope for new lives and the story of the ravages of greed, rivalry, and war.
Ancient Land, New Land Skmaqn – Port-la-Joye – Fort Amherst National Historic Site of Canada
Publisher: Acorn Press$24.95The Mi’kmaq have inhabited Epekwitk (Prince Edward Island) for millennia. At this site, known in Mi’kmaq as Skmaqn, or “waiting place,” the Mi’kmaq met the French in the 18th century to renew their friendship and military alliance at a time when the French and British empires were fighting for supremacy in North America.
As Europeans settled on what had become to be known as Isle Saint Jean, the major European players were France and Great Britain, each of whom started constructing forts and sending soldiers, warships and settlers. A key strategy of the French was to establish a close alliance with the Mi’kmaq, one that was maintained by missionaries. Thus Skmaqn became the French fort Port-la-Joye. The French saw it as the most strategic location as its harbour was large, sheltered, and easy to defend because of the narrow entrance through which any enemy ships would have to pass.
One of the first permanent French settlements on the island, Port-la-Joye was the seat of colonial government and a port of entry. This site was surrendered to Great Britain in 1758 and renamed Fort Amherst, the British organized the deportation of more than 3,000 Acadians.
Ni’n na L’nu The Mi’kmaq of Prince Edward Island
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95- Winner of APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award
- Winner of PEI Book Award for Non-fiction
This lavishly-illustrated book tells a story through words and images that has never before been told, not in any single book. The focus is entirely on the Mi’kmaq of the Island, an island which for thousands of years has been known to the Mi’kmaq and their ancestors as Epekwitk. That name means “cradle on the sea” and no more poetic description of PEI has ever been penned. The story of the PEI Mi’kmaq is one of adaptation and perseverance across countless generations in the face of pervasive change. Today’s environment is far from what it was millennia ago. So too, the economy, society, lifestyle, language and religion of the people has witnessed some dramatic shifts. Nonetheless, despite all the changes, today’s Mi’kmaq feel deeply connected to the Island in its entirety and to their ancestors and the values they still share. This book tells those many stories, and communicates much more. While the book is a stand-alone publication, it is also a companion to a travelling exhibition of the same name.
Louisbourg Past, Present, Future
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95Now a national historic site, the fortified military settlement of Louisbourg was once a colonial jewel desired by both the French and English monarchies, traded with yet feared by the Anglo-Americans, and highly regarded by the Mi’kmaq. Home to Canada’s first lighthouse, Louisbourg became the capital of Île-Royale (Cape Breton Island) in 1720, and was an economically viable fishery, military stronghold, and strategic naval base for centuries.
In the newest addition to the Stories of our Past series, Louisbourg: Past, Present, and Future, historian A. J. B. Johnston explores the complex past of the Nova Scotian landmark in an accessible and animated format. Featuring over 50 images, including maps, archaeological excavations, and artistic renderings, Louisbourg illustrates a significant period in Nova Scotia history.
Louisbourg: 18th Century Town
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95Louisbourg: An 18th-Century Town is an in-depth look at what was once a well-known settlement in the New World. As a seaport, Louisbourg possessed one of the busiest harbours in North America. As a fortress, it generated hope in French hearts and fear in British ones. As a community, it was home to thousands of men, women, and children: fishermen and soldiers, merchants and artisans, servants and seamstresses. Voltaire called the colony “the key” to French possessions in North America. Benjamin Franklin described it as a “tough nut to crack.” In the end, British prime minister William Pitt insisted that it be destroyed. Pitt got his wish, yet 200 years later, 18th-century Louisbourg rose again, this time as one of the world’s great outdoor museums.
This well-crafted book, written by historians of the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site and teachers of the Cape Breton District School Board, is an entertaining and informative portrait of this 18th-century town. Its well-illustrated pages provide young readers with material on everything from astronomy and gardening to fashions and siege warfare. It offers a rare opportunity to savour what life was really like in a French military town on Cape Breton Island two centuries ago.
Grand-Pré: Coeur de L’Acadie
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95Grand-Pré est un toponyme très évocateur, non seulement au Canada, mais partout dans le monde. Les événements qui se déroulent dans ce village acadien vers la fin de l’été et durant l’automne 1755 occupent une place importante dans l’histoire de l’Amérique du Nord.
Louisbourg: Reflet d’un Époque
Photographer: Chris ReardonPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Un merveilleux photographique regarde la forteresse le texte accompagné de qui illumine l’histoire de la forteresse.
Louisbourg Phoenix Fortress
Photographer: Chris ReardonPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95A wonderful photographic look at the fortress accompanied by text that illuminates its history.
Crossings: A Thomas Pichon Novel
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95Thomas Pichon seems forever at a crossroads, often choosing the path of least resistance, or at least the one most tempting. In this, the third Thomas Pichon novel, his life remains more complicated than he wishes. He encounters highwaymen on a country road, succumbs to a tempting tryst in the spa town of Bath, squanders a new love back in London and begins to long for the higher social station he once enjoyed.
Returning to Paris, his working life initially stalls, but a new lover offers help. He is given the best position he has ever had, one that requires him to go overseas. The crossing is a voyage neither he nor anyone else aboard will forget.
The Maze A Thomas Pichon Novel
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95Like the streets of his 18th-century Paris home, Thomas Pichon’s life is full of twists and turns. Despite winning his wife’s forgiveness for an extramarital affair, Thomas and his lover, Hélène, are caught a second time, and decide that it’s time for new beginnings – in London. As a writer, Thomas tries to make literary sense of the chaos of the life and language of a city teeming with excitement and danger. Hélène finds her own way out of the maze.
Thomas: A Secret Life
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95Set in early-18th-century France, Thomas: A Secret Life is the imagined life of Thomas Pichon. We first meet Thomas as a twelve-year old in the small town of Vire, Normandy. Precociously sensuous by nature, Thomas is inclined to poetry and religious/erotic imaginings. A series of adolescent adventures provide striking background to his character. Rejecting parental insistence that he become a priest, Thomas steals away to Paris in the middle of the night. There, nearly broke, Thomas works as a lowly office clerk, joins the ranks of aspiring French writers and makes extra money serving as a part-time spy for the police of Paris. But his careers advance too slowly for his liking, and he finds himself taking regular comfort and release in prostitutes’ stalls. A rendezvous with a high-class courtesan brings a new possibility and Thomas plots a future in which he can have his cake and eat it too. Writer, lover, spy: Life is nowhere near as good or as easy as Thomas Pichon imagined it would be.
From the Hearth
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$12.95Recipes from the World of 18th-century LouisbourgThe recipes presented here are those that the authors believe were once served in the house and inns of historic Louisbourg. Modern interpretations?giving specific quantities and cooking times?have been provided for all but a few preparations.Though research has not turned up any individual recipes used in 18th-century Louisbourg, historians and archaeologists do know most of the foods they ate. They also know the regions in France from whence many of the inhabitants of Louisbourg (or their parents) originally came.
Endgame 1758 The Promise, the Despair and the Glory of Louisbourg’s Last Decade
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$26.95The story of what happened at the colonial fortified town of Louisbourg between 1749 and 1758 is one of the great dramas of the history of Canada, indeed North America. The French stronghold on Cape Breton Island, strategically situated near the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, was from soon after its founding a major possession in the quest for empire. The dramatic military and social history of this short-lived and significant fortress, seaport, and community, and the citizens who made it their home, are woven together in A. J. B. Johnston’s gripping biography of the colony’s final decade, presented from both French and British perspectives. Endgame 1758 is a tale of two empires in collision on the shores of mid-eighteenth-century Atlantic Canada, where rival European visions of predominance clashed headlong with each other and with the region’s Aboriginal peoples. The magnitude of the struggle and of its uncertain outcome colored the lives of Louisbourg’s inhabitants and the nearly thirty thousand combatants arrayed against it. The entire history comes to life in a tale of what turned out to be the first major British victory in the Seven Years’ War. How and why the French colony ended the way it did, not just in June and July 1758, but over the decade that preceded the siege, is a little-known and compelling story.
