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Vintage Cabot Trail
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$4.95In 1932, the Nova Scotia and Canadian governments undertook to upgrade centuries-old hardscrabble roadways and pathways that linked numerous isolated communities perched between ocean and mountain, roughly circumscribing the bounds of the Cape Breton Highlands.
For 75 years, the Cabot Trail, one of the world’s most stunning travelways, has not only relieved isolation, it has captivated, charmed and challenged motorists, cyclists, runners and walkers alike.
This booklet commemorates the 75th anniversary (1932-2007) of the designation of the Cabot Trail by revisiting the Trail’s earliest years through images from the archives of the Beaton Institute at Cape Breton University.
Terry MacLean, PhD, is a retired CBU Professor, a writer and heritage consultant living in Sydney. He was former Senior Historian at the Fortress of Louisbourg and is the author of books and articles on aspects of Cape Breton history and culture.
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Famhair/Giant
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$15.95No contemporary work from a sole author of Gaelic poetry from the Nova Scotia perspective been published in this province – until now. Cultural identity, sense of place and expression are important elements in the work of any artist. This book of contemporary Nova Scotia Gaelic poetry spans the landscape of Gaelic Cape Breton, the eastern Nova Scotia mainland and indeed the broader collective consciousness of Nova Scotians within the confines of their own province and in the wider, diverse, multi-ethnic, North American reality.
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Discovering Cape Breton Folklore
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$24.95For more than two decades, Richard MacKinnon—Canada Research Chair in Intangible Cultural Heritage, Cape Breton University—has researched Cape Breton’s rich cultural heritage: from protest songs to company houses, from co-operative housing to nicknames, from log buildings to cockfighting.In Discovering Cape Breton Folklore, professor MacKinnon revists some of his research and exposes us to some new.
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Cape Breton Wonders
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95Did you ever wonder why… your mother re-washed the wash?Did you ever wonder why… the lighthouse lights, or why the miners risked their lives?
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Failure of Global Capitalism
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95What do Cape Breton and Colombia have in common? Coal, for one thing. Coal mining was the backbone of Cape Breton’s industrial economy for more than one hundred years, but the last mine was closed in 2001 when the province’s utility company took advantage of neoliberal globalization by importing coal—from Colombia. There’s more. Colombia and Cape Breton represent the loss of well-paid, unionized industrial jobs as a result of neoliberal globalization—the economic hegemony that allows multinational corporations in the global North—primarily North America and Europe—to exploit the natural resources and cheap labour of the global South—Latin America, Africa and Asia. But the commonalities between Cape Breton and Colombia do not end with coal, there are numerous connections directly related to the capitalist system: militant labour struggles, repression, economic insecurity, population displacement, social inequality and environmental devastation. Activists and scholars Gibbs and Leech use the examples of Cape Breton and Colombia to illustrate the harsh realities suffered by people throughout the global North and the global South under neoliberal globalization, particularly with regard to socio-economic and environmental issues. Ultimately, they expose the failure of industrial capitalism, and look toward more sustainable and egalitarian alternatives.
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Malagawatch Mice and the Cat Who Discovered America
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$14.95The Malagawatch Mice are well settled in their believed church, now at the Nova Scotia Highland Village in Iona, Cape Breton. But they are not alone–Henry, a stray cat with a mysterious past has taken up residence in the church and the mice are convinced that life will never be the same.
Yet, there is something familiar about this cat and, determined that there must be some good in him, Grandpa sets out to prove to Henry that he is much more than a no-good stray.
A monument in Halfway Cove, on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore, acknowledges that Prince Henry Sinclair of the Orkney Islands made the first transatlantic crossing and landed there in 1398, almost a century before Columbus. The monument describes his landing in Chebabucto Bay, and the fact that he spent a year exploring Nova Scotia, with the help of the kind Mi’Kmaq people.
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Elizabeth Lefort Canada’s Artist in Wool
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$24.95The Cheticamp rug hooking tradition is prized the world over. The most celebrated fibre artist from this tradition is undoubtedly Elizabeth LeFort (1914-2005). LeFort’s remarkable talent for portraiture in wool resulted in purchases and commissions the world over; her work hangs in Rideau Hall, Buckingham Palace, the White House and the Vatican.
Daniel Doucet followed her life and her career for many years, with this biography in mind. Photographs of many of her pieces are complemented by photos of many of the public highlights of her career.
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Guthan Priseil
Editor: Anne LandinPublisher: Cape Breton University Press$22.95The songs and stories recorded here are the voices of past and present Cape Breton. They have been recorded so that the artistic expression of Cape Breton Gaelic singers can be made available to all who are interested in this authentic Gaelic tradition.
English translations are included for all songs.
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Reading the Qur’an in English
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95The unique beauty and richness of Islam’s sacred book calls out for it to be read and enjoyed by all. To be open to following the structural logic of the Qur’an, Western expectations about the use of narrative, description and dialogue should be set aside. Robert Campbell provides this introductory guide to help readers experience the Qur’an on its own terms. Following his guidance, in conjunction with reading an English language version of the Qur’an, can reveal a great deal about the nature of Islam and about how the Qur’an compares with other Abrahamic scriptures.
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Basement Suite
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95Eddy and Liz participate in a relationship study for extra cash and learn that they don’t share the same opinions about fidelity, sex, career or truth. In fact, they don’t understand each other. Eddy tries. Liz tires. Basement Suite is a sexy, cheeky look at another side of love.
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TR’s Adventure at Angus the Wheeler’s
Artist: Virginia McCoyPublisher: Cape Breton University Press$14.95On a warm summer day, ten-year-old T.R. decides to share a secret with his bored brothers, the Terrible Twins and Sunny James. Elves and Fairies live in the garden of their neighbor.
But all is not well in this secret garden; Guks have abducted a Princess and are holding her hostage at a farmhouse known as Angus the Wheeler’s. T.R., the Terrible Twins and Sunny James team up with the Fairies and set out to free the Princess.
What follows is an epic battle between the Fairies and the Guks and T.R. has to use his own gentle magic against a darker magic to free the Princess and protect the Fairies.
Filled with wonder and strong characters—and, best of all, a happy ending—T.R.’s Adventureis supported by colourful and fanciful illustrations making it suitable for young readers and younger audiences.
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Rannsachadh Na Gaidhlig 5
Editor: Ken NilsenPublisher: Cape Breton University Press$24.95Proceedings from the fifth Rannsachadh na Gaidhlig conference, held in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, in July 2008.
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Language of this Land Mi’kma’ki
Artist: Trudy SablePublisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95The ancient landscapes of Eastern North America are reflected in the language and cultural expressions of its Indigenous peoples, the Mi’kmaq. The rhythms, sounds and patterns of their language are inextricably bound with the seasonal cycles of the animals, plants, winds, skies, waterways and trade routes. The Language of this Land, Mi’kma’ki is an exploration of Mi’kmaw world view as expressed in language, legends, song and dance. Using imagery as codes, these include not only place names and geologic history, but act as maps of the landscape. Sable and Francis illustrate the fluid nature of reality inherent in its expression – its embodiment in networks of relationships with the landscape integral to the cultural psyche and spirituality of the Mi’kmaq. Language has sustained the Mi’kmaq to the present day, a product of a lineage of Elders who spoke it, who danced the dances and walked this land,Mi’kma’ki, carrying its traditions forward despite centuries of cultural disruption, discrimination and degradation.
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Distinction Earned
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95Distinction Earned highlights the accomplishments of significant Cape Breton fighters like George “Rockabye” Ross (about who MacDougall has also penned a play), Tyrone Gardiner, Blair Richardson and Francis”Rocky” MacDougall and trainers like Johnny Nemis. Between 1965 and 1967 five national boxing champions in different weight classes were from Cape Breton.Paul MacDougall has collected dozens of interviews from participants, enthusiasts and their heirs, from which has evolved this account of an amazing sporting record.
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Getting It Done
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$24.95It’s often said that the future of Cape Breton depends on the vision and initiative of her sons and daughters. But when we go on a quest for leadership –what is it we’re looking for? Originally conceived as a series for CBC Radio and now adopted to book form, Getting It Done is an exploration of effective leadership through the experiences of people who have “been there.” From cabinet ministers to CEOs, a Juno winner to an Olympic medalist and two former premiers, Steve Sutherland delves into the habits and philosophies of some Cape Breton’s most prominent and influential figures. Featuring exclusive material that didn’t appear in the original radio interviews, Getting It Done is a compendium of insights about how these leaders got where they are, and what they do to make things happen.
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In the Blood
Photographer: Gary SamsonPublisher: Cape Breton University Press$28.95A representative set of individuals from Cape Breton provides personal narratives about life and culture on the Nova Scotia island. Cape Breton is a region known for its music (well represented here); its Scottish, French, and Mi’kmaq heritage; and its spectacular scenery, including that along the Cabot Trail through Cape Breton Highlands National Park and around Bras d’Or Lake. While traditional culture has a vibrant existence on Cape Breton, the island also faces serious economic and social challenges. With traditional mining, shipping, farming, and fishing industries depressed, tourism, though significant, is a less-than-adequate replacement as economic engine and the island has faced an ongoing decline in population. A cross-section of Cape Bretoners reflected on these issues and the sacrifices they make and joys they find living in such a culturally and scenically rich place. Among the better-known of them are Ginette Chiasson, Alistair MacLeod, Rita Joe, Buddy MacMaster, Joella Foulds, Bob MacEachern, Keith Brown, and Mary Jane Lamond.
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Women, War & Hypocrites
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95Robert Campbell’s Reading the Qur’an in English is an introductory guide to help readers experience the Qur’an on its own terms. Following his guidance, in conjunction with reading an English language version of the Qur’an, can reveal a great deal about the nature of Islam and about how the Qur’an compares with other Abrahamic scriptures. People who are unwilling or unable to delve into the text of the Qur’an on their own will always be at risk of having their opinions shaped by others. In this new book, Dr. Campbell expands the journey through his analysis of the thematic structure of the fourth surah (The Women), a large and complex surah containing some of the most controversial verses and ideas in the Qur’an. The key issues addressed are women (on marriage, lewdness, wife beating and hijab), war (on killing, battle, jihad and terrorism) and hypocrites (on believers, the People of the Book, idolatry, intoxication and the crucifixion of Jesus). Given that Islam traces its prophetic heritage from Noah through to Abraham, Moses, Jesus and finally Muhammad, much of the content of the Qur’an will be familiar to those with even a passing exposure to the scriptures of the Jews and Christians.
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Cultures of Militarization
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$39.95Special Edition of TOPIA Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies
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Selina
Artist: Gisele LeBlancPublisher: Cape Breton University Press$11.95This book follows one fish as she develops from a tiny pink egg into a full-grown salmon. Selina explores the place she was born so it is imprinted in her brain so she can return to the same river tributary to lay her eggs. She has a narrow escape from becoming food for other, larger fish, birds, eels and even humans. Don Downer is chair of the Aquatic Centre for Research and Education, is involved with the Fish Friends school program, sponsored by the Atlantic Salmon Federation, and does contract work relating to salmon for Fisheries and Oceans.
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Schnider’s World
Artist: Gisele LeBlancPublisher: Cape Breton University Press$11.95Our Story Follows the life cycle of Schnider, a harp seal, from his birth on the ice floes off the northeast coast of Newfoundland.
Through Schnider’s eyes young readers learn about his weaning and maturing, the melting of the field of drift ice where he was born, his explorations, adventures and close calls in the search for food along the Newfoundland coast and, eventually, to the feeding grounds of Lancaster Sound and back again.
Schnider is joined by two other books about marine life: Selby the Lobster and Selina: An Atlantic Salmon, also by Don Downer and Gisele LeBlanc-Turner.
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Selby
Artist: Gisele LeBlancPublisher: Cape Breton University Press$11.95In this story, biologist Downer takes a different approach from his two previous books (Selina: An Atlantic Salmon and Schnider’s World: A Harp Seal Story). Selby’s habitat and life cycle, are explored in perspective with the lobster fisherman who wants to catch him. Readers learn about the Atlantic lobster and about the people who struggle to make a living by harvesting them.
The story follows Selby’s life in Ragged Harbour, foraging for food avoiding predators, including Jake the lobster fisher, who really wants to catch Selby. A fierce storm destroys a lot of Jake’s fishing gear and brings about a change in the way he regards the sea and its many creatures –including Selby the Lobster.
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Beartan Briste
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$14.95Born in Dublin, Ireland, Rody Gorman is Writer-in-Residence at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye. He has worked as writing fellow at the University College Cork and the University of Manitoba and is editor of the annual Irish and Scottish Gaelic poetry anthology An Guth. He has published a wide range of poetry collections and his selected poems in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Chernilo, were published by Coiscéim in 2006.
Beartan Briste is the latest collection from this prolific Gaelic poet. His highly original English “intertongueings” are wonderfully entertaining in their own right – providing insight not only to the nature of his poetry, but the nature of Gaelic interpretation.
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Necessaries and Sufficiencies
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$24.95The year 2011 marked the 250th anniversary of coming of New England and Irish Planters to Cobequid, Nova Scotia. Necessaries and Sufficiencies is a well-researched glimpse into the migration, settlement, religion, education, occupations, health and daily life of these settlers. This microhistory traces the evolution of New England and Irish peoples into a cohesive society with common social, political, cultural and material standards. While the distric’s pro-American response at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War pitted Cobequid against the King’s Government, moderation on both sides led to the assimilation of the Planers into the fabric of Nova Scotia and Feisty Cobequid became loyal Colchester.
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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.
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Around the Year with the Malagawatch Mice
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$11.95Follow the antics of Cape Breton’s favourite Celtic creatures –the Malagawatch Mice –as they observe and celebrate the customs and traditions of their Highland heritage. Featuring Caroline Stelling’s wonderful watercolour illustrations, Around the Year includes explanations of numerous holidays, observances and pastimes
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Social Economy : Communities, Economics and Solidarity in Atlantic Canada
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$27.95THIS BOOK CONTRIBUTES to the growing literature on the social economy from the particular perspectives of Atlantic Canadians who have been part of the Social Economy and Sustainability Research Network. It illustrates the importance of the sector to the region’s social, economic and public life while exploring its potential for positive change. Prefiguring an economy based on principles of human values and principles of solidarity, the social economy offers a space for people to exercise democracy in realms thought to be “economic” and thus exempt from such priorities. The social economy has the aim of development in a double sense-development of the individual and local or community development. What is at stake is no less than democratizing the economy, creating a space for dialogue and debate, building partnerships, networks and capacity for innovation, sustainability, democracy and justice-in other words, developing the potentials for a social economy. Considerable innovation and significant contributions to quality of life thrive within the social economy in the Atlantic region. Organizations vary tremendously, not least in terms of how successful they are in meeting the immediate and longer term objectives to which they and their supporters aspire. This volume marks one step in furthering such understanding.
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Cape Breton Railways: An Illustrated History An Illustrated History
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$24.95Cape Breton’s rail lines are perhaps best known for their substantial roles in the coal and steel industries-and their decline as those industries faded away. Yet, despite their prominent connections to coal and steel, railways played many other important roles in the life of the Island. From transporting mail and freight to giving Cape Bretoners the ability to travel to and from the Island, they were important to the community culture. This book looks at those railways in the contexts of what was happening on and beyond the Island.Cape Breton’s railways were shaped by factors such physical geography, availability of both capital and customers, and the distribution of population and industries. In response to those factors, railway builders and operators often had to make difficult choices and try to deal with factors they could not control.
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Strangers in the Land The Ukrainian Presence in Cape Breton
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95First published in 1986, Strangers in the Land is a carefully researched telling of stories of Cape Breton’s Ukrainians, written by a son of the community, John Huk. Working tirelessly in archives, he spent countless hours combing through municipal and steel company records, collecting press clippings and other relevant papers as well as memorabilia, interviewing community members about their family histories, and working with his family to put together a story of a century of Ukrainian life in Cape Breton. Huk produced a book that stands as a valuable historical document and, in the process, also amassed a wealth of artifacts and documentation now forming the Huk fonds at the archives of the Beaton Institute at Cape Breton University-providing an invaluable source of data for a new generation of researchers. It is the only history of Ukrainian experiences in Cape Breton published to date; all the more impressive is that Huk gathered the information and published the book almost entirely on his own as a self-taught community ethnographer and historian. His work has also inspired more recent research focusing on Canadians of Ukrainian descent, especially their music, dance and the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Parish in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This congregation celebrates the 100th anniversary in 2012. Now with a new introduction by Marcia Ostashewski , PhD, and new appendices, Strangers in the Land is a celebration of the traditions and cultural gifts of Ukrainians in Cape Breton and their contribution to Canadian history.
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Our Grandmothers’ Words Traditional Stories For Nurturing
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$14.95Traditional child-raising practices recognize that you begin to raise a child from the moment you know you are pregnant. Through traditional stories, Grandmothers’ understandings guide and nurture parents and children as they grow together.
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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.
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Blood Brothers In Louisbourg
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$11.95As the son of an officer, Jacques was expected to pursue a career in the military. In the spring of 1744, at the age of fifteen, Jacques and his father leave France for Louisbourg, the French capital of Île Royale, where Jacques is to learn the military arts – a far cry from his books and music and the comforts of his mother’s home. In the Acadian forests that surround the French fortress of Louisbourg, a young Mi’kmaw man named Two-feathers watches the strange comings and goings of soldiers and citizens. Two-feathers is hoping to find his father who, he has been told, is an important man among the French – they have never met. From his discreet camp outside the walls of the fortress, Two-feathers watches, believing that he will know his father when he sees him. At night, he moves silently about the city, including the Governor’s apartments, where he befriends a beautiful young French woman. Jacques’ life in Louisbourg is a curious mixture of military duties and his visits to the Governor’s apartments where he teaches the daughter of a visiting merchant to play the violoncello. The two young men follow very different paths – one formally educated and refined, the other curious and skilful – both seeking to understand their father. Their paths and their worlds collide during the violent siege by British forces in 1745.
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Trapper Boy
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$11.95Set in a 1920s coal-mining town, Trapper Boy is the story of 13-year-old JW Donaldson, a good student with a bright future. As school ended for the year in 1926, JW was looking forward to summer. Sure, he would have chores – feeding the horse and milking the goat, tending the garden, that kind of thing – but he would also have lots of time for fishing, building his cabin and reading. Lots of reading.But there is something worrying his parents. His father works in the mine, and there is a lot of talk around town about the mines. JW doesn’t know the details – Adults had a lot to worry about, and he was in no hurry to become one.Slowly, JW’s parents reveal the truth: his father’s hours at the mine have been reduced and they face difficult decisions to try to make ends meet. One such decision will have a previously unimagined impact on the young man’s life.
