On January 21, 2015, a pro-ISIS Twitter account reported that John Maguire, a 23-year-old university drop-out from the Ottawa Valley town of Kemptville, had been killed fighting Kurds in the Syrian city of Kobani. A few weeks before, Maguire had starred in a YouTube video threatening Canada for bombing ISIS forces in Iraq.He is one of the dozens of young Canadians who have chosen to fight in a vicious conflict that really had little to do with them and with Canada.Why would ...

On January 21, 2015, a pro-ISIS Twitter account reported that John Maguire, a 23-year-old university drop-out from the Ottawa Valley town of Kemptville, had been killed fighting Kurds in the Syrian city of Kobani. A few weeks before, Maguire had starred in a YouTube video threatening Canada for bombing ISIS forces in Iraq.He is one of the dozens of young Canadians who have chosen to fight in a vicious conflict that really had little to do with them and with Canada.Why would ...

Fighting Words is a collection of the very best war journalism created by or about Canadians at war. The collection spans 1,000 years of history, from the Vikings' fight with North American Natives, through New France's struggle for survival against the Iroquois and British, to the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Rebellions of Lower and Upper Canada, the Fenian raids, the North-West Rebellion, the First World War, the Second World War, Korea, peacekeeping missions, and A...

Flim Flam explores the world of Canadian white-collar crime, a place inhabited by hustlers, wild gamblers, and crazy dreamers. It takes the reader to the Vancouver Stock Exchange, where dream salesmen have peddled wild stories of easy money, through the "moose pasture" scams of northern Canada, to the con artists who have been drawn to Toronto's financial district. Along the way, you'll meet crooked politicians, a young con man who confessed to a church congregation after he was "...

Three beautiful gothic buildings loom over the Ottawa River just below the historic Chaudiere Falls. They are the seat of Canada’s federal government, visited by thousands of people each year. Canada’s Parliament Buildings, filled with heraldry and history, instill pride in our country and give visitors a deep sense of being Canadian.Constructed in controversy, and steeped in decades of political lore, the Parliament Buildings have been the stage for the evolution of Canada from a ...

The Canadian government censored the news during World War II for two main reasons: to keep military and economic secrets out of enemy hands and to prevent civilian morale from breaking down. But in those tumultuous times - with Nazi spies landing on our shores by raft, U-boat attacks in the St. Lawrence, army mutinies in British Columbia and Ontario and pro-Hitler propaganda in the mainstream Quebec press - censors had a hard time keeping news events contained.Now, with freshly un...

Nominated for the 2023 Heritage Toronto Book Award • Finalist for the 2023 Ottawa Book Award in English Nonfiction • Longlisted for the 2023 National Business Book AwardThe remarkable true story of the rise and fall of one of North America's most influential media moguls.When George McCullagh bought The Globe and The Mail and Empire and merged them into the Globe and Mail, the cha...

One of The Hill Times’ Top 100 Best Books in 2025As Canada heads towards a pivotal election, bestselling author Mark Bourrie charts the rise of Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre and considers the history and potential cost of the politics of division.Six weeks into the Covid pandemic, New York Times columnist David Brooks identified two types of Western politicians: rippers and weavers. Rippers, whether on the right or th...

Shortlisted for the 2025 J.W. Dafoe Book Prize • A Globe 100 Best Book of 2024From the bestselling author of Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre Esprit-RadissonThis is the story of the collision of two worlds. In the early 1600s, the Jesuits—the Catholic Church’s most ferocious warriors for Christ—tried to create their own nation on the Great Lakes and turn the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy into a model Jesuit state. At the...

WINNER OF THE 2020 RBC TAYLOR PRIZE • "Readers might well wonder if Jonathan Swift at his edgiest has been at work."—RBC Taylor Prize Jury Citation • "A remarkable biography of an even more remarkable 17th-century individual … Beautifully written and endlessly thought-provoking."—Maclean’sMurderer. Salesman. Pirate. Adventurer. Cannibal. Co-founder of the Hudson's Bay Company.Known to some as the first European to explore the upper...

Ottawa has become a place where the nation’s business is done in secret, and access to information?the lifeblood of democracy in Canada?is under attak.It’s being lost to an army of lobbyists and public-relations flacks who help set the political agenda and decide what you get to know. It’s losing its struggle against a prime minister and a government that continue to delegitimize the media’s role in the political system. The public’s right to know has been undermined by a governmen...

Ottawa has become a place where the nation’s business is done in secret, and access to information?the lifeblood of democracy in Canada?is under attak.It’s being lost to an army of lobbyists and public-relations flacks who help set the political agenda and decide what you get to know. It’s losing its struggle against a prime minister and a government that continue to delegitimize the media’s role in the political system. The public’s right to know has been undermined by a governmen...