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Category: Current Affairs
28 New Rep Picks For Spring 2019
by Brooke
Animals & Nature + Biography & Memoir + Current Affairs + Fiction + Mysteries and Thrillers + Science Fiction and Fantasy + Food & Drink + Health & Wellness + History + Kids + Music + Parenting + Picture Books + Psychology & Self-Help + Travel + YA Fiction / February 21, 2019
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Spring is coming right around the corner, and to celebrate the new season, here are some fantastic book recommendations from our sales reps! Happy reading!
Books for Adults
The Collected Schizophrenias
by Esmé Weijun Wang
"This book is a fascinating exploration of mental illness, from an author who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Wang’s essays are both touchingly personal and a journey through the history of mental illness and its diagnosis. Intimate, empathetic, and full of insight, this book is a must read!"
—Ali Hewitt
Women Rowing North
by Mary Pipher
"In Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher helped generations of girls and their parents navigate the choppy waters of adolescence. In Women Rowing North, she is examining the challenges and cultural issues women face as they age and offers a guide to wisdom, authenticity and bliss. There is a huge market of women looking for advice and support and Pipher is perfectly placed to offer it."
—Judy Parker
A Deadly Divide 
by Ausma Zehanat Khan
"In this gripping new mystery, Detectives Khattak and Getty investigate a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City that looks like a hate crime."
—Laureen Cusack
The Little Island Bake Shop
by Jana Roerick
"I love Jana’s baking and am so happy to have her recipes!!!"
—Saffron Beckwith
Queen Bey
by Veronica Chambers
"In addition to being a record-breaking artist, Beyonce is a business woman, mother, daughter, sister, wife, black feminist and most importantly, one of the greatest stars of our time."
—Jessica Price
Rupture
by Ragnar Jonasson
"Fourth in Ragnar Jonasson’s Icelandic thriller series, starring detective Ari Thor. If you are fan of Nordic Noir, or not, read this dark atmospheric mystery, packed with fabulous scenery, quirky characters and a strong plot-driven story."
—Karen Stacey
Kid Gloves
by Lucy Knisley
"I really “relished” Lucy’s first book about her lifelong relationship with food and I can’t wait for her new graphic memoir about her difficulties conceiving and being pregnant. Lucy has been hyping this book’s “birth” with forty weeks of fun pregnancy facts on her Instagram, amidst (spoiler alert) photos of her super cute son!"
—Dani Farmer
She Explores
by Gale Straub
"In a time when people are choosing to spend money on travel and experiences over accumulating stuff, this book is perfect. Gorgeous travel photography with women’s personal stories of adventure and reflection—this book is the next best thing to actually spending time in the wild."
—Evette Sintichakis
Why You Like It
by Nolan Gasser
"This book explores the science and sociology behind why we fancy the sounds of our favourite musical artists. I love so many genres of music—what does that say about me?!"
—Laurie Martella
The Future Is Feminist
Edited by Mallory Farrugia
"Who run the world? FEMINISTS! A collection of brilliant essays by beloved feminist icons in one beautiful package. The perfect book for feminists of all ages."
—Laura MacDonald
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions
Third Edition
by Gloria Steinem, foreword by Emma Watson
"Gloria Steinem’s timeless collection of feminist essays is back in a third edition with a new foreword by Emma Watson and new preface by Gloria Steinem herself! A worthy and essential addition to any feminist collection."
—Jenny Enriquez
Upon A Burning Throne
by Ashok K. Banker
"Ashok K. Banker, while not as well known in the West, is the founder of Indian fantasy fiction, similar to what Tolkien was for European literature. He has written more than 52 books, and has gained international following. Upon a Burning Throne is his latest title, featuring diverse characters, relentless action and an ongoing mystery sure to please all fantasy readers!"
—Louis-Marc Simard
Freedom from Anxious Thoughts and Feelings
by Scott Symington, PhD
"Anxiety is the most common mental health issue in Canada today, so any and all help is necessary! In Freedom from Anxious Thoughts and Feelings, Scott Symington introduces an incredibly simple concept to help us all redirect our thoughts back to what is happening in the present moment and move away from a life where we are ruled by our worries. Because everybody needs help sometimes."
—Morgen Young
Books for Kids
Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug
By Jonathan Stutzman, illustrated by Jay Fleck
"It’s tough to give your friends hugs when your arms are so small, but Tiny T. Rex must find a way! This adorable picture book is the start of a new series starring this lovable dinosaur. I dare you not to fall in love with the plucky and charming Tiny T. Rex. I DARE YOU."
—Jenny Enriquez
A Friend for Henry
by Jenn Bailey, illustrated by Mika Song
"A Friend for Henry is a beautifully illustrated picture book told from the point of view of a child on the autism spectrum. The author gives us insight into Henry’s perspective, modeled after one of her sons on the spectrum. The touching and positive story will touch everyone’s hearts, children and adults alike!"
—Louis-Marc Simard
Voices
by David Elliott
"An extraordinary retelling and exploration of how Joan of Arc changed the course of history! In this age of the Throne of Glass, Divergent and the Hunger Games series, what better time to reintroduce the original kick ass female heroine? A novel told in verse, Voices is also perfect for fans of The Song of Achilles and Circe. Sure to be a hit with readers of teen fiction as well as teachers and librarians."
— Morgen Young
Comics Will Break Your Heart
by Faith Erin Hicks
"A sweet, funny contemporary teen romance for the inner geek in all of us."
— Saffron Beckwith
Fox & Chick: The Quiet Boat Ride
by Sergio Ruzzier
"In the classic canon of buddy books, Fox and Chick set out on a boating adventure—one an enthusiastic sailor and the other a landlubber who hates to miss out on any adventure. Told in three parts this hybrid of an early reader and picture book, illustrated in a comic book style, will be a hit for emerging and reluctant readers alike."
—Lorna MacDonald
The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane
by Julia Nobel
"Emmy’s time at a prestigious boarding school uncovers a secret society that may have played a part in her father’s disappearance."
—Laureen Cusack
The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost, illustrated by Vivian Mineker
"Robert Frost’s beloved poem is as thought-provoking and beautiful as ever in this picture book! The imaginative interpretation of the classic poem will speak to readers of all ages. This would make a great gift to anyone facing one of life’s many transitions."
—Evette Sintichakis
The Similars
by Rebecca Hanover
"Debut author Rebecca Hanover writes a real page-turner, sci-fi YA novel filled with tension and a thrilling story of six clones who enroll at a prestigious boarding school alongside their originals. Things can only get complicated."
—Laurie Martella
Games on the Go
by Lonely Planet
"Train, plane, boat, car, no matter how you are traveling, these games will keep boredom at bay. A must pack addition for any family trip, big or small!"
—Jessica Price
Fly Girls: Young Readers’ Edition
by Keith O’Brien
"20th century aviation history from the female pilots’ perspective. This is the story of the women pilots who joined the “boys” in the very popular sport of plane racing in the 1920s and ‘30s. A fascinating story of young women determined not to be denied their place in history. Just as Beryl Markham should be read by all young girls, so too should this book. For all those who loved Hidden Figures, here is a story of courageous liberated women ahead of their time."
—Karen Stacey
You Are New
by Lucy Knisley
"Being a new human is hard work! There are so many things to learn and taste and see. Then, just when you think you’ve got a handle on this “being” thing, you grow and there are a bunch of new things to learn! Good thing rhyming text and adorable illustrations from Lucy Knisley are here to provide a guide. Check out the page with the cat-hug… it’s my favourite."
—Dani Farmer
My Brother Otto
by Meg Raby, illustrated by Elisa Pallmer
"A little something for the siblings of the neurodiverse! As the younger sister of someone with developmental delays and disabilities, I would have LOVED a book like this when I was a kid—and I think my parents would have appreciated it too. My sibling does things their own way, maybe I understand them, maybe I don’t, but that’s okay! I love it!!"
—Laura MacDonald
The Little Guys
by Vera Brosgol
"Graphic novelist Vera Brosgol has written another subversively funny picture book. As a graphic novelist, her storytelling ability is stellar and her illustrations are perfectly matched to this story of the rampaging little guys. The message of uniting the community is subtle and doesn’t take away from the fun of the read aloud."
—Judy Parker
Brave Molly
by Brooke Boynton-Hughes
"In this panelled, wordless picture book, our heroine has to defeat the monsters of anxiety that follow her around. After trying to run from the shadowy monsters, Molly bravely confronts her anxiety and makes a friend, with the help of a good book. Author/illustrator Brooke Boynton-Hughes’ drawings do a wonderful job of capturing the fear of rejection, and the joy of a new friend we all feel."
—Ali Hewitt
New Releases: May 2014 Highlights
by Dan
Art & Photography + Current Affairs + Design & Typography + Fiction + Health & Wellness / April 14, 2014
May is a great month to be a reader—there are so many great books coming out! Here's a quick look at just a few some of our new titles releasing next month.
FICTION
Historical Fiction
Liz Trenow
Page-turning and heartbreaking, The Forgotten Seamstress weaves together past and present in an unforgettable journey.
Before World War I casts its shadow, Maria catches the eye of the Prince of Wales, a glamorous and intense gentleman. But her life takes a far darker turn, and soon all she has left is a fantastical story about her time at Buckingham Palace.
Decades later, Caroline Meadows discovers a beautiful quilt in her mother's attic. When she embarks on a quest to reveal its mystery, the puzzle that only seems to grow.
Available May 13
"this is a page-turner with eye-opening details about the conditions of mental hospitals in the 20th century, as well as the provenance of royal fabrics, the art of quilting, and the vagaries of modern interior design."—Publishers Weekly
"Trenow meticulously stitches each piece of this engrossing story into a unified—and heartwarming—whole."—Kirkus Reviews
Short Stories
Kseniya Melnik
A remote Siberian town with a darkly fascinating history teems with life in this luminous linked debut collection.
Weaving in and out of the last half of the twentieth century, Snow in May is an inventive, gorgeously rendered, and touching portrait of lives lived on the periphery where, despite their isolation-and perhaps because of it-the most seemingly insignificant moments can be beautiful, haunting, and effervescent.
Available May 13
"Achingly beautiful, this collection signals a writer to watch."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Melnik tackles tragic subject matter while dramatizing daily struggles, giving equal weight to both. With dry humor and detailed description, Melnik creates a historically enlightening time capsule of an unfamiliar world."—Publishers Weekly
Literary Fiction
Edward St. Aubyn
Edward St. Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose novels were some of the most celebrated works of fiction of the past decade. Ecstatic praise came from a wide range of admirers, from literary superstars such as Zadie Smith, Francine Prose, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Michael Chabon to pop-culture icons such as Anthony Bourdain and January Jones. Now St. Aubyn returns with a hilariously smart send-up of a certain major British literary award.
Available May 20
Science Fiction
Jo Walton
The new novel from the author of the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning Among Others is a powerful tale of one woman with two lives.
It's 2015, and Patricia Cowan is very old. "Confused today," read the notes clipped to the end of her bed. She forgets things she should know. But she remembers things that don't seem possible.
Two lives, two worlds, two versions of modern history; each with their loves and losses, their sorrows and triumphs. Jo Walton's My Real Children is the tale of both of Patricia Cowan's lives… and of how every life means the entire world.​
Available May 20
"My Real Children is the rarest sort of novel – one that transcends genre. It is a book that, one surmises, will be eagerly reread as the years pass."—Quill & Quire (starred review)
"a deeply poignant, richly imagined book about women’s lives in 20th- and 21st-century England, and, in a broader sense, about the lives of all those who are pushed to the margins of history: the disabled, the disenfranchised, the queer, the lower middle class."—Publishers Weekly
Literary Fiction
A Novel of Shakespeare's Dark Lady
Sally O'Reilly
A tale of sorcery and passion in seventeenth-century London—where witches haunt William Shakespeare and his Dark Lady, the playwrights’s muse and one true love.
In rich, vivid detail, Sally O’Reilly breathes life into England’s first female poet, a mysterious woman nearly forgotten by history. Full of passion and devilish schemes, Dark Aemilia is a tale worthy of the Bard.
Available May 27
"First-rate historical fiction: marvelously atmospheric and emotionally engaging."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"a lush what-if about the Dark Lady of Shakespeare’s sonnets that mesmerizes with its descriptions of the Bard’s London from 1592 to 1616, the year of his death."—Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
Family & Relationships / Parenting
A Parent's Guide to Getting Your Kids to Cooperate Without Losing Your Cool
Rona Renner (foreword by Christine Carter)
Being a parent is hard work! And when your child refuses to do even the little things—like picking up their toys, taking a bath, or getting in the car to go to school—it's easy to become frustrated. But what if there was a gentle, effective way for you to improve your kid's behaviour without losing your cool or raising your voice? In Is That Me Yelling? leading authority on parenting, Rona Renner outlines effective communication strategies that focus on your child's unique temperament.
Available May 1
New Series from Laurence King
Art History
Catherine Ingram & illustrated by Andrew Rae
This book penetrates the surface and explores Andy Warhol's art from his beginnings as a commercial artist to his apotheosis as a society portrait painter. Vivid illustrations reveal Andy's worlds: his childhood in Pittsburgh, his chaotic Manhattan mansion, and the Silver Factory, where New York's bright new things hung out and had fun.
Catherine Ingram & illustrated by Andrew Rae
This is Dali tells the story of the artist's life and explores the meaning of his Surrealist paintings. It goes beyond his fine art practice and discusses his venture into the commercial world. Surrealism is revealed as a way of life. Fun, provoking, and endlessly frustrating, Dalí is brought under the spotlight.
Catherine Ingram & illustrated by Andrew Rae
Pollock's iconic paintings stretch out with the generosity and scale of America's Western landscape where the artist grew up. This book traces the artist's career and discusses how his loose, individual style was used as a political weapon in the Cold War, representing America as the free, democratic nation. Illustrations simplify the theory and reveal the hidden meaning behind the mesh of painted lines.
Available May 6
Art History
The Supermodel and the Brillo Box
Back Stories and Peculiar Economics from the World of Contemporary Art
Don Thompson
A look at the contemporary art market and the economics and psychology that first produced a market crash, and then two years later resulted in astronomical prices. The Supermodel and the Brillo Box looks at the increasing dominance of Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and a few über dealers; the hundreds of millions of new museums coming up in cities like Dubai, Abu Dabai, and Beijing; the growing importance of the digital art world; and the shrinking role of the mainstream gallery.
Available May 6
NEW IN PAPERBACK
Body, Mind & Spirit
Heal Your Body with Medicine, Affirmations, and Intuition
Louise Hay and Mona Lisa Schulz
Best-selling authors Louise L. Hay and Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz have teamed up for an exciting reexamination of the quintessential teachings from Heal Your Body.
All Is Well brings together Louise's proven affirmation system with Mona Lisa's knowledge of both medical science and the body's intuition to create an easy-to-follow guide for health and well-being. And, for the first time ever, they present scientific evidence showing the undeniable link between the mind and body that makes these healing methods work.
Available May 6
Comics & Graphic Novels / Nonfiction
Life and Legend
Box Brown
Andre Roussimoff is known as both the lovable giant in The Princess Bride and a heroic pro-wrestling figure.
Box Brown brings his great talents as a cartoonist and biographer to this phenomenal new graphic novel. Drawing from historical records about Andre's life as well as a wealth of anecdotes from his colleagues in the wrestling world, Brown has created in Andre the Giant, the first substantive biography of one of the twentieth century's most recognizable figures.
Available May 6
"A labor-of-love tribute, exquisitely rendered, to the larger-than-life wrestling giant."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"It’s the sort of book that I knocked out in one sitting, and it lived up to every hope I had for it. It’s not just one of my favorite graphic novels of the year, but it’s also one of my favorite comic biographies of all time."—Comics Alliance
Art / History
Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
Evan Osnos
A vibrant, colorful, and revelatory inner history of China during a moment of profound transformation.
Writing with great narrative verve and a keen sense of irony, Evan Osnos, Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, follows the moving stories of everyday people and reveals life in the new China to be a battleground between aspiration and authoritarianism, in which only one can prevail.
Available May 13
"Osnos combines scintillating reportage with an eye for telling ironies that illuminate broader trends; without downplaying the uniqueness of Chinese society, he makes its tensions feel achingly familiar for Western readers."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Family & Relationships / Parenting
This is Ridiculous This is Amazing
Parenthood in 71 Lists
Jason Good
Blogging sensation and family man Jason Good delivers a laugh-out-loud reminder that everything is easier and more fun when approached with a sense of humour—especially parenting. Sweet, sincere, and oh-so-true, this is the ideal gift for parents who could use a laugh. And isn't that every single one of us?
Available May 13
Design
A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Developers, and Students
Ellen Lupton and Maryland Institute College of Art
The long awaited follow-up to Thinking with Type is here! Type on Screen is the definitive guide to using classic typographic concepts of form and structure to make dynamic compositions for screen-based applications. An essential design tool for anyone seeking clear and focused guidance about typography for the digital age.
Available May 13
Take a look at a preview of next month's new releases for kids, middle grade, and teens.
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New Releases: March 2014 Highlights
by Dan
Biography & Memoir + Current Affairs + Fiction + Mysteries and Thrillers + Science Fiction and Fantasy + Humour / February 25, 2014
Oh my! There are so many brilliant books coming in out in March! Here's what's hot in fiction, nonfiction, and humour. Make sure you also take a look at our list of new releases for kids and young adults on our Kids & Teen Blog.
FICTION
LA Philip Marlowe Novel
Benjamin Black
Only Benjamin Black, a modern master of the genre, could write a new Philip Marlowe novel that has all the panache and charm of Raymond Chandler's originals while delivering a story that is as sharp and fresh as today's best crime fiction.
Available March 4
The Clifton Chronicles #4
Jeffrey Archer
Be Careful What You Wish For showcases Jeffrey Archer's storytelling talents as never before—when the Clifton and Barrington families march forward into the sixties, in this epic tale of love, revenge, ambition and betrayal.
Available March 11
Nickolas Butler
Welcome to Little Wing.
It's a place like hundreds of others, nothing special, really. But for four friends - all born and raised in this small Wisconsin town - it is home. And now they are men, coming into their own, or struggling to do so.
Shotgun Lovesongs is that rare work of fiction that evokes a specific time and place yet movingly describes the universal human condition.
Available March 11
Olen Steinhauer
Espionage master and New York Times bestseller Olen Steinhauer returns with a brilliant international thriller about the aftermath of a diplomat's assassination and his wife's relentless investigation.
Available March 18
Jane Green
From the New York Times bestselling author of such beloved novels as Another Piece of My Heart and Family Pictures comes an enthralling and emotional story about how much we really understand the temptations that can threaten even the most idyllic of relationships…
Available March 25
Karl Schroeder
When seventeen-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he’s orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when Toby wakes again, he’s surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy, and something stranger still—that he’s been asleep for 14,000 years. Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation.
Available March 25
Paula Brackston
From Paula Brackston, the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch's Daughter and The Winter Witch, comes a magical tale that is as dark as it is enchanting. Set in high society Edwardian England, a young witch faces the choice between love and loyalty to her coven…
Available March 25
NONFICTION
New in Paperback!
An Inner History of the New America
George Packer
Available in paperback for the first time, The Unwinding is a critically acclaimed examination of a nation in crisis by one of the finest political journalists of our generation, George Packer.
Available March 4
How a Tiny Greek Island Stole My Heart
Jennifer Barclay
Finding happiness in spanakopita and the sea, set in a dreamy Mediterranean landscape.
Available March 4
Pictures from Her Life in the City
Edited by Bridget Watson Payne
As familiar as we are with images of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the charming former first lady, fewer know the dynamic woman who called New York City home. Shortly after JFK's assassination in 1964, Jackie moved to Manhattan and lived there for the next three decades. This intimate collection of photographs celebrates her life in the city as a mother, book editor, style icon, and most of all, a New Yorker.
Available March 11
Everything I Ever Needed to Know About _____* I Learned from Monty Python
*History, Art, Poetry, Communism, Philosophy, the Media, Birth, Death, Religion, Literature, Latin, Transvestites, Botany, the French, Class Systems, Mythology, Fish Slapping, and Many More!
Brian Cogan and Jeff Massey
A comprehensive and hilarious guide to understanding the many Monty Python jokes and allusions.
Available March 18
How About Never – Is Never Good For You?
My Life in Cartoons
Bob Mankoff
A memoir in cartoons by the long-time cartoon editor of The New Yorker Bob Mankoff.
Available March 25
HUMOUR
And Other Observations from Parenthood
Jeffrey Brown
The bestselling author of Darth Vader and Son and Vader's Little Princess brings his witty comic observations to terrestrial parenting in this perceptive book celebrating the more surreal moments of raising a child.
Available March 18
Even More of the Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers
Richard Benson
From the same hilarious wellspring of failure as the bestselling F in Exams and F for Effort comes this all-new collection of inventively wrong-yet totally real-test responses by students who don't know the answer, but come up with something better instead.
Available March 18
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fiction humour new releases nonfiction
My Favourite Books of 2013, Megan Radford
by Megan
Current Affairs / December 18, 2013
Let me preface this by saying that I adore YA novels, dystopian in particular. Yes, YA dystopia—fiction for teens. Which I suppose makes my choice of The Unwinding as my favourite book of the year an odd one.
But the current spate of Young Adult dystopia is a reflection of some deep and troubling undercurrents that run through our social fabric and show little sign of abating. To truly understand fiction, you need on some level to understand its contemporary roots; right now that lies in a suffocating sense of anomie, and a need to examine catalysts of that fragmentation of social values and identity. It’s easy to forget that the roots of the seemingly far-fetched dystopias readers like me devour often lead right back to our own feet.
There are so many books this year that I loved, but none has so unsettled and challenged me as The Unwinding. It sits in the corner of my bedroom in a pile of its own, as if relegated to the corner for the bad behavior of hitting where it hurts, cast out from the teetering stacks of ARCs that have made my apartment a fire hazard.
The Unwinding is an immensely personal and unflinching look at the unravelling of the so-called American Dream: the need for constant growth and improvement, development without reflection, and money without a soul. If you feel that the American flag on the cover of the book and its American overtones make it exclusionary, think again.
This is not a story about Democrats versus Republicans, but rather a story about the nostalgic myth of the small community, the small business, and the reality of more and more people living separate from wealth and purpose, the chasm yawning ever wider between reality and representation.
The son of a born-again, failed tobacco farmer; a young black woman, daughter to a heroin addict, growing up in the rust belt; an idealistic aide to then Senator Joe Biden, who discovers that the purpose and sense of belonging he’s always sought lies not in politics but in lobbying. The billionaire founder of PayPal, who by all means has snared a version of this elusive dream, but with it the sharp edges of a life with hidden shrapnel—nothing overt, but an uncomfortable whiplash and constant motion. I vividly recall dreams where I’m behind the wheel in a car without brakes, always going faster and faster, my insides calcifying into solid clumps of fear, then dissolving from the speed. These are the people Packer allows to tell their stories. Their successes and their failures, the loneliness that comes with individualism’s victories as well as its losses.
There is an unsettling loneliness inherent in the stories Packer tells—the feeling that each of his characters is fighting to emerge from a shadow into a startlingly bright dream that has been promised but remains out of reach, the way a recent dream flickers on the edge of consciousness, just beyond the edges of rational thought.
This is a book whose stories will sneak beneath your skin and settle in; the most unsettling element that the fears and disquiet expressed by the characters are our own, which we seek to hold in check just beneath the surface, lest they unwind and coil around us.
Megan Radford, Sales & Marketing Assistant
Rose George: Inside the Secret Shipping Industry
by Dan
Current Affairs / December 16, 2013
Almost everything we own and use travels to us by container ship through a vast network of ocean routes and ports that most of us know almost nothing about. Speaking at a recent TED conference in Singapore, Journalist Rose George, author of Ninety Percent of Everything, tours us through the world of shipping, the underpinning of consumer civilization:
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Pity the Billionaire
by Natalia
Current Affairs + Politics / January 12, 2012
Thomas Frank burst onto the political scene back in 2004 with the publication of What's the Matter with Kansas? which, it's fair to say, became one of the iconic political books of the last few years, much discussed and widely reviewed. With the US Republican primaries in full swing and a new book just out on the shelves, Tom is back in the spotlight.
The presidential primaries matter in Canada: with the Liberals floating a proposal for US-style primaries at this week's upcoming convention, following the American primaries is both entertaining and a topical refresher on the politicals of our southern neighbour.
"Thomas Frank is the thinking person’s Michael Moore." -New York Times
"You ought to read this book" -The Huffington Post
"[T]he fact that the right could be furious with anyone but itself is an astonishing story and one that Thomas Frank was born to cover." -The Guardian
Check out Tom's recent appearance on Democracy Now!
Shakespearian conspiracy theories
by Natalia
Current Affairs + Film + History / October 31, 2011
I was pretty excited over the weekend to hear that Roland Emmerich's new movie Anonymous is out. I love me a good Elizabethan costume drama—the clothes, the language, the political intrigue! If you haven't heard of it, the film dramatizes the Oxfordian theory of authorship—the idea that Shakespeare's plays were written by Edward de Vere, the 17th earl of Oxford (who, as various people have pointed out, died several years before the publication of The Tempest).
The film has triggered a positively apoplectic response from the scholarly community; the New Yorker's David Denby calls it a story "so rotten that, as Shakespeare, or, rather, Oxford, might put it, the kites wheel and shriek rather than batten on so foul a carcass."
Personally, I find the authorship question rather silly—I prefer to read the plays for themselves rather than scan them Da Vinci Code-style for hidden clues to their composition. And why fabricate conspiracy theories when so much historically accurate skulduggery exists? If you like your Shakespeare spiced with criminal intrigue yet still backed up by rigorous scholarship, may I suggest:
The Shakespeare Thefts
Stealing the World's Most Famous Book
Click on the cover for more info!
Power: Portraits of World Leaders
by Danielle
Art & Photography + Current Affairs / June 30, 2011
It is undeniable that the worldwide political landscape has seen a good deal of unrest and historic change this year. Award-winning photographer Platon knows that landscape well. He’s photographed world leaders since the fall of 2009 when nearly all heads of state were in New York for a meeting of the United Nations.
Platon’s photographs, Portraits of Power, appeared in the Dec. 7th issue of the New Yorker that year. Many are of icons of our age, such as his image of Gaddafi, which was featured earlier this year on the cover of Time Magazine.
Power, Platon’s new book with Chronicle, provides a comprehensive historical record of our time. It’s a “yearbook” that captures a truly unique moment.
“If you put all of the pictures together,” says Platon, “you get a sense of the global personality of the power system. It allows us to stand back and to start to analyze what happened, who was in control—that is what this book is about.”
You can hear Platon speak about his experiences photographing this amazing roster of world leaders in the video below.
Power features over 100 stunning portraits along with an introduction by New Yorker editor David Remnick. Here are a few I am sure you’ll recognize.
Barack Obama, President, United States
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President, Iran
Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister, Russia
Tony Blair, Prime Minister, United Kingdom May 1997-June 2007
Robert Mugabe, President, Zimbabwe
Special thanks to Patti Quill for this blog posting!
(Marketing and Publicity for Chronicle Books)
And Platon was interview by the BBC. Please take a look at the video linked here and scroll through to approx. 09.08 (just after the weather report from Wimbledon.)
Chester Brown Tour Dates
by Dan
Current Affairs + Graphica / April 13, 2011
Chester Brown's controversial new book Paying For It is published later this month and Chester will be on the road to launch it in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver in May:
TORONTO: Sunday, May 1st at Goodhandy's with Sasha
TORONTO: Saturday & Sunday, May 7th–8th at TCAF
MONTREAL: Saturday, May 14th at Librairie D+Q
VANCOUVER:Wednesday, May 18th at Vancouver Public Library with Lucky's
In Paying For It, Chester Brown calmly lays out the facts of how he became not only a willing participant in but a vocal proponent of one of the world's most hot-button topics—prostitution.
Power
by Dan
Art & Photography + Current Affairs / March 07, 2011
Platon is staff photographer for The New Yorker, and recipient of the prestigious World Press Photo Award and National Magazine Photo Portfolio Award.
In Power, available from Chronicle Books next month, Platon turns his lens on 150 international leaders from across the political spectrum.
Shot over 12-months at the United Nations, the photographs offer an intimate glimpse of the world's most powerful decision-makers.
With text by New Yorker editor and Pulitzer Prize winner David Remnick, the book is a comprehensive historical record of our time and a must-have for anyone interested in world politics.