The First World War followed a period of sustained peace in Europe during which people talked with confidence of prosperity, progress, and hope. But in 1914, Europe walked into a catastrophic conflict that killed millions, bled its economies dry, shook empires and societies to pieces, and fatally undermined Europes dominance of the world. It was a war that could have been avoided up to the last momentso why did it happen?
Margaret MacMillan is the renowned author of Women of the Raj and Stephen Leacock (Extraordinary Canadians series), and the international bestsellers Nixon in China and Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, which won the 2003 Governor Generals Award and the 2002 Samuel Johnson Prize. She is also the author of The Uses and Abuses of History. The past provost of Trinity College at the University of Toronto, she is now the warden of St. Antonys College at Oxford University.
The Right to Be Cold is a human story of resilience, commitment, and survival told from the unique vantage point of an Inuk woman who, in spite of many obstacles, rose from humble beginnings in the Arctic community of Kuujjuaq, Quebecwhere she was raised by a single parent and grandmother and travelled by dog team in a traditional, ice-based Inuit hunting cultureto become one of the most influential and decorated environmental, cultural, and human rights advocates in the world.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier is one of the world’s most recognized environmental and human rights activists. Experienced in working with global decision makers for over a decade, Watt-Cloutier offers a new model for twenty-first-century leadership. She treats the issues of our day—the environment, the economy, foreign policy, global health, and sustainability—not as separate concerns, but as a deeply interconnected whole. In 2007, Watt-Cloutier was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy work in showing the impact global climate change has on human rights, especially in the Arctic, where it is felt more immediately and more dramatically than anywhere else in the world.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, the price of gold has skyrocketed from around $800 an ounce in August of that year to a peak of about $1700 an ounce. Fortunes have been made, and this has kicked off an unprecedented gold-mining and prospecting boom around the world. From armed illegal miners holed up in South African mineswhere theft is estimated at $1 billion a yearto the hugely successful workings of Canadas Barrick Gold to Chinas determined efforts to become a major gold player, Matthew Hart takes readers on a journey around the world and through history to tell the story of how gold became the worlds most precious commodity. He highlights its dramatic, tempestuous history and the behind-the-scenes intrigue of the current boom. The controversial rollercoaster narrative reveals what experts are saying about the profound changes underway in the gold market and the outlook for the future.
Matthew Hart is a veteran journalist and writer. He has written documentary film scripts for the CBC, CTV, and IMAX, and is a distinguished magazine columnist and feature writer. His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Saturday Night, Toronto Life, and The Financial Post Magazine. He was a contributing editor of Canadian Art, and for three years wrote the popular back-page humour column for The Globe and Mail's Toronto magazine. The Irish Game: A True History of Crime and Art is his fourth non-fiction book. Matthew currently lives in London, England.
