<p><p>"This could be a great work of fiction. The damndest thing is it's all fact." - Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated</p> <p>It was a time of Prohibition, jazz, and gangland murder, and it was baseball's age of magic, when even Hall of Fame players believed that rubbing the hump of a hunchback guaranteed a hit.</p> <p>Broken and deformed by a childhood fall from a seesaw, Hughie McLoon never grew taller than forty-nine inches but he made himself one of the lucky ones. He was chosen as the batboy and mascot of the Philadelphia Athletics. Although the team finished last in each of the three seasons that the A's rubbed his hump and Hughie tended their bats, he became a local celebrity. He loved the crowds and they loved him back.</p> <p>Graduating from batboy to boxing manager, and running his own speakeasy while serving as a secret agent for the Chief of Police, Hughie was the toast of Philly until one summer night in 1928 he was caught in a murderous crossfire outside his tavern. Twenty-six years old, he bled to death on Cuthbert Street. The next day, 15,000 admirers lined up to see his four-foot corpse. The age of magic was now over.<br /></p> <p>The Short Life of Hughie McLoon is Allen Abel's haunting and stylish biography of the most remarkable and beloved of the baseball mascots, and a new chapter in the complicated mythology of the American dream.<br /></p></p>

The Short Life of Hughie McLoon: A True Story of Baseball, Magic and Murder

Biographies & Memoirs

Abel, Allen

Community & Culture

Sutherland House Books

<p>Few things are more precious in a democratic society than individual freedom, and few things are easier to take for granted. In this timely, provocative essay, Philip Slayton argues that Canada, in ways large and small, is frittering away the liberties on which a free and open society depends. We give too much power to our politicians and unelected judges. We paper over our divisions and stifle voices that challenge conventional wisdom. We tolerate inaction on the most pressing issues of the day. It is time, writes Slayton, for Canadians to throw off their self-imposed chains, to stand up and fight for what we believe in before we lose our ability to do so--a prospect, he warns, that is far more likely than we realize.</p>

Nothing Left to Lose: An Impolite Report on the State of Freedom in Canada

Politics & Social Sciences

Slayton, Philip

Social Sciences

<p>Politicians, legislatures and parliament are widely mistrusted. Canadians do not see their issues and concerns reflected in the priorities of the people elected to serve them. The rise of populism is one symptom of discontent. Others are low voter turnouts and an increasingly vicious public sphere. It is time for Canadians to repair and strengthen their democracy. It is time to Do Something!In this riveting and inspirational book, author and parliamentarian Preston Manning calls on Canadians of all beliefs and allegiances to renew their nation's democracy and the ideas, processes, and institutions that support it. Drawing on a lifetime of public service, he offers 365 practical ways that people can get involved and make a difference, in their communities and on the national stage."There is an old saying," writes Manning, "that a Canadian optimist is someone who believes things could be worse. But I am an optimist who believes the future can be better if enough of us resolve to make it so."</p>

Do Something!: 365 Ways You Can Strengthen Canada

Manning, Preston

Politics & Government

<p><p>"A welcome new bright spot in the vast literature of World War II." - DAVID SHRIBMAN</p> <p>The relationship between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt was among the most momentous - and mysterious - in history. The story of how these fiercely independent leaders worked together to defeat Hitler's Germany has been divined mainly from their cautious letters and the comments of staffers. Meanwhile, the detailed record of their fellow head of government, Canadian Prime Minister William L. Mackenzie King, who knew each of them better than they knew each other, has been largely overlooked.<br /></p> <p>A sublime diplomat, King was determined, as leader of the largest British Dominion and America's closest neighbour, to serve as a lynchpin between the great powers. Churchill and Roosevelt both came to rely upon him as their next most important ally, routinely confiding in him and never suspecting that he was meticulously recording every word, prayer, slight, and tic from their countless interactions in his voluminous unpublished diary.<br /></p> <p>The Third Man offers us a truly unique look at the personalities, the strategies, and the epic relationship that won WWII.</p></p>

The Third Man: Churchill, Roosevelt, Mackenzie King, and the Untold Friendships that Won WWII

History

Thompson, Neville

Americas

<p><div><b>"A chilling portrait of the ways that abuse can be hidden behind a glittering façade. It's also a compelling story of a woman learning to navigate pain, mental illness, and trauma, until finally becoming an advocate for her own strength and healing."</b> -ELIZABETH RENZETTI, author of <i>Shrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls</i></div> <div><i><br /></i></div> <div>Karen Gosbee had it all: a successful husband, three beautiful children, the homes, the cars, the jewelery, the A-list invitations. Her life looked perfect and as her husband, George, liked to say, appearances are everything. But at the height of his success as an owner of a major American sports franchise, cracks appeared in George's carefully constructed façade.<br /></div> <div><br /></div> <div>Karen could not ignore his increasingly erratic and self-destructive behaviour, which spiralled from affairs and hard-drinking to prostitutes and drug abuse. Nor could she escape his abuse as emotional bullying escalated into dangerous beatings. A Perfect Nightmare is the story of a woman's awakening to the realities of her failing marriage and her desperate struggle - one that would end in headlines and tragedy - to bring herself and her children to safety.</div></p>

A Perfect Nightmare: My Glittering Marriage and How It Almost Cost Me My Life

Gosbee, Karen

<p><div>"Gentlemen! Put your hands together and welcome Cassidy to the stage!"</div> <div><br /></div> <div>It wasn't the life Marci Warhaft envisioned for herself. A good student who had been accepted into a prestigious theatre school, a doting mother with two young sons, and there she was taking it all off in front of paying customers to "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child.<br /></div> <div><br /></div> <div><i>The Good Stripper</i> is an eye-popping journey: Warhaft reveals the punishing circumstances and self-destructive behaviors that shaped her early adulthood, including a bank-robbing stepfather, the loss of her beloved brother, eating disorders, and sexual misadventures during a dysfunctional marriage. She describes, in honest, raw, and intimate detail, her struggles to recognize what was happening to her, and her sometimes misguided fight to regain control of her destiny. Above all, it is the story of how one woman, after years of living a double life, packing school lunches by day and giving lapdances by night, finally became the inspirational leader she was.</div> <div><br /></div> <div><b>Wow! From the first line to the last, I was hooked. A mesmerizing, often shocking memoir for everyone out there who might be afraid to share their own struggles. A powerful and candid read!</b> - REBECCA ECKLER, author of <i>Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-Be</i><br /></div></p>

The Good Stripper: A Soccer Mom's Memoir of Lies, Loss and Lapdances

Warhaft, Marci

Humor & Entertainment

Gardeners vs. Designers: Understanding the Great Fault Line in Canadian Politics

Business & Money

Lee Crowley, Brian

Economics

<p>Alberta is at a crossroads. Its situation in Canadian confederation is unfair. It is unequal. So...what comes next?What westerners ultimately need to decide if the best response to that unfairness and inequality is to leave Canada and the great northwest to carve out a smaller but separate country. Or do we simply need to clearly define what would constitute a genuine Fair Deal, not just for Alberta, but for all Canadians who share our values and perspectives on what this country should be?Moment of Truth is a series of provocative, thoughtful, and timely essays, curated by three of Canada?s most respected and original political thinkers, debating whether we should pursue the little western path of yet another division of the northwest, this time via secession, or march along the big western path aimed at nothing less than fairness for ourselves - and everyone else - through a re-confederation.</p>

Moment of Truth: How to Think About Alberta's Future

Mintz, Jack M.

<p><p>Looney Tunes cartoons, writes celebrated television critic Jaime Weinman, are the high-water mark of American filmed comedy. Surreal, irreverent, philosophical, and riotously funny, they have maintained their power over audiences for generations and inspired such giants of the cinema as Mel Brooks, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas.</p> <p>Here, finally, Weinman gives Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety, Sylvester, and the whole cast of animated icons their long-awaited due. With meticulous research, he takes us inside the Warners' studio to unlock the mystery of how an unlikely band of directors and artists working in the shadow of Walt Disney created a wild, visually stunning and oh-so-violent brand of comedy that has never been matched for sheer volume of laughs. The result is an unexpected and fascinating story that matches the Looney Tunes themselves for energy, humor, and ingenuity.</p></p>

Anvils, Mallets & Dynamite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes

Arts & Photography

Weinman, Jaime

Graphic Design

The Canadian Manifesto

<p><p>"Black's Manifesto reminds us who we were and, therefore, who we are. In doing so, he lays the groundwork for us to consider who we might yet become."<br /> - Jordan Peterson, University of Toronto, Author of 12 Rules for Life</p> <p>WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY THE AUTHOR</p> <p>Chipper, patient, and courteous, Canada has pursued an improbable destiny as a splendid nation of relatively good and ably self-governing people, but most would agree we have not realized our true potential.</p> <p>Canada's main chance, writes Black, is now before it...and it is not in the usual realms of military or economic dominance. With the rest of the West engaged in a sterile left-right tug of war, Canada has the opportunity to lead the world to its next stage of development in the arts of government. By transforming itself into a controlled and sensible public policy laboratory, it can forge new solutions to the problems of welfare, education, health care, foreign policy, and other governmental sectors, and make an enormous contribution to the welfare of mankind.</p> <p>Canada has no excuse not to lead in this field, argues Black, who offers nineteen visionary policy proposals of his own. He claims that this "is the destiny, and the vocation, Canada could have, not in the next century, but in the next five years of imaginative government."</p></p>

The Canadian Manifesto: How One Frozen Country Can Save the World

Black, Conrad

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