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Last-minute gift ideas: indie booksellers hand-pick historical non-fiction

Every fall, independent booksellers and publishers work together to promote a range of new titles published in Canada and internationally. Books for Everybody is a hand-picked selection of books for all interests, including young readers. Here are some highlights from the catalogues that provide great last-minute ideas for gifts and stocking stuffers.

 

The Battle of London: Trudeau, Thatcher, and the Fight for Canada’s Constitution
Frédéric Bastien
(Dundurn Press)

This riveting history describes how Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Thatcher entered one of history’s most unlikely marriages of convenience in order to repatriate the Canadian Constitution.
$32.99 pa, 20 b&w illus. 528 pp. 978-1-45972-329-0

 

Closing Time
Daniel Francis
(Douglas & McIntyre)

The leading popular historian’s fascinating chronicle of Prohibition in Canada details an age of larceny and violence involving rum-runners, bootleggers, and gangsters.
$39.95 cl, 180 b&w & colour photos, 186 pp. 978-1-77162-037-6

 

The Elusive Mr. Pond
Barry Gough
(Douglas & McIntyre)

An absorbing biography that uncovers the shadowy life of the fur trader, soldier and pioneering explorer whose extraordinary exploits helped open the Northwest and shape our modern world.
$34.95 cl, 20 b&w maps & illus. 272 pp. 978-1-77162-039-0

 

Forgotten Victory: First Canadian Army and the Cruel Winter of 1944–45 Mark Zuehlke (Douglas & McIntyre)

Forgotten Victory: First Canadian Army and the Cruel Winter of 1944–45
Mark Zuehlke
(Douglas & McIntyre)

The often-forgotten story of the First Canadian Army’s grueling attack against the Rhineland, which paved the way for an Allied victory in Europe during World War II.
$37.95 cl, b&w illus. & maps, 416 pp. 978-1-77162-041-3

 

The Great Escape: The True Story
Ted Barris
(Dundurn Press)

A unique retelling of the iconic story told through the first-hand recollections of the Canadian POWS who experienced it.
$24.99 pa, 50 b&w photos, 320 pp. 978 1-45972-844-8

 

Part unconventional history, part philosophical inquiry, part memoir-travelogue, Michael Winter tells the story of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in this affecting work of nonfiction. Literally walking in the soldiers’ footsteps, he sheds a new light on the political and social reverberations of the Battle of the Somme still felt today.
$32.00 cl, 336 pp. 978-0-385-67785-1

Find participating bookstores in your community here or at http://www.findabookstore.ca/.