To many journalists, the perfect interview seems more like luck than skill, but it's actually the result of careful planning and good habits. Let Dean Nelson show you how to nail it every time.
Discursive works
- Author:Nelson, DeanSummary:
- Author:Summary:
A collection of significant speeches by those who held the reins of power, and those who didn't, at significant times in American history. Hear the original words, sometimes abridged and sometimes in their entirety, that have shaped our cultural fabric. Introductions by acclaimed writer Tonya Bolden provide historical context and critical insights to the meaning and impact of every speech.
- Author:Schofield, P.Summary:
The Story of Dunbar: Voices of a Vancouver Neighbourhood draws on interviews with more than 350 local residents, including recent arrivals, descendants of pioneer settlers and the aboriginal inhabitants. Their personal accounts are woven together with information from diaries, records in the City of Vancouver Archives and carefully chosen published sources to form twelve chapters that explore different aspects of community life. The arts, churches and schools, how people shopped and how they got around, where they lived and relaxed are all described. This is a story of the past century—from the settlement of the West to the development of a modern world-class city—brought to life through the experiences of people living in the neighbourhood of Dunbar. Includes over 240 b&w photos "The Story of Dunbar is a wonderful effort by a community to capture its own history and has set the standard for all others to follow." —John Atkin, co-author of Heritage Walks Around Vancouver
- Author:Berg, ElizabethSummary:
Still Happy is Elizabeth's second collection of Facebook posts. Her first, Make Someone Happy, did indeed make many people happy, and so, due to popular demand, she has put together a second volume, which includes "The Book of Homer," a tribute to her beloved dog who recently died. Still Happy, like Make Someone Happy, exemplifies Berg's gift, as the Boston Globe said, "in her ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, the remarkable in the everyday."
- Author:Toman, CynthiaSummary:
In Sister Soldiers of the Great War, award-winning author Cynthia Toman recovers the long-lost history of Canada’s first women soldiers – nursing sisters who enlisted as officers with the Canadian Army Medical Corps. The nursing sisters had a mandate to salvage as many sick and wounded men as possible for return to the front lines. Nothing prepared them, however, for the poor living conditions, the scale of the casualties, or the type of wounds they encountered. But their letters and diaries reveal that they were determined to soldier on under all circumstances while still “living as well as possible.”
- Author:Johnston, MikeSummary:
Simply the Best delivers rare insights on success straight from the hearts and minds of winning coaches Scotty Bowman, Marc Crawford, Jacques Demers, Clare Drake, Ken Hitchcock, Mike Keenan, Dave King, George Kingston, Andy Murray, Rodger Neilson, Pat Quinn and Brian Sutter. These world-renowned hockey visionaries, recognized as some of the greatest coaches in the game, talk about what it takes to be a champion and the strategies that have made them successful.
- Author:Gingrich, Newt, Krugman, Paul, Laffer, Arthur, Papandreou, GeorgeSummary:
As middle-class incomes stagnate in advanced economies while the rich experience record income gains, the eleventh semi-annual Munk Debate pits wealth redistribution supporters Paul Krugman and George Papandreou against Newt Gingrich and Arthur Laffer to debate taxation — should the rich pay more? For some the answer is obvious: redistribute the wealth of the top income earners who have enjoyed, for almost a generation, the lion’s share of all income gains. Imposing higher taxes on the wealthy is the best way for countries such as Canada to reinvest in their social safety nets, education, and infrastructure while protecting the middle class. Others argue that anemic economic growth, not income inequality, is the real problem facing advanced countries. In a globalized economy, raising taxes on society’s wealth creators leads to capital flight, falling government revenues, and less money for the poor. These same voices contend that lowering taxes on everyone stimulates innovation and investment, fuelling future prosperity. In this edition of the Munk Debates — Canada’s premier international debate series — Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman and former Prime Minster of Greece George Papandreou square off against former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and famed economist Arthur Laffer to debate if the rich should bear the brunt of higher taxes. For the first time ever, this stimulating debate, which will take place in front of a sold-out audience, will be available in print. With advanced countries facing overextended social services, crumbling infrastructure, and sluggish economic growth, the Munk Debate on economic inequality tackles the essential public policy issue: Should we tax the rich more?
- Author:Applebaum, Anne, Cohen, Stephen F., Kasparov, Garry, Pozner, VladimirSummary:
How should the West deal with Putin’s Russia? For the U.S. and some European powers the answer is obvious: isolate Russia with punishing economic sanctions, remove it from global institutions such as the G8, and arm the nations directly threatened by Putin. In short, return to the Cold War doctrine that froze Soviet aggression in Europe and helped bring about the collapse of communist Russia. Others argue that such a policy is a dead end. Putin’s Russia has legitimate grievances against Western and NATO powers meddling in its sphere of influence. Instead of further antagonizing Putin and risking a dangerous escalation of the current conflict, the U.S. and Europe should seek common cause with Russia to address shared threats, from the Middle East to Asia to combatting terrorism. In the fifteenth semi-annual Munk Debate, acclaimed academic Stephen F. Cohen and veteran journalist and bestselling author Vladimir Poznar square off against internationally renowned expert on Russian history Anne Applebaum and Russian-born political dissident Garry Kasparov to debate the future of the West’s relationship with Russia.
- Author:Reid, ElizaSummary:
For the past twelve years, the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report has ranked Iceland number one on its list of countries closing the gap in equality between men and women. What is it about Iceland that makes many women's experience there so positive? Why has their society made such meaningful progress in this ongoing battle, from electing the world's first female president to passing legislation specifically designed to help even the playing field at work and at home? And what can we learn that Icelanders have already discovered about women's powerful place in society and how increased fairness benefits everyone? Eliza Reid--Canadian born and raised, and now first lady of Iceland--examines her adopted homeland's attitude toward women: the deep-seated cultural sense of fairness, the influence of current and historical role models, and, crucially, the areas where Iceland still has room for improvement. Reid's own experience as an immigrant from small-town Canada is expertly interwoven with interviews with dozens of sprakkar ("extraordinary women") to form the backbone of an illuminating discussion of what it means to move through the world as a woman, and how the rules of society play more of a role in who we view as equal than we may understand. Secrets of the Sprakkar is a powerful and atmospheric portrait of a tiny country that could lead the way forward for us all.
- Author:Summary:
Say It Plain is a vivid, moving portrait of how black Americans have sounded the charge against injustice, exhorting the country to live up to its democratic principles. In "full-throated public oratory, the kind that can stir the soul" (Minneapolis Star Tribune), this unique anthology collects the transcribed speeches of the twentieth century's leading African American cultural, literary, and political figures, many of them never before available in printed form. From an 1895 speech by Booker T. Washington to Julian Bond's harp assessment of school segregation on the fiftieth anniversary of Brown v. Board in 2004, the collection captures a powerful tradition of oratory-by political activists, civil rights organizers, celebrities, and religious leaders-going back more than a century. The paperback edition includes the text of each speech along with an introduction placing it in its historical context. Say It Plain is a remarkable historical record-from the back-to-Africa movement to the civil rights era and the rise of black nationalism and beyond-riveting in its power to convey the black freedom struggle.
- Author:Kennedy, Robert F.Summary:
In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Robert Francis Kennedy's death, an inspiring collection of his most famous speeches accompanied by commentary from notable historians and public figures. Twenty-five years after Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, RFK: His Words for Our Times, a celebration of Kennedy's life and legacy, was published to enormous acclaim. Now, a quarter century later, this classic volume has been thoroughly edited and updated. Through his own words we get a direct and intimate perspective on Kennedy's views on civil rights, social justice, the war in Vietnam, foreign policy, the desirability of peace, the need to eliminate poverty, and the role of hope in American politics. Here, too, is evidence of the impact of those he knew and worked with, including his brother John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez, among others. The tightly curated collection also includes commentary about RFK's legacy from major historians and public figures, among them Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Eric Garcetti, William Manchester, Anna Quindlen, Elie Wiesel, and Desmond Tutu. Assembled with the full cooperation of the Kennedy family, RFK: His Words for Our Times is a potent reminder of Robert Kennedy's ability to imagine a greater America-a faith and vision we could use today.
- Author:Begg, AlexanderSummary:
Reporting the Resistance brings together two first-person accounts to give a view “from the ground” of the developments that shocked Canada and created the province of Manitoba. In 1869 and 1870, Begg and Hargrave were regular correspondents for (respectively) the Toronto Globe and the Montreal Herald. While neither man was a committed supporter of the Metis or Louis Riel, each gives a more complex, and more sympathetic, view of the resistance than is commonly expected from the Anglophone community of Red River. They describe, often from very different perspectives, the events of the resistance, as well as give insider accounts of the social and political background. Largely unreprinted until now, this correspondence remains a relatively untapped resource for contemporary views of the resistance. These are the Red River’s own accounts, and are often quite different from the perspective of eastern observers.
- Author:Grant, Patrick, 1941-Summary:
Soon after his death, Vincent van Gogh's reputation grew and developed through the extraordinary symbiosis evident between his paintings and letters. However it is a formidable task to read and analyze Van Gogh's nearly eight hundred letters due to the sheer bulk and complexity of the collection. Reading Vincent van Gogh is at once an interpretive guide to the letters and a distillation of Van Gogh's key themes and ideas. This indispensable, synoptic, and interpretive view of the letters as a whole will be equally of interest to scholars and teachers making use of Van Gogh's letters as it will be to those who have long been fascinated by the artist. This is the third book by Patrick Grant on the letters of Vincent van Gogh. It builds on his previous work in The Letters of Vincent van Gogh (2014), a practical-critical study, and "My Own Portrait in Writing" (2015), a literary theoretical analysis that draws on the domain of modern literary studies. In the hands of Patrick Grant, the extraordinary literary achievements of Vincent van Gogh are explained and exemplified and claims that the well-known artist was also a great writer are confirmed
- Author:Grant, PatrickSummary:
Soon after his death, Vincent van Gogh’s reputation grew and developed through the remarkably symbiotic relationship evident between his paintings and letters. However, the sheer bulk and complexity of Van Gogh’s complete surviving correspondence presents a formidable challenge to those who wish to read and analyze the whole text as a literary work. Reading Vincent van Gogh is at once an interpretive guide to Van Gogh’s letters and a distillation of the key themes that reoccur throughout his collected letters—foremost among them the motifs of suffering, love, imagination, and the ineffable. In this indispensable, synoptic view of the letters, Patrick Grant makes the main lines of Vincent van Gogh’s thinking accessible and displays the arresting vividness of the well-known artist’s writing.
- Author:Wachtel, EleanorSummary:
A great conversation can offer insight into the hearts and minds of its participants. In this intimate, wide-ranging collection of conversations (and some correspondence), writer-broadcaster Eleanor Wachtel and her friend, author Carol Shields, touch on both the personal and the professional. Eleanor Wachtel first met Carol Shields in 1980; her first interview with Carol occurred in 1987, following the publication of Swann: A Mystery. They soon became friends, embarking on a correspnodence and conversations that would last her almost two decades. In this illuminating book, Eleanor Wachtel brings together her rich collection of interviews with Carol from that first occasion to Shields's death in 2003. Disarmingly direct, Carol Shields talks about her writing, language and consciousness, and her interest in "redeeming the lives of lost or vanished women," all the while touching on topics as diverse as feminism, raising children, the metaphorical search for a home, and the joys and griefs of everyday life. Carol Shields is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Stone Diaries. She also won the Governor General's Award for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction, the Orange Prize, and numerous other awards. She was twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
- Author:Lessing, DorisSummary:
In her 1985 CBC Massey Lectures Doris Lessing addresses the question of personal freedom and individual responsibility in a world increasingly prone to political rhetoric, mass emotions, and inherited structures of unquestioned belief. The Nobel Prize-winning author of more than thirty books, Doris Lessing is one of our most challenging and important writers.
- Author:Dyson, Michael Eric, Goldberg, Michelle, Fry, Stephen, Peterson, Jordan, Griffiths, RudyardSummary:
"You're telling me I'm being sensitive, and students looking for safe spaces that they're being hypersensitive. If you're white, this country is one giant safe space." - Michael Eric Dyson. Is political correctness an enemy of free speech, open debate, and the free exchange of ideas? Or, by confronting head-on the dominant power relationships and social norms that exclude marginalized groups are we creating a more equitable and just society? For some the argument is clear. Political correctness is stifling the free and open debate that fuels our democracy. It is also needlessly dividing one group from another and promoting social conflict. Others insist that creating public spaces and norms that give voice to previously marginalized groups broadens the scope of free speech. The drive towards inclusion over exclusion is essential to creating healthy, diverse societies in an era of rapid social change. The twenty-second semi-annual Munk Debate, held on May 18, 2018, pits acclaimed journalist, professor, and ordained minister Michael Eric Dyson and New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg against renowned actor and writer Stephen Fry and University of Toronto professor and author Jordan Peterson to debate the implications of political correctness and freedom of speech.
- Author:Comeau, JoeySummary:
A collection of bitterly hilarious job application letters.
Applying for a job is stupid. It is a demeaning, humiliating exercise in learning to grovel in front of faceless strangers. Everyone who has ever sent a job application letter has felt the urge, the temptation to say what they really think. To say something completely insane, or to be brutally honest. With 2007’s Overqualified, Joey Comeau acted on those urges and delivered a book collecting his cover letters. “It’s sad and fragmented and, in places, funny,” the L.A. Times said. But even after the dozens of insane, hilarious, and sometimes strangely sad job application letters, he still didn’t get the job. So he’s at it again. A person needs to work, you know? But he’s had to step things up a bit. Were the letters not insane enough? Was he not sad or stupid enough? Did he not threaten to bite as many CEOs as he should have? There’s only one way to find out: OVERQUALIFIEDER.
- Author:Thompson, StephenSummary:
NPR celebrates the joyful, inspiring and downright delicious culture of food. Featuring interviews with celebrity chefs (Julia Child, Paul Prudhomme, Jacques Pepin, Charlie Trotter, Rick Bayless and others) and famous foodies (Ruth Reichl, Kitchen Sisters, Maya Angelou, Dana Goodyear, Alton Brown of the Food Network's Good Eats and more). A veritable feast of unique and rewarding food stories, eating experiences and cooking insights that will capture the imaginations - and whet appetites - of food lovers everywhere. Featuring: Julia Child: An American, Forever In Paris; How Russia's Shared Kitchens Helped Shape Soviet Politics; Foodie Wannabe? Here's How To Fake It; Arab Israeli Celebrity Chef Aims To Foster Peace Through Cooking; The Banh Mi Handbook: A Guide To A Viet-French Sandwich; Ruth Reichl: Dining In Disguise And Going 'Gourmet'; Original Local: Thanksgiving Recipes from the first Americans andnd many more!
- Author:Boochani, BehrouzSummary:
Winner of Australia’s richest literary award, No Friend but the Mountains is Kurdish-Iranian journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani’s account of his detainment on Australia’s notorious Manus Island prison. Composed entirely by text message, this work represents the harrowing experience of stateless and imprisoned refugees and migrants around the world.
In 2013, Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani was illegally detained on Manus Island, a refugee detention centre off the coast of Australia. He has been there ever since. This book is the result. Laboriously tapped out on a mobile phone and translated from the Farsi.
It is a voice of witness, an act of survival. A lyric first-hand account. A cry of resistance. A vivid portrait of five years of incarceration and exile. Winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature, No Friend but the Mountains is an extraordinary account — one that is disturbingly representative of the experience of the many stateless and imprisoned refugees and migrants around the world.
“Our government jailed his body, but his soul remained that of a free man.” — From the Foreword by Man Booker Prize–winning author Richard Flanagan