Main content

Essays

  • Author:
    Clare, Kerry
    Summary:

    A CNQ Editors' Book of the Year. A Dropped Threads-style anthology, assembling original and inspiring works by some of Canada's best younger female writers — such as Heather Birrell, Saleema Nawaz, Susan Olding, Diana Fitzgerald Bryden, Carrie Snyder, and Alison Pick — The M Word asks everyday women and writers, some of whom are on the unconventional side of motherhood, to share their emotions and tales of maternity. Whether they are stepmothers or mothers who have experienced abortion, infertility, adoption, or struggles with having more or less children, all these writers are women who have faced down motherhood on the other side of the white picket fence. It is time that motherhood opened its gates to include everyone, not just the picture postcard stories. The M Word is a fabulous collection by a talented author and blogger, which is bound to attract readers from all walks of motherhood. The anthology that presents women's lives as they are really lived, probing the intractable connections between motherhood and womanhood with all necessary complexity and contradiction laid out in a glorious tangle. It is a book whose contents themselves are in disagreement, essays rubbing up against one another in uncomfortable ways. There is no synthesis — is motherhood an expansive enterprise, or is motherhood a trap? — except perhaps a general sense that being a mother and not being a mother are each as terrible and wonderful as being alive is. What these essays do show, however, is that in this age of supposed reproductive choice, so many women still don't have the luxury of choosing their mothering story or how it will play out. And those who do exercise choice often still end up contending with judgement or backlash. The essays also make clear that women are not as divided between the mothers and the childless as we might be led to believe. Women's lives are so much more complicated than that. There is mutual ground between the woman who decided to have no more children and the woman who decided to have none at all. A woman with no children also endures a similar kind of scrutiny as the woman who's had many, both of them operating outside of societal norms. A woman who has miscarried longs to be acknowledged for her own beyond-visible mothering experiences, for the baby she held inside her. And while infertility is its own kind of journey, that journey is also just one of so many whose origins lie with the desire for a child.

  • Author:
    Poulton, Rachel
    Summary:

    If you want to know your Socrates from your Sartre and your Confucius from your Kant, strap in for this whirlwind tour of the highlights of philosophy. Including accessible primers on: - The early Ancient Greek philosophers and the "big three": Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle - Key schools of philosophy and their impact on modern life - Insights into the main questions philosophers have explored over the years: Who am I? What is the meaning of life? Do I have free will? - Practical applications for the theories of Descartes, Kant, Wollstonecraft, Marx, Nietzsche, and many more. This illuminating little book will introduce you to the key thinkers, themes, and theories you need to know to understand how human ideas have sculpted the world we live in and the way we think today.

  • Author:
    Carpenter, David
    Summary:

    Saskatchewan's literary history is both colourful and complex. It is also mature enough to deserve a critical investigation of its roots and origins, its salient features and its prominent players. This collection of scholarly essays, conceptualized and compiled by well-known Saskatchewan novelist, essayist and scholar David Carpenter, examines the Saskatchewan literary scene, from its early Aboriginal storytellers on through to the decades to the burgeoning 1970s.

    The dozen essays, preceded by David Carpenter's introduction, include such topics as "Our New Storytellers: Cree Literature in Saskatchewan"; "The Literary Construction of Saskatchewan before 1905: Narratives of Trade, Rebellion and Settlement"; and "The New Generation: The Seventies Remembered". Also included are special topics, among them "Playwriting in Saskatchewan"; "Feral Muse, Angelic Muse - the Poetry of Anne Szumigalski"; and tribute pieces to John V. Hicks, R.D Symons, Terrence Heath and Alex Karras.

    The contributing scholars include Kristina Fagan, Jenny Kerber, Susan Gingell, Ken Mitchell and Martin Winquist.

  • Author:
    Carpenter, David
    Summary:

    Progressions presents another batch of erudite and entertaining essays on a variety of topics covering Saskatchewan's literary development, as well as tributes to some of the major contributors to that history, and a pictorial glimpse into the past.

    Writers stopped using typewriters, and even moved beyond the Kaypro computer box for their compositions. The Saskatchewan School of the Arts was shut down, ending the Fort San writing experience. But the Sage Hill Writing Experience quickly rose to replace it. Saskatchewan literary presses really found their feet and published important and lasting books. A wave of new writers joined the founders of the province's literary tradition. Responding to this growth in the community, the Saskatchewan Book Awards,and the Saskatchewan Festival of Words in Moose Jaw came into being. The Saskatchewan writing community stormed out of the 20th Century in a frenzy of creativity and accomplishment.

    Essay contributors to Volume 2 include Dave Margoshes, Jeanette Lynes, Aritha Van Herk, Alison Calder and seven more. The eleven essays include such topics as "To House or House Not: The New Saskatchewan Women Poets", "Contemporary Nature Writing in Saskatchewan", "Fort San/Sage Hill" and "Brave and Foolish Nonconformists". In addition, literary tributes are offered for: Caroline Heath, Pat Krause, Martha Blum and Max Braithwaite.

  • Author:
    McWhinney, Rik.
    Summary:

    Through poetry, letters, essays, and interviews, The Life Sentences of Rik McWhinney relates the harrowing experiences of a man who spent nearly thirty-five years in the Canadian prison system. Rik McWhinney spent thirty-four years and four months in Canada's federal penitentiaries--sixteen of those in solitary confinement. His incarceration began in the 1970s, as a system-wide war was raging over the implementation of penal reforms. Though he was physically confrontational during the early years of his imprisonment, resulting in his segregation and medical torture, McWhinney eventually turned to writing to combat the conditions of his confinement. The Life Sentences of Rik McWhinney collects his poetry, essays, grievance forms, letters, and interviews to provide readers with insight into the everyday life of incarcerated individuals, amplifying the lives and voices of a demographic that society would rather ignore. McWhinney relays the horrors of solitary confinement and provides a vivid account of the violence and psychological turmoil that he endured while incarcerated. Ultimately, McWhinney's words are an indictment of the prison system, a system that institutionalizes individuals, subjecting them to an environment that manufactures post-traumatic stress rather than fulfilling its mission of rehabilitation and reform.

  • Author:
    Haddish, Tiffany
    Summary:

    From stand-up comedian, actress, and breakout star of Girls Trip, Tiffany Haddish, comes The Last Black Unicorn, a sidesplitting, hysterical, edgy, and unflinching collection of (extremely) personal essays, as fearless as the author herself. Growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles, Tiffany learned to survive by making people laugh. If she could do that, then her classmates would let her copy their homework, the other foster kids she lived with wouldn't beat her up, and she might even get a boyfriend. Or at least she could make enough money--as the paid school mascot and in-demand Bar Mitzvah hype woman--to get her hair and nails done, so then she might get a boyfriend. None of that worked (and she's still single), but it allowed Tiffany to imagine a place for herself where she could do something she loved for a living: comedy. Tiffany can't avoid being funny--it's just who she is, whether she's plotting shocking, jaw-dropping revenge on an ex-boyfriend or learning how to handle her newfound fame despite still having a broke person's mind-set. Finally poised to become a household name, she recounts with heart and humor how she came from nothing and nowhere to achieve her dreams by owning, sharing, and using her pain to heal others. By turns hilarious, filthy, and brutally honest, The Last Black Unicorn shows the world who Tiffany Haddish really is--humble, grateful, down-to-earth, and funny as hell. And now, she's ready to inspire others through the power of laughter.

  • Author:
    Welsing, Frances Cress
    Summary:

    A collection of 25 essays examining the neuroses of white supremacy.

  • Author:
    Summary:

    The Irish in the Atlantic World presents a transnational and comparative view of the Irish historical and cultural experiences as phenomena transcending traditional chronological, topical and ethnic paradigms. Edited by David T. Gleeson, this collection of essays offers a robust new vision of the global nature of the Irish diaspora within the Atlantic context from the 18th century to the present and makes original inroads for new research in Irish studies. These essays from an international cast of scholars vary in their subject matter from investigations into links between Irish popular music and the United States — including the popularity of American blues music in Belfast during the 1960s and the influences of Celtic balladry on contemporary singer Van Morrison — to a discussion of the migration of Protestant Orangemen to America and the transplanting of their distinctive non-Catholic organizations. Other chapters explore the influence of American politics on the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, manifestations of 19th-century temperance and abolition movements in Irish communities, links between slavery and Irish nationalism in the formation of Irish identity in the American South, the impact of yellow fever on Irish and black labor competition on Charleston's waterfront, the fate of the Irish community at Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies and other topics. These multidisciplinary essays offer fruitful explanations of how ideas and experiences from around the Atlantic influenced the politics, economics and culture of Ireland, the Irish people and the societies where Irish people settled. Taken collectively, these pieces map the web of connectivity between Irish communities at home and abroad as sites of ongoing negotiation in the development of a transatlantic Irish identity.

  • Author:
    Trethewey, Laura
    Summary:

    An exploration of the earth's last wild frontier, filled with high-stakes stories of people and places facing an uncertain future. On a life raft in the Mediterranean, a teenager from Ghana wonders whether he will reach Europe alive, and whether he will be allowed to stay. In the North Atlantic, a young chef disappears from a cruise ship, leaving a mystery for his friends and family to solve.  A water-squatting community battles eviction from a harbour in British Columbia, raising the question of who owns the water. The Imperilled Ocean by Laura Trethewey is a deeply reported work of narrative journalism that follows people as they head out to sea. What they discover holds inspiring and dire implications for the life of the ocean - and for all of us back on land. Battles are fought, fortunes made, lives lost, and the ocean approaches an uncertain future. Behind this human drama, the ocean is growing ever more unstable, threatening to upend life on land.

  • Author:
    Cooley, Dennis
    Summary:

    Robert Kroetsch, one of Canada's most important writers, was a fierce regionalist with a porous yet resilient sense of "home." Although his criticism and fiction have received extensive attention, his poetry remains underexplored. This exuberantly polyvocal text by Dennis Cooley - who knew Kroetsch and worked with him for decades - seeks to correct this imbalance. This work offers a dazzling, playful, and intellectually complex conversation that draws together personal recollections, Kroetsch's archival materials, and the international body of Kroetsch scholarship. For literary scholars and anyone who appreciates Canadian literature, The Home Place will represent the standard critical evaluation of Kroetsch's poetry for years to come.

  • Author:
    Kohl, Herbert
    Summary:

    In more than forty books on subjects ranging from social justice to mathematics, morality to parenthood, Herb Kohl has earned a place as one of our foremost "educators who write." With Marian Wright Edelman, Mike Rose, Lisa Delpit, and Vivian Paley among his fans, Kohl is "one of only a handful of writers," as William Ayers says in his introduction, "to have had a serious impact on the practice of education over the past four decades." Now, for the first time, readers can find collected in one place key essays and excerpts spanning the whole of Kohl's career, including practical as well as theoretical writings. Selections come from Kohl's classic 36 Children, his National Book Award-winning The View from the Oak (co-authored with his wife Judy), and all his best known and beloved books. The Herb Kohl Reader is destined to become a major new resource for old fans and a new generation of teachers and parents.

  • Author:
    Appadurai, Arjun
    Summary:

    We are living through a period of dramatic political change ' Brexit, the election of Trump, the rise of extreme right movements in Europe and elsewhere, the resurgence of nationalism and xenophobia and a concerted assault on the liberal values and ideals associated with cosmopolitanism and globalization. Suddenly we find ourselves in a world that few would have imagined possible just a few years ago, a world that seems to many to be a move backwards. How can we make sense of these dramatic developments and how should we respond to them' Are we witnessing a worldwide rejection of liberal democracy and its replacement by some kind of populist authoritarianism' This timely volume brings together some of the world's greatest minds to analyse and seek to understand the forces behind this 'great regression'. Writers from across disciplines and countries, including Paul Mason, Pankaj Mishra, Slavoj 'i'ek, Zygmunt Bauman, Arjun Appadurai, Wolfgang Streeck and Eva Illouz, grapple with our current predicament, framing it in a broader historical context, discussing possible future trajectories and considering ways that we might combat this reactionary turn. The Great Regression is a key intervention that will be of great value to all those concerned about recent developments and wondering how best to respond to this unprecedented challenge to the very core of liberal democracy and internationalism across the world today.

  • Author:
    Farkas, Andrew
    Summary:

    Andrew Farkas reports on his bold explorations of the indoors--the waiting rooms, kitchens, malls, bars, theaters, roadside motel rooms, and other places that feature temperature control, protection from rampaging predators, and a higher degree of comfort than can be found outside. Farkas discovers that, just as the mannered and wonderfully (gloriously) artificial indoors influences us greatly, our lives are also controlled much more by fiction than by anything "real."

  • Author:
    Summary:

    This collection explores sustainability education in the North American academy. The authors advocate for a more integrated approach to teaching sustainability in order to help students address the most pressing problems of the world, embrace experimentation, and foster more meaningful involvement with the communities in which universities are located. Throughout, they remain focussed on identifying opportunities for sustainability in higher education and suggesting specific strategies and tactics to achieve them. Recommendations include pedagogical and structural changes aimed at helping students understand the systems in which they can advance sustainability. This timely volume will be of interest to scholars, academic leaders, policy makers, societal partners in research, and private-sector leaders interested in advancing the sustainability agenda. Contributors: Apryl Bergstrom, Christopher G. Boone, Ann Dale, Thomas Dietz, Roger Epp, Allison F.W. Goebel, Kourosh Houshmand, Robert H. Jones, Naomi Krogman, Shirley M. Malcom, Robert E. Megginson, Patricia E. (Ellie) Perkins, Vicky J. Sharpe, Toddi A. Steelman.

  • Author:
    Clausen, Kurt W., Black, Glenda
    Summary:

    While the action research community across Canada is a vibrant one, it remains scattered, dismissed as rootless and still unproven. This book illuminates action research as a vital and long-established Canadian perspective, taking stock of its use in education by a wide array of scholars and practitioners. Reflecting an inclusive range of viewpoints from twenty-two scholars across the nation, chapters show without question that action research - encompassing collaborative, iterative, and practice-based research - is a growing field in Canada. Authors bring a range of experiences that speak to the many facets of this movement. They discuss historical foundations, individual and large-scale projects dealing with a multitude of subject areas and educational practices, and participatory methods that speak to the discipline's capacity to engage with the pressing social issues of our time. A timely intervention that threads the field together and serves as both a reference and a guide to further work, The Future of Action Research in Education draws clear links between the past and future and maps bold new directions for this approach.

  • Author:
    Ward, Jesmyn
    Summary:

    National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward takes James Baldwin's 1963 examination of race in America, The Fire Next Time, as a jumping off point for this groundbreaking collection of essays and poems about race from the most important voices of her generation and our time. In light of recent tragedies and widespread protests across the nation, The Progressive magazine republished one of its most famous pieces: James Baldwin's 1962 "Letter to My Nephew," which was later published in his landmark book, The Fire Next Time. Addressing his fifteen-year-old namesake on the one hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Baldwin wrote: "You know and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon." Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward knows that Baldwin's words ring as true as ever today. In response, she has gathered short essays, memoir, and a few essential poems to engage the question of race in the United States. And she has turned to some of her generation's most original thinkers and writers to give voice to their concerns. The Fire This Time is divided into three parts that shine a light on the darkest corners of our history, wrestle with our current predicament, and envision a better future. Of the eighteen pieces, ten were written specifically for this volume. In the fifty-odd years since Baldwin's essay was published, entire generations have dared everything and made significant progress. But the idea that we are living in the post-Civil Rights era, that we are a "post-racial" society is an inaccurate and harmful reflection of a truth the country must confront. Baldwin's "fire next time" is now upon us, and it needs to be talked about. Contributors include Carol Anderson, Jericho Brown, Garnette Cadogan, Edwidge Danticat, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Mitchell S. Jackson, Honoree Jeffers, Kima Jones, Kiese Laymon, Daniel Jose Older, Emily Raboteau, Claudia Rankine, Clint Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Wendy S. Walters, Isabel Wilkerson, and Kevin Young.

  • Author:
    Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James, Jay, John
    Summary:

    Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison pulled off the incredible feat of outlining an entire democratic government with rhetorical and syntactical flair in this collection of 85 articles and essays. Written under a pseudonym, and meant to persuade a skittish collection of former colonists to ratify the United States Constitution, this book lays bare the underpinnings of many aspects of our government that we now take for granted — from checks and balances to separation of powers — as the radical things they once were. (A little like seeing photos of your mom’s punk rock days, but not nearly as scarring.)

  • Author:
    Babul, Denna
    Summary:

    When Motherless Daughters was published 20 years ago, it unleashed a tsunami of healing awareness. When Denna Babul and Karin Smithson couldn't find the equivalent book for fatherlessness, The Fatherless Daughter Project was born. The book will set fatherless women on the path to growth and fulfillment by helping them to understand how their loss has impacted their lives. A father is supposed to provide a sense of security and stability. Losing a father comes with particular costs that vary depending on the way he left and how old a girl was when she lost him. Drawing on interviews with over 5000 women who became fatherless due to death, divorce, neglect, and outright abandonment, the authors have found that fatherless daughters tend to push their emotions underground. These issues in turn become distinct patterns in their relationships as adult women and they often can't figure out why. Delivered with compassion and expertise, this book allows readers support and understanding they never had when they first needed it, and it encourages the conversation to continue.

  • Author:
    Solnit, Rebecca
    Summary:

    A companion to "A Field Guide for Getting Lost." Rebecca Solnit explores the ways we make our lives out of stories, and how we are connected by empathy, by narrative, by imagination. In the course of unpacking some of her own stories--of her mother and her decline from memory loss, of a trip to Iceland, of an illness. Solnit revisits fairytales and entertains other stories: about arctic explorers, Che Guevara among the leper colonies, and Mary Shelley's Dr. Frankenstein, about warmth and coldness, pain and kindness, decay and transformation, making art and making self. Woven together, these stories create a map which charts the boundaries and territories of storytelling, reframing who each of us is and how we might tell our story.

  • Author:
    Chomsky, Noam
    Summary:

    For the past forty years Noam Chomsky's writings on politics and language have established him as a preeminent public intellectual and as one of the most original and wide-ranging political and social critics of our time. Among the seminal figures in linguistic theory over the past century, since the 1960s Chomsky has also secured a place as perhaps the leading dissident voice in the United States. Chomsky's many bestselling works-including Manufacturing Consent, Hegemony or Survival, Understanding Power, and Failed States-have served as essential touchstones for dissidents, activists, scholars, and concerned citizens on subjects ranging from the media to human rights to intellectual freedom. In particular, Chomsky's scathing critiques of the U.S. wars in Vietnam, Central America, and the Middle East have furnished a widely accepted intellectual inspiration for antiwar movements over nearly four decades. The Essential Chomsky assembles the core of his most important writings, including excerpts from his most influential texts over the past forty years. Here is an unprecedented, comprehensive overview of Chomsky's thought.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Essays