McGill-Queen's University Press Blog

Season's Greetings

To mark the holiday season, MQUP presents to you a poem by Mona Gould:

 

Small Christmas Tree (For F. G.)

Stand very straight, small Christmas tree!
Put on your tallest dignity,
Wear your tinsel bright and bravely,
Carry your candles like holy things.
In the heart of a child you represent
Beauty and light and sacrament;
Your topmost star to him outshines the sun,
Your branches every one
Are precious.

Stand very straight, small Christmas tree!
You were chosen to grace a feast,
You were chosen to share this day.
Holly for merriment,
Holly for joy.
And you to bring to a little boy
Fabulous dreams.

Stand very straight, small Christmas tree!
Looking with love on my small son's face,
Sweet in your light,
I, this night, hear carols.
Know for certain that carols ring,
Know for certain that angels sing;
Stand very straight, small Christmas tree!

 

* Mona Gould's life and legacy is recounted by her granddaughter Maria Meindl in the recently published Outside the Box.

 

Season's Greetings from all of us at McGill-Queen's University Press

Small Christmas Tree (For F. G.)

 

Stand very straight, small Christmas tree!

Put on your tallest dignity,

Wear your tinsel bright and bravely,

Carry your candles like holy things.

In the heart of a child you represent

Beauty and light and sacrament;

Your topmost star to him outshines the sun,

Your branches every one

Are precious.

 

Stand very straight, small Christmas tree!

You were chosen to grace a feast,

You were chosen to share this day.

Holly for merriment,

Holly for joy.

And you to bring to a little boy

Fabulous dreams.

 

Stand very straight, small Christmas tree!

Looking with love on my small son's face,

Sweet in your light,

I, this night, hear carols.

Know for certain that carols ring,

Know for certain that angels sing;

Stand very straight, small Christmas tree!

The Codex Canadensis, reviewed

Visual arts: Canadian history through 17th-century eyes from The Montreal Gazette

What is something called the Codex Canadensis doing in a museum in Tulsa, Okla.?

It doesn’t really matter, because this 17th-century illustrated natural history of eastern North America – centred on present-day Quebec – is now available in a handsome book that includes the writings of a Jesuit priest who was apparently more interested in observing his wondrous surroundings than in saving souls.

The Codex Canadensis and the Writings of Louis Nicolas (The Natural History of the New World) contains the priest’s documentation of wildlife and aboriginal culture, along with 88 pages of colour illustrations that are attributed to him. Réal Ouellet of Université Laval modernized the original French text, and Nancy Senior of the University of Saskatchewan translated it into English. The introduction by art historian François-Marc Gagnon puts Nicolas’s text and the images into the context of a 17th-century priest, steeped in the classics, who lived among the Indians of 15 different nations over a period of more than 10 years.

(...)

The Codex Canadensis, with Gagnon’s clear and witty commentary, could be a treasured gift for an art lover, nature lover – or tattoo artist.

Read the full article

 

 

Large-format books will make excellent gifts at Christmas from StarPhoenix

To begin this year's list, let's go local, in a sense, and start with a large tome entitled The Codex Canadensis and the Writings of Louis Nicolas (McGill-Queen's UP; $65), edited and with an introduction by Francois-Marc Gagnon, translation by Nancy Senior, and modernization by Real Ouellet. When local naturalist Stuart Houston introduced Senior at a recent book launch, he indicated that you get eight pounds of book for the money - and it's money well spent. Reproduced here are not only Nicolas's idiosyncratic drawings of wildlife in what was then the New World, but his illuminating rambles on animals, birds, fish and plants, most of which he tasted, and many of which he declared delicious. And don't be frightened by the word codex it means a book with pages.

Read the full article

View pictures from inside The Codex Canadensis
To learn more about The Codex Canadensis, or to order online, click here.
To arrange an interview with the author, contact MQUP Publicist Jacqui Davis.

Best Book in Canadian Military History

A Knight in Politics: A Biography of Sir Frederick Borden by Carman Miller has been awarded the 2010 C. P. Stacey Award for the Best Book in Canadian Military History.

The jury states, "In chronicling the 69-year life of a remarkable Canadian, Miller has done what only the best biographers can do – use the individual’s story to impart a deeper understanding of the events and society of their time.  With A Knight in Politics, Miller reminds us that people are at the centre of history.  To understand the life of a man who came from respected Nova Scotia family, graduated from Harvard medical school, made a small fortune as an entrepreneur, became a Member of Parliament at the age of thirty, and held the Cabinet post of Minister of Militia and Defence during fifteen formative years for the Canadian military (1896-1911) is to know something of society, business, politics, British Imperial relations, and military affairs in turn-of-the-century Canada.  Richly researched and written with grace, A Knight in Politics will engage anyone, scholar or layperson, wanting to learn more about the public affairs of Canada and the people who conducted them in the decades that preceded the Great War. "

 

An honorable mention was awarded by the jury to Occupied St John's by Steven High. The jury described the book as a "multi-faceted and beautifully-presented perspective on a city that was both home-front and battle-front during the Second World War."

 

 

To learn more about A Knight in Politics, or to order online, click here.

To learn more about Occupied St John's, or to order online, click here.
To arrange an interview with the author, contact MQUP Publicist Jacqui Davis.

This week in publishing

What you may have missed this week at the MQUP

Stan Persky reads the mood of our millennium

Newfoundland Modern

Selected New Books on Higher Education

Kerry Clare recommends Outside the Box

What else?

Take part in a word experiment as part of an international study

Watchwords: Blitzed on whisky? don't be a schmo

Amazon.com branded 'Grinch that stole Christmas trade'

This year give the gift of language

When is a bookstore not a bookstore?

Outside the Box

The following is excerpted from Kerry Clare's list of Favourite New Books of 2011

Outside the Box by Maria Meindl

This is the book I can’t stop talking about, and I’m pleased that I’ve managed to win it at least a few readers. As noted in a conversation with a friend today, Meindl could write about anything and it would be interesting, but her subject is so interesting too. She chronicles the history of Canadian magazine and broadcast journalism, the history of Toronto literati (and the bohemian Gerrard Street Village in the ’50s), the status of women throughout the 20th century, the dazzling enticement of celebrity, and the story of her extraordinary grandmother whose eccentricities and foibles make her a fascinating character (though undoubtedly a frustrating family relation). But most of all, it’s a really great read, and Meindl proves herself a deft handler of narrative.

 

 

Click here to read the rest of Kerry Clare's favourites

 

To learn more about Outside the Box, or to order online, click here.
To arrange an interview with the author, contact MQUP Publicist Jacqui Davis.

Stan Persky reads the mood of our millennium

The following is excerpted from the Telegraph-Journal article, 21st Century Man:

In a time like this, when reading is at an all-time low and criticism seems to be a dying art, Stan Persky's Reading the 21st Century was a comforting companion.

From Sept. 11 to the election of Obama, Persky provides a critical analysis of what he considers the best fiction and non-fiction of the aughts. It's always revelatory to look back and place books or films, for that matter, in a historical, sociological and political context.

The writers that Persky entertains are too numerous to enumerate in 500 words. Most notably Philip Roth, José Saramago, Orhan Pamuk, Amos Oz and J.M. Coetzee for fiction, and Richard Dawkins, Azar Nafisi, Edward Said, Tony Judt and Richard Clarke for non-fiction. Roth's The Human Stain, Saramago's Blindness, Pamuk's Snow, and Dawkins' The God Delusion are all at the top of the list, but it is the reason why they are there that makes this book a compelling read.

For example, Dawkins undeniably boorish book on atheism was a cultural phenomenon and was chosen not because he is right or wrong but because it brought the question of God's existence back into our consciousness and made it relevant again. One of the most interesting chapters is called "Exit Strategies" - dealing with writers who are in the later stages of their careers (Roth, Saramago, Coetzee, Said). Instead of trailing off into lesser works - like Vonnegut and Updike - they are producing the most relevant and provocative writing of their career.

Read the full article here

Or read an excerpt from Reading the 21st Century here.

To learn more about Reading the 21st Century, or to order online, click here.
To arrange an interview with the author, contact MQUP Publicist Jacqui Davis.

Newfoundland Modern

Excerpted from the Scope's article Newfoundland Modern

 

When you think of Newfoundland architecture, what comes to mind? Chances are you are thinking of colored rowhouses and saltboxes. Well, this new book by Robert Mellin questions the popular notions of architecture in Newfoundland, and demonstrates that the Modernist era plays an important historical role in our province.

Mellin looks at architecture in Newfoundland between the years 1949 and 1972. He ties the architecture of that era to the political climate, and places emphasis on the role former premier Joey Smallwood had in shaping development in the province. Smallwood saw new architecture as a propaganda tool, useful for convincing the public that his vision of Newfoundland-as-a-Modernist-utopia was working.

There are some fascinating bits of history throughout the book that demonstrate how vibrant this period in architectural history was. Mellin writes about the bridge in Bowring Park by Ove Arup—one of the world’s most brilliant structural engineers, who also made possible the construction of the Sydney Opera House. Then there’s the story about Walter Gropius, Modernist architect and founder of the Bauhaus movement, who expressed interest to the provincial government in designing some of the first buildings for MUN. He was ignored though; at that point Smallwood had come to be skeptical of architects, seeing them as a group who challenged his own views on design.

The book includes some brilliant old photos. It’s fascinating to see how great some of our old buildings looked when they were brand new and finished with their designers’ originally-intended details. Flipping through the book, you really get the sense of how absurd it is that this intense period of growth and creativity is largely uncharted historical territory.

Read the full article

Or browse images from Newfoundland Modern here

 

To learn more about Newfoundland Modern, or to order online, click here.
To arrange an interview with the author, contact MQUP Publicist Jacqui Davis.

Peopling the North American City: Book Launch

Join Sherry Olson and Patricia Thornton at their book launch at Concordia University on December 15th.

Many North American cities trace their population booms to the nineteenth century when immigrants and migrants flooded emerging industrializing urban centres in search of better lives. Peopling the North American City examines this phenomenon in Montreal through the eyes of a thousand couples to construct both an intimate portrait and a compelling overview of life in a nineteenth-century metropolis.

 

 

Peopling the North American City Book Launch
December 15th, 5 to 7 pm
Concordia University EV Building, 11.725 (11th Floor)

 

To learn more about  Peopling the North American City, or to order online, click here.
To arrange an interview with the author, contact MQUP Publicist Jacqui Davis.

This week in publishing

What you may have missed this week at the MQUP

David Wilson on Thomas D'Arcy McGee

The Globe & Mail features The Book of the Wind in their 2011 gift guide

Le concept de liberté au Canada à l'époque des Révolutions atlantiques wins the Prix Lionel-Groulx Fondation-Yves-Saint-Germain

Newfoundland Modern

How Ottawa Spends: The Northwest Territories housing crisis

Is Canada truly bilingual?

 

What else?

Google Books and its flawed metadata

Book shopping in stores, then buying online

Has book blogging hit the wall?

Rereading: what are the returns?

 

Upcoming

December 15 - Reading / book signing: Peopling the North American City at Concordia University EV Building, 11.725 (11th Floor)

David Wilson on Thomas D'Arcy McGee

Life After Forty, Après quarante ans

McGill-Queen's University Press is pleased to announce the release of Life After Forty, Après quarante ans edited by Jack Jedwab and Rodrigue Landry.

Life After Forty, Après quarante ans includes English and French essays from several of the country's leading experts, who assess the effectiveness of Canada's Official Languages Act and propose ways in which it can meet future challenges in addressing the language situation.

 

 

The following is excerpted from the Postmedia News article Book questions whether Canada can truly claim to be bilingual.

In the 42 years since Ottawa passed the Official Languages Act, many Canadians have come to see bilingualism as the country's defining trait.

But the recent furor over the appointment of a unilingual federal auditor general, and the revelation that two executives at Quebec's public pension fund manager can't speak French, have showed up the cracks in Canada's bilingual facade.

Now, a forthcoming book raises questions over whether Canada can even lay claim to be a bilingual country at all.

While many Canadians uphold bilingualism as a quintessential value, that belief is not actually borne out by the proportion of citizens who speak both official languages, according to Life After Forty: Official Languages Policy in Canada, edited by Jack Jedwab and Rodrigue Landry (Queen's Policy Studies Series, McGill-Queen's University Press, due out next month).

After four decades and billions of dollars spent on official bilingualism, just seven per cent of anglophones outside Quebec are able to carry on a conversation in French, writes Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies.

Click here to read the full article

 

 

To learn more about Life After Forty, Après quarante ans, or to order online, click here.
To arrange an interview with the author, contact MQUP Publicist Jacqui Davis.