The Race to the New World
Douglas Hunter

In The Race to the New World, critically acclaimed author Douglas Hunter details the high-stakes race that threatened the precarious power balance of Europe and led both men to the shores of a new world that neither was looking for. With the use of fresh historical evidence, Hunter tells an untold story of the parallel journeys of Columbus and Cabot -- two explorers whose interconnected lives are only fully understood together. This is a compelling tale of a rivalry that drove two unlikely explorers to the edge of a new world, informed by groundbreaking new research and superior narrative power.

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The Natural History of Canadian Mammals
Donna Naughton

The Natural History of Canadian Mammals is a beautifully illustrated, up-to-date guide to all 215 known species of mammals in Canada. It features brand-new, full-colour images of each species, as well as stunning photographs from Canadian Geographic magazine's national photography competitions. Along with being a visual treat, this book is jam-packed with information accessible to readers at all levels. Detailed descriptions are provided while colour maps show their full distribution across Canada, North America, and globally. The book also includes practical guides on tracking and identification for readers who would like to learn how to spot mammals in the wild. Comprehensive and immensely valuable, this book will become a treasured companion for scientific researchers, animal lovers, and all those wishing to gain a greater appreciation of Canada's natural wonders.

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Sea Otters of Haida Gwaii: Icons in Human-Ocean Relations
N.A. Sloan & Lyle Dyck

The sea otter is far from the child’s cuddly plush toy it so appealingly resembles. It is a scrappy predator living along cold and stormy North Pacific coasts and still in recovery from the folly of over-hunting for pelts more than 150 years ago. This book about the iconic species around Haida Gwaii recounts over two centuries of human history involving wanton over-exploitation, post-contact catastrophe for the Haida, and contemporary reconciliation and restoration. A must-read for those interested in the natural history of Haida Gwaii.

Pierre-Esprit Radisson: The Collected Writings, Volume 1: The Voyages
edited by Germaine Warkentin

Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636?-1710) was many men. In this first volume of Radisson's complete writings, Germaine Warkentin introduces the life, travels, motivations, and work of this compelling and complicated figure while providing a comprehensive and authoritative edition of his masterpiece — The Voyages. In the four accounts of his travels to the far interior of the Great Lakes and James Bay, Radisson vibrantly depicts his life among the Mohawk, his encounters and relationships with Native peoples, Jesuits, English, French, and Dutch colonists and traders, as well as the hazards of the capricious politics of the New World and the thrilling surprise of discoveries. Striking a superb balance between accessible writing and comprehensive scholarship, this new edition of Radisson's Voyages is indispensable, definitive, and reasserts the important roles that Radisson played in seventeenth-century North American rivalries.

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‘Dangerous Work’: Diary of an Arctic Adventure
Arthur Conan Doyle

In 1880 a young medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle embarked upon the "first real outstanding adventure" of his life, taking a berth as ship's surgeon on an Arctic whaler, the Hope. The voyage took him to unknown regions, showered him with dramatic and unexpected experiences, and plunged him into dangerous work on the ice floes of the Arctic seas. Conan Doyle's time in the Arctic provided powerful fuel for his growing ambitions as a writer. He would call upon his shipboard experiences many times in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, who was introduced in 1887's A Study in Scarlet.

Out of sight for more than a century was a diary that Conan Doyle kept while aboard the whaler. Dangerous Work: Diary of an Arctic Adventure makes this account available for the first time in a beautiful facsimile edition that reproduces Conan Doyle's notebook pages in his own elegant hand, accompanied by his copious illustrations. With humor and grace, Conan Doyle provides a vivid account of a long-vanished way of life at sea. His careful detailing of the experience of arctic whaling is equal parts fascinating and alarming. In addition to the facsimile and annotated transcript of the diary, the volume contains photographs of the Hope, its captain, and a young Conan Doyle on deck with its officers; two nonfiction pieces by Doyle about his experiences; and two of his tales inspired by the journey.

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