Cambodia is a long way from Germany - thousands of miles, as it turns out. And in between are some of the world's highest mountains, most inhospitable deserts and least welcoming countries. Trying to make the journey overland was always going to be difficult. But one group of twenty-somethings, bored with the predictable wanderings of the backpacker generation, thought they'd spice things up a little. They would go by car. The worst car in the world. The infamous Soviet-era Trabant. This would be no whimsical meander across the globe, but a mission with a cause to raise money for the Cambodian children they had met on previous visits to the country. From their base in Central Europe, east through Turkey and the gateway to Asia, then into the Caucasus, the five men and three women ferried across the Caspian Sea and into the forgotten world of Central Asia, the police state of Turkmenistan, the beautiful Silk Road cities of Uzbekistan, the stunning mountain passes of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and the endless flat of the Kazakh steppe. They took on Russia s freezing Siberian winter and Mongolia's icy plains, crossed booming China before hitting the sun-speckled hills of Laos and the jungles of Cambodia. This book, based on the explosive blog from award-winning travel writer and journalist Dan Murdoch, tells the inside story of the Trabant Trek, and how a group of near strangers coped with the challenge of their lives.

Since 1844, the Globe and Mail and its predecessor, George Brown's Globe, have chronicled Canada: as a colony, a dominion, and a nation. To mark the paper's 180th anniversary, Globe writers explored thirty issues and events in which the national newspaper has influenced the course of the country: Confederation, settler migrations, regional tensions, tussles over language, religion, and race. The essays reveal a tapestry of progress, conflict, and still-incomplete reconciliation: Catholic-Protestant hostilities that are now mostly the stuff of memory; the betrayal of Indigenous peoples with which we still grapple; the frustrations and triumphs of women journalists; pandemics old and new; environmental challenges; the joys of covering sports and the arts; chronicling the nation's business, international coverage, the impossibility of Canada and of this newspaper, which both somehow flourish nonetheless.

Riveting, insightful, disturbing, witty, and always a joy to read, A Nation's Paper chronicles a country and a newspaper that have grown and struggled together - essential reading for anyone who wants to understand where we came from and where we are going.

The Globe and Mail will donate all its proceeds from the book to Journalists for Human Rights.

The world is in flux. Disruptive technologies, ideas, and politicians are challenging business models, norms, and political conventions everywhere. How we, as leaders in business and politics, choose to respond matters greatly. Some voices refuse to concede the need for any change, while others advocate for radical realignment. But neither of these positions can sustainably address the legitimate concerns of disaffected citizens.
Right Here, Right Now sets out a pragmatic, forward-looking vision for leaders in business and politics by analyzing how economic, social, and public policy trends--including globalized movements of capital, goods and services, and labour--have affected our economies, communities, and governments. Harper contends that Donald Trump's surprise election and governing agenda clearly signal that political, economic, and social institutions must be more responsive to legitimate concerns about public policy, market regulation, immigration, and technology. Urging readers to look past questions of style and gravitas, Harper thoughtfully examines the substantive underpinnings of how and why Donald Trump was able to succeed Barack Obama as President of the United States, and how these forces are manifesting themselves in other western democracies. Analyzing international trade, market regulation, immigration, technology, and the role of government in the digital economy, Harper lays out the case for pragmatic leadership as a proven solution to the uncertainty and risk that businesses and governments face today.

At the beginning of the fourteenth century, anarchy in Italy led to the capital of the Christian world being moved from Rome for the first and only time in history. It was a critical moment, and it resulted in seven successive popes remaining in exile for the next seventy years. The city chosen to replace Rome was Avignon. And depending on where you stood at the time they were seventy years of heaven, or of hell opinions invariably ran to extremes, as did the behaviour of the popes themselves. It was during this period of exile that the city witnessed some of the most turbulent events in the history of Christendom, among them the suppression of the Knights Templar and the last of the heretical Cathars, the first onslaught of the Black Death, the final collapse of the crusading dream, and the first decades of the Hundred Years War between England and France, in which successive Avignon popes attempted to mediate. The papal flight from Rome was fiercely castigated by Dante in The Divine Comedy, while during the later years of papal Avignon the enigmatic figure of Petrarch, the most celebrated poet and scholar of his day, loomed angrily over the city. In a dramatic denouement, Avignon became home to the anti-popes, rivals and enemies of the re-established Roman papacy. This is a portrait sketch of that era. And at the centre of the picture is Avignon itself, as it grew from being a relatively insignificant town on the Rh ne to become, albeit briefly, one of the great capitals of the world.

On October 5th, 1984, Marc Garneau made history. Blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle and reaching a speed of 28,000 km/hour, he became the first Canadian to fly to outer space. That monumental achievement, now etched in Canadian history as one of our country's proudest moments, inspired a nation and ushered in a new era of space exploration for Canada. Twenty-four years later, Garneau made history yet again, becoming the first astronaut to be elected as a Member of Parliament.

In between those two milestones in Garneau's unprecedented career, he was the first Canadian, and the first non-American, to serve as CAPCOM, the voice of Mission Control for the astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle. In the years that followed his historic first voyage to space, Garneau returned to space two more times, becoming the first Canadian to log three trips into orbit, and led the Canadian Space Agency through its most dynamic years.

In the House of Commons, Garneau would ultimately serve in two cabinet posts as Minister of Transport and Minister of Foreign Affairs during some of the biggest events of the past decade: the onset of one of the worst pandemics in modern times; the arbitrary detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor by China; the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban; and the death of 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents aboard Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752, shot down by Iran.

It was no surprise, then, that when Marc Garneau announced his retirement after fourteen years in government, many Canadians lamented the loss of an upstanding parliamentarian who was not afraid to speak up for causes he believed in, even if that meant bucking his own party and its leader.

In A Most Extraordinary Ride: Space, Politics, and the Pursuit of a Canadian Dream, Garneau chronicles his once-improbable ascent from a mischievous teenager and rebellious naval midshipman to a decorated astronaut and statesman who represented Canada on the world stage - both on and off the planet. With candour and humour, Garneau describes the highs and lows of his life and career, including the awe he experienced first seeing the earth from space, the tragic loss of his first wife to mental illness and suicide, sailing across the Atlantic and back in a sailboat called the Pickle, and witnessing the tragedy of the doomed shuttle Challenger.

Honest and illuminating, A Most Extraordinary Ride is a rare journey into the early years of Canada's space program and an inside account of the joys and challenges of governing from one of Canada's most distinguished citizens.

Few countries are as marked by their history as the Maltese islands of Malta and Gozo. At least five centuries before St. Paul was shipwrecked on Malta's northern shore on his way to Rome and martyrdom, what are perhaps the oldest stone buildings in the world were raised here. Always vulnerable due to their strategic position in the Mediterranean, the islands have been invaded and occupied by successive forces: Greeks, Romans, Muslims from North Africa, Normans and Spaniards. In the sixteenth century Malta became the stronghold of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, who built the city of Valletta. The Knights were succeeded by Napoleonic troops, then by the British, who remained until independence in 1964. Each period of Malta's turbulent history not least its heroic role during the Second World War has added to its rich cultural fabric. And each period has produced its own literature, which is gathered in this original collection. The 1565 Siege of Malta, which pitted the Knights against the might of the Ottoman Empire, was recorded in detail by Francisco Balbi di Correggio, a Spanish soldier. The history of the Knights was later written by Louis de Boisgelin, himself a Knight, while in the nineteenth century Malta became a fashionable destination for those going beyond the Grand Tour, attracting Lord Byron, Thackeray, Disraeli and Sir Walter Scott, who judged Valletta 'a city for gentlemen built by gentlemen'. In the twentieth century Evelyn Waugh was a visitor, Anthony Burgess had his home confiscated for non-payment of taxes while David Niven had a memorable experience at a fancy dress party. Deborah Manley's selection of extracts reveals how generations of writers have viewed the landscapes of Malta and Gozo, the people of the islands, the splendours of Valletta and its famous harbour, and the celebrated festas, the village festivals that celebrate the island's Catholic identity. An introduction places these extracts in context, while the anthology also considers how Maltese writers have imagined and depicted their homeland.

A marvelous and compulsively readable collection of stories from the life of Salah Bachir -- philanthropist, art collector, movie industry insider -- who, through his sheer joy of life, art, giving back, and human interaction, has endeared him to some of the most famous and creative people in recent times.

Salah Bachir's encounters with stars who have passed through his beloved Toronto over the years opens on a backyard garden barbecue with Marlon Brando, and bread continues to be broken with icons as fascinating and seemingly disparate as Muhammad Ali and Liberace, Margaret Atwood and Cesar Chavez, Andy Warhol and Princess Margaret, to name just a few. But the true literary coup is that the biggest, brightest star we encounter is the author himself.
Alan Cumming

Salah is the patron saint for all of us who are full of curiosity, hungry for celebration, horny for fun, and who won't stop until every need is fulfilled. His appetite and passion for life is voracious. His ability to transform those passions into making life better for others is even more impressive.
Atom Egoyan

Salah Bachir, who immigrated to Canada from Lebanon in the 1960s, has been a gay activist who has worked in the film world for over four decades. While this has given him undeniable front-row access to Hollywood's biggest stars, it is Salah's personal charm and kindness, his philanthropy, his overall style (think hats, scarves, brooches, pearls, diamonds) and deep involvement in the art world that has made him a friend, companion, confidante, and/or lover to so many -- including Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Joan Rivers, Mary Tyler Moore, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Edward Albee, Orson Welles, Aretha Franklin, Norman Jewison, and Elizabeth Taylor -- although it's true that Katharine Hepburn once turned him down, very nicely.

Collected here in this wonderful book are personal stories of them all -- some short, some long, some surprising, others juicy, and all fascinating. Through them we get to know Salah, a larger-than-life character that embodies the many worlds he shapes -- the kind of person it would be hard to make up if he didn't already exist.

One of Canada's foremost authors and journalists, offers a gripping account of the contest between John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson, two prime ministers who fought each other relentlessly, but who between them created today's Canada.

John Diefenbaker has been unfairly treated by history. Although he wrestled with personal demons, his governments launched major reforms in public health care, law reform and immigration. On his watch, First Nations on reserve obtained the right to vote and the federal government began to open up the North. He established Canada as a leader in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took the first steps in making Canada a leader in the fight against nuclear proliferation. And Diefenbaker's Bill of Rights laid the groundwork for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He set in motion many of the achievements credited to his successor, Lester B. Pearson.
Pearson, in turn, gave coherence to Diefenbaker's piecemeal reforms. He also pushed Parliament to adopt a new, and now much-loved, Canadian flag against Diefenbaker's fierce opposition. Pearson understood that if Canada were to be taken seriously as a nation, it must develop a stronger sense of self.
Pearson was superbly prepared for the role of prime minister: decades of experience at External Affairs, respected by leaders from Washington to Delhi to Beijing, the only Canadian to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. Diefenbaker was the better politician, though. If Pearson walked with ease in the halls of power, Diefenbaker connected with the farmers and small-town merchants and others left outside the inner circles. Diefenbaker was one of the great orators of Canadian political life; Pearson spoke with a slight lisp.
Diefenbaker was the first to get his name in the papers, as a crusading attorney: Diefenbaker for the Defence, champion of the little man. But he struggled as a politician, losing five elections before making it into the House of Commons, and becoming as estranged from the party elites as he was from the Liberals, until his ascension to the Progressive Conservative leadership in 1956 through a freakish political accident.
As a young university professor, Pearson caught the attention of the powerful men who were shaping Canada's first true department of foreign affairs, rising to prominence as the helpful fixer, the man both sides trusted, the embodiment of a new country that had earned its place through war in the counsels of the great powers: ambassador, undersecretary, minister, peacemaker. Everyone knew he was destined to be prime minister. But in 1957, destiny took a detour.
Then they faced each other, Diefenbaker v Pearson, across the House of Commons, leaders of their parties, each determined to wrest and hold power, in a decade-long contest that would shake and shape the country.
Here is a tale of two men, children of Victoria, who led Canada into the atomic age: each the product of his past, each more like the other than either would ever admit, fighting each other relentlessly while together forging the Canada we live in today. To understand our times, we must first understand theirs.

Don't let them ruin the newspaper. . . These were the dying words of Beland Honderich to his son, John. The newspaper was the Toronto Star, founded in 1892 by Joseph E. (Holy Joe) Atkinson and, to this day, one of the world's leading and most respected socially liberal broadsheets. For the second half of its legendary--and sometimes controversial--history, both John and his father, as successive editors, publishers, and family owners, made it into the newspaper we know today. The Star has been, at different times, home base to the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Morley Callaghan, Pierre Berton, June Callwood, Peter C. Newman, Gary Lautens, Robert Fulford, Richard Gwyn, Christie Blatchford, Michele Landsberg, Chantal Hébert, Joey Slinger, and many more. It also brandishes a corporate history unlike any other. In an extraordinary exercise of arbitrary power, the Ontario government held veto power over all of the Star's operations until the paper eventually evolved to the five families of the Torstar Voting Trust, one of which were the Honderichs. And in that process, those families committed in court to observe and promote the intellectual and spiritual basis on which the Star has always operated.

Completed just weeks before the author's untimely death, Above the Fold gives us an on-the-ground account of how the Star, once known primarily for its tabloid sensationalism and screaming headlines, transformed into a bastion of journalistic quality that routinely wins the industry's highest honours and accolades. Honderich writes about the paper he loved and the challenges it faced over the years, including crippling strikes, boardroom battles, soaring egos, the vicious newspaper wars with various competitors, and, most recently, the shift away from print. He also delves deeply into his relationship with his father, who could be remarkably cold and unfeeling toward his son and others, earning the nickname The Beast. There was great love between the two men but it came at a cost both professionally and, of course, personally. Always worried about accusations of nepotism as he rose to the top job at the paper, John felt he needed to prove himself that much more, which he did--and then some.

Honest, frank, generous, and highly informative, Above the Fold is a personal history of one of the most storied and successful newspapers of our time, told through the lives of the father and son who ran it for close to half-a-century.

Conrad Black is one of our best known writers, historians, and businessmen. This never-before-published collection of Conrad's finest journalism, selected from many of the most prestigious publications in the English-speaking world, spans his full career. Included here are Conrad's best columns on Canada, its history and future; the U.S. as superpower; the Middle East; the Catholic Church; Wall Street; and journalism. Also, influential columns on everything from free trade to prison reform; and unexpected delights, including a much-read column on rescued kittens. On all of these subjects, Conrad Black is an intellectual force and these are the reflections of a masterful stylist, whose opinions defy expectation and whose wit and brilliance is on display in everything he writes.

As the world stumbles through the most severe pandemic of the last century, threatened by teetering economies, torn by political division, separated by unequal access to resources, and wrestling with issues as diverse as racism, gender, cybercrime, and climate change, the nations that best adapt and prosper are those in which empathy is fully alive and widely active. Written for a post-pandemic world, Empathy is a book about learning to be empathetic and then turning that empathy into action. Based on the personal experiences of author David Johnston, the book explores how awakening to the transformative power of listening and caring permanently changes individuals, families, communities, and nations.

A how-to manual for a world craving kindness, Empathy offers proof of the inherent goodness of people, and shows how exercising the instinct for kindness creates societies that are both smart and caring. Through poignant stories and crisp observations, David contends that Everyone has power over some things that other people don't. When they learn ways to turn that power into action, they change the future dramatically.

With clear and practical focus, Empathy looks at a host of issues that demand our attention, from education and immigration, to healthcare, the law, policing, business ethics, and criminal justice. In each of these areas, Johnston highlights the deeper understandings that have arisen during the COVID-19 crisis, with sharp emphasis on the positive and negative lessons now in crisp focus. Convinced that empathy is the fastest route to peace and progress in all their forms, David ends each short chapter with a set of practical steps the reader can take to make the world better, one deliberate action at a time.

From the bestselling author and Hall of Famer Ken Dryden, this is the story of NHLer Steve Montador--who was diagnosed with CTE after his death in 2015--the remarkable evolution of hockey itself, and a passionate prescriptive to counter its greatest risk in the future: head injuries.

Ken Dryden's The Game is acknowledged as the best book about hockey, and one of the best books about sports ever written. Then came Home Game (with Roy MacGregor), also a major TV-series, in which he explored hockey's significance and what it means to Canada and Canadians. Now, in his most powerful and important book yet, Game Change, Ken Dryden tells the riveting story of one player's life, examines the intersection between science and sport, and expertly documents the progression of the game of hockey--where it began, how it got to where it is, where it can go from here and, just as exciting to play and watch, how it can get there.

On the moonless night of August 18th 1942 a flotilla pushes out into the flat water of the Channel. They are to seize the German-held port of Dieppe and hold it for at least twenty-four hours, showing the Soviets the Allies were serious about a second front and to get experience ahead of a full-scale invasion. But confidence turned to carnage with nearly two thirds of the attackers dead, wounded or captured. The raid - the Royal Air Force's biggest battle since 1940- was both a disaster and a milestone in the narrative of the war. It was cited as essential to D-Day, but the tragedy was all too predictable.

Using first-hand testimony and highlighting recently declassified source material from archives across several countries, bestselling author Patrick Bishop's account of this doomed endeavour reveals the big picture and unearths telling details that fully bring Operation Jubilee to life for the first time.

Private Power, Public Purpose is an ambitious and sweeping first-hand account of the past 50 years of Canadian economic history, told from the front lines.... A highly rewarding read.
Stephen Poloz, former Governor of the Bank of Canada and author of The Next Age of Uncertainty

In this monumental memoir, Thomas d'Aquino offers personal insights on four decades of bold leadership at the apex of power. A transforming force in redefining the role of business and the shaping of responsible capitalism, Canada's private sector leader in advancing the free trade agreement with the United States, valiant defender of national unity, and passionate environmentalist, he has been at the centre of every major policy debate that has influenced contemporary Canada.

Referred to by his peers as Canada's leading business ambassador, Private Power, Public Purpose chronicles exploits on five continents and describes how he has championed Canada's place as an economic player on the world stage. His insights on leadership are timeless, honed from relationships with six Canadian prime ministers, over 1000 chief executives, and dozens of global leaders. Beyond business and public policy, Thomas d'Aquino's fascinating adventures in the world of voluntarism, the arts, and philanthropy reveal a great deal about the soul of this remarkable Canadian.

Unprecedented is an extraordinary business book for extraordinary times: a collection of exclusive, first-person stories on leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic from twenty-nine chief executives at Canada's most iconic and largest companies. These are unforgettable accounts from senior leaders at companies on the front lines during the pandemic--nursing homes, grocery stores, airlines, hotels, pharmacies, shopping malls--along with valuable lessons on crisis management.

The insights in Unprecedented are remarkable. Readers get a seat at the table when the CEO of Tim Hortons visits the White House to discuss financial relief initiatives for business. Canada Goose's CEO tells of retooling the parka maker to turn out surgical gowns. The head of one of Canada's largest paper producers reveals what happened when the country almost ran out of toilet paper.

COVID-19 is a shared challenge, a crisis that touches everyone. Unprecedented captures that shared experience with personal essays that mix struggle and achievement, fear, humour, and compassion. At their heart, these are stories about overcoming adversity, a theme that resonates with managers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and students of business.

Unprecedented gives us rare insight into how leaders navigated the pandemic and the social unrest and technological changes that marked this era--what was gained, what was lost, and what was learned that can help serve companies, employees, and customers better in an uncertain future.

The authors' net proceeds from the sales of Unprecedented are being donated to United Way Centraide Canada for COVID recovery across Canada.

The Ballad of Danny Wolfe cinematically traces the storied years of Danny Wolfe's life, from his birth in Regina to his relationship with his mother, Susan Creeley, a First Nations woman who was forever marked by her experience in the residential school system; to his first brush with the law at the age of four and then his subsequent arrests; to the creation of the Indian Posse, the street gang he founded with a handful of equally disenfranchised indigenous friends; to the dissonance Danny felt between the traditional world he was born into and the criminal one that became his life; to the dramatic tensions over power and loyalty unfolding in the gang world and within the Posse itself.

Drawing on unprecedented access to the Wolfe family and first-hand accounts from the people closest to the gang leader, Joe Friesen's portrait of Danny Wolfe is at once riveting and timely, nuanced and provocative.

With the images of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict so dominant in our minds, walking for leisure is the one activity probably least associated with the West Bank region. But Stefan Szepesi's book wanders well off the beaten track of Palestine as only a synonym for occupation and strife, exploring its inspiring natural and cultural landscape, its intriguing past and present, and the hospitality of its people. The book takes first-time walkers and experienced hikers, as well as armchair explorers, through Palestine's steep desert gorges, along its tiny herders' trails and over its quiet dirt roads running past silver green olive groves. With side stories and anecdotes on heritage, history, culture and daily life in the West Bank, the book ventures into the traits and character of Palestine today. Beyond the 250 km of walking trails described and mapped in detail throughout the book, Walking Palestine offers a wealth of practical walking tips, including references to local guides, the West Bank's best leisure spots and countryside restaurants, and the most charming places to spend the night.

Walking for pleasure is a concept unfamiliar to most Palestinians. But over the past five years, hikers - mainly foreign diplomats, aid workers and journalists, but also locals - have become a more common sight in the West Bank. Their hikes range from the rolling lush hills and valleys of the north to the dramatic arid desert landscape of the south. . . Walking Palestine is] a guide to 25 walks, the fruits of a four-year project by a Dutch diplomat, Stefan Szepesi. It details tracks, paths and dirt roads; supplies maps and information on historical sites, wildlife and natural attractions; and provides practical details on local guides, parking, public transport, restaurants and places to stay.--The Guardian

In Walking Palestine Stefan Szepesi has helped to make Palestine a more accessible and attractive tourist destination. Stefan's book shows what a beautiful place Palestine is and how rewarding it is, for Palestinians and visitors alike, to explore its natural and cultural heritage on foot. This is a splendid book.--The Right Honourable Tony Blair, British Prime Minister (1997--2007)

No place on earth is better known yet more misunderstood than Palestine and there is no better way to get to know the spirit of the place and its hospitable people than walking. May this book inspire many from around the world to come walk --William Ury, co-author of Getting to Yes, co-founder of Abraham's Path/Masar Ibrahim, and Senior Fellow at the Harvard Negotiation Project

Walking Palestine is a walker's paradise... Each walk serves not only as an occasion to encounter a different terrain but to comment on the various facets of Palestinian life and history.--From the foreword by Raja Shehadeh, author of Palestinian Walks, Winner of the Orwell Prize 2008

The English West Country is a land of exceptional landscapes: many miles of wild, unspoilt coastline and vast expanses of wild moorland; great cities such as Exeter, Plymouth, Bath and Bristol; and market towns, villages and hamlets. Farming, mining, quarrying, fishing and trade are the traditional industries of the counties of Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. On one level, the West Country is the most English of all English regions, home of clotted cream, thatch, church spires, folksong, hobby horses and Cecil Sharp. Yet the area was trading with Mediterranean Europe before the Romans. For many years Bristol was the centre of the slave trade, and many of its great mansions were built on the proceeds of slavery. Great swathes of land in Dorset, Wiltshire and Devon are still used by the military and are off-bounds to visitors. And within the West Country is the special case of Celtic Cornwall, and the even more remote Isles of Scilly. People lived in the West Country long before Britain, or England, were invented. From the great stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge in Wiltshire to the menhirs of Cornwall, and the wealth of prehistoric remains on the Isles of Scilly, this has always been an inhabited landscape, crafted by men and women working closely with nature and natural forces. John Payne explores this culturally rich and varied region, revealing many facets of its distinctive and much-loved identity.

CULTURAL HIGHWAYS: Jane Austen in Bath; Brunel in Bristol; Thomas Hardy and T. E. Lawrence in Dorset; Daphne du Maurier in Cornwall; Cecil Sharp collecting folk songs in Somerset; the strange story of D. H. Lawrence at Zennor.

CULTURAL BYWAYS: The nature writing of Richard Jefferies in Wiltshire; the literary circle at Chaldon Herring in Dorset; the life and work of Richard Acland, politician, landowner, and public benefactor in Devon; Laura Knight painting at Lamorna Cove in Cornwall; May Day in Padstow and the Helston Flora Dance.

CHURCHES AND CHAPELS: The great cathedrals of Wells and Exeter; countless villages dominated by medieval parish churches; the chapels of Quakers, Methodists and non-conformists.

A critically acclaimed, intimate and no-holds-barred memoir by Canada's top defence lawyer, Nothing But the Truth weaves Marie Henein's personal story with her strongly held views on society's most pressing issues.

Marie Henein, arguably the most prominent lawyer in the country, has written a memoir that is at once raw, beautiful, and altogether unforgettable. Her story, as an immigrant from a tight-knit Egyptian-Lebanese family, demonstrates the value of strong role models--from her mother and grandmother, to her brilliant uncle Sami who died of AIDS. She learned the value of hard work, being true to herself and others, and unapologetically owning it all.

Marie Henein shares here her unvarnished view on the ethical and practical implications of being a criminal lawyer, and how the job is misunderstood and even demonized. Ironically, her most successful cases made her a lightning rod in some circles, confirming her belief that much of the public's understanding of democracy and the justice system is based on popular culture and social media, and decidedly not the rule of law. As she turns fifty and struggles with the corrosive effect becoming invisible has on women, Marie doubles down on being even more highly visible and opinionated as she deconstructs, among other things, the otherness of the immigrant experience (Where are you really from?), the pros and cons of being a household name in this country, opening her own boutique law firm, and the commoditization of women's previously unpaid labour popularized by the likes of Martha Stewart. Nothing But the Truth is refreshingly unconstrained and surprising--an account by a woman at the top of her game in a male-dominated world.

But what about the man? In this definitive new biography, the Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson explores the life of the most important Canadian of our times--his suburban youth, the crisis that caused Stephen Harper to quit university for three years, the forces that shaped his tempestuous relationship with Reform Leader Preston Manning, how Laureen Harper influences her husband, his devotion to his children--and his cats. Ibbitson explains how this shy, closed, introverted loner united a fractured conservative movement, defeated a Liberal hegemony, and set out to reshape the nation. With unparalleled access to sources, years of research and writing, and a depth of insight that has made him one of the most respected voices in journalism, John Ibbitson presents an intimate, detailed portrait of a man who has remained an enigma to supporters and enemies alike. Now that enigma is revealed, in a masterful exploration of Stephen Harper, the politician and the man.