Books published by Douglas & McIntyre

Part intimate family memoir, part robust social history, The Cowkeeper's Wish is a genealogical excursion through an era of astonishing change.

Over 900 maps plus 300 illustrations and photographs tell the story of the planners, schemers, gold seekers and fur traders who built Canada's westernmost province.

Forty fathers, from the Canadian prime minister to prominent athletes and artists, reflect on their unique parenting challenges and accomplishments.

Following the success of her bestselling 2015 gift book The Wild in You: Voices from the Forest and the Sea, renowned poet Lorna Crozier offers another masterful collection of poems inspired by nature, this time set in the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve in Southeastern Ontario.

Based on the true story of the Donnellys of Lucan Township, this epic novel is the iconic tale of the Old World and its sins visited upon the new.

An intimate selection of letters between Tim Gidal, a pioneering force in photojournalism, and scholar and art collector Yosef Wosk. ¿Although four decades separated us, Tim and I were inexorably drawn together through the magnetic forces of art and culture; travel; history; exile and war; loves and loves lost; writing, teaching and forgetting; collecting and letting it all go."¿Yosef Wosk, from the Preface Nachum Tim Gidal, Jewish pioneer of modern photojournalism, was born in Munich in 1909 and died in Jerusalem in 1996. He began taking photographs in the late 1920s, at a time when technological advances made photography equipment more compact and affordable than ever before. With his handheld Leica, Gidal was able to travel in interwar Europe, capturing rare images of Polish Jews prior to the annihilation of WWII.Yosef Wosk is a rabbi, philanthropist, educator, author, scholar, community leader and prominent figure in the BC arts scene. Wosk first encountered Gidal¿s work in the photo ¿Night of the Kabbalist¿ in a magazine in 1991 and, captivated, was determined to meet the photographer on an upcoming sabbatical in Israel. However, most of the trip passed without any signs that his search would be successful. One day, Wosk saw a small poster on a lamppost showcasing Israeli photography in a local gallery, and through the proprietor, finally met the person who he would later consider his close friend, teacher, and confidant¿Nachum Tim Gidal.On one level, the letters¿selected from the hundreds the correspondents exchanged over two decades¿memorialize Gidal as an artist, scholar, historian of photography and ¿hero among the Jewish people." However, they also capture the essence of Gidal and Wosk¿s friendship. Readers will be drawn into a rich conversation touching on philosophy, advice, personal issues, reading recommendations and more, with Gidal always brilliant, witty and cantankerous and Wosk curious, appreciative and intelligent. This fascinating and beautifully designed volume will appeal to those with an interest in modern Jewish history as well as anyone interested in early 20th-century photography.

An autistic writer¿s memoir of the detrimental effects of pretending to be normal, and her impassioned call to redefine what is considered a successful life.

Finding happiness at 80+, from the perspective of an octogenarian.Author Ralph Milton wants readers to know that old age is not a disease circling the world ready to pounce on anyone over eighty. Many¿maybe even most¿old people say they are happier and more contented than they have ever been. And that¿s good news because we are living much, much longer than we used to. In fact, seniors are North Americäs fastest growing demographic. To quote the author, ¿Society has never had to deal with such a huge bunch of old people.¿To address this societal shift, Well Aged offers a candid, useful and entertaining insider¿s take on life among the old-old. Not the recently retired who are enjoying Arizona winters and unlimited golf, but those in their last years, usually in the eighty- to one-hundred-year-old bracket. This book is a lively and candid look at what it¿s really like to be old, written by someone living the experience, and sprinkled liberally with humour.Topics include:Identity and independenceChoosing where to livePersonal health needs and prioritiesCommunity support, friendships and recreationSpirituality and religionIntimacy, companionship and sexualityLoneliness, depression and frailtyLeaving a legacy and end-of-life arrangementsWhen the subject of the elderly does get public attention, as it has during the covid-19 pandemic, the focus is usually on what can go wrong. Well Aged expands this conversation around aging, and it is a must-read for anyone who needs to put out their birthday cake with a fire extinguisher¿as well as those who love and care for them.

Children will laugh out loud at this silly illustrated book where animals teach people a lesson about respect for nature. After all the campers and hikers return to the city at the end of summer, a group of animals from the forest decide to pay them a visit. When Raccoon, Moose, Bear, Otter and their friends arrive in the big city, everyone is so excited to see them that they shout and run away with joy. The animals have a fun-filled day rampaging through the city and learning about human customs, until some new friends with large nets give them a ride back home.Featuring humorous and charming illustrations, City Day will make young readers laugh while educating them about the importance of treating animals¿ wilderness home with care and respect.

A new collection of short stories that illuminate Inuit experience in the Canadian South.

A fast-paced, behind-the-scenes look at thirty years of Canadian journalism from veteran CBC correspondent Reg Sherren.

Short stories that blur the boundaries between the fantastic and the mundane.

A backyard-to-table guide to growing and enjoying ancient grains and seeds, featuring fifty vegetarian recipes.

A community-oriented cookbook that will inspire readers to embrace the proven health benefits of plant-based eating.

An inspirational, spiritual and transformative collection of meditative wisdoms by beloved Indigenous author Richard Wagamese.In this carefully curated selection of everyday reflections, Richard Wagamese finds lessons in both the mundane and sublime as he muses on the universe, drawing inspiration from working in the bush—sawing and cutting and stacking wood for winter—as well as the smudge ceremony to bring him closer to the Creator. Embers is perhaps Richard Wagamese's most personal volume to date. Honest, evocative and articulate, he explores the various manifestations of grief, joy, recovery, beauty, gratitude, physicality and spirituality—concepts many find hard to express. But for Wagamese, spirituality is multifaceted. Within these pages, readers will find hard-won and concrete wisdom on how to feel the joy in the everyday things. Wagamese does not seek to be a teacher or guru, but these observations made along his own journey to become, as he says, "a spiritual bad-ass," make inspiring reading."Life sometimes is hard. There are challenges. There are difficulties. There is pain. As a younger man I sought to avoid them and only ever caused myself more of the same. These days I choose to face life head on—and I have become a comet. I arc across the sky of my life and the harder times are the friction that lets the worn and tired bits drop away. It's a good way to travel; eventually I will wear away all resistance until all there is left of me is light. I can live towards that end."  —Richard Wagamese, Embers

A forgotten Haudenosaunee social song beams into the cosmos like a homing beacon for interstellar visitors. A computer learns to feel sadness and grief from the history of atrocities committed against First Nations. A young Native man discovers the secret to time travel in ancient petroglyphs. Drawing inspiration from science fiction legends like Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury, Drew Hayden Taylor frames classic science-fiction tropes in an Aboriginal perspective.The nine stories in this collection span all traditional topics of science fiction--from peaceful aliens to hostile invaders; from space travel to time travel; from government conspiracies to connections across generations. Yet Taylor's First Nations perspective draws fresh parallels, likening the cultural implications of alien contact to those of the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, or highlighting the impossibility of remaining a "good Native" in such an unnatural situation as a space mission.Infused with Native stories and variously mysterious, magical and humorous, Take Us to Your Chief is the perfect mesh of nostalgically 1950s-esque science fiction with modern First Nations discourse.