Sharon Stewart

In Phoenix: The Life of Norman Bethune Roderick and Sharon Stewart provide the intriguing details of Bethune's controversial career as a surgeon, his turbulent personal life, his passionate crusade to eradicate tuberculosis, and his pioneering commitment to the establishment of medicare in Canada. They also examine the reasoning that led Bethune to embrace Marxism and show the depth of his faith in the triumph of communism over fascism - a commitment that drove him to take risk after risk and ultimately led to his death from an infection caught while performing battlefield surgery in remote northern China. Based on extensive research in Canada, Spain, and China, and in-depth interviews with Bethune's family, friends, colleagues, and patients, Phoenix: The Life of Norman Bethune is the definitive Bethune biography for our time.

Louis Riel devoted his life to the Metis cause. A fiery activist, he struggled against injustice as he saw it. He was a pioneer in the field of Aboriginal rights and land claims but was branded an outlaw in his own time. In 1885, he was executed for treason. In 1992, the House of Commons declared Riel a founder of Manitoba. November 16 is now designated Louis Riel Day in Canada.

David Baird, a talented young rock musician, accompanies his estranged father to Wales. Fleeing after a quarrel, David has a bizarre motorcycle accident which hurls him back in time to medieval Prydein. A variation on the Arthurian legend, The Minstrel Boy introduces us to Merlin as a stern music teacher who takes David under his wing and a young King Arthur who becomes his friend. David eventually wins the respect of the town with his strange but beautiful songs, becoming a popular minstrel boy and quickly settling into the rhythm of this ancient society. Amidst a whirlwind of conflict and romance, David discovers a new path for his music, the source of his troubled dreams, and the heart he never knew he had.