The Hermit of Gully Lake is a thought-provoking, intimate and respectful look at the life and times of American-born but Nova Scotia-raised Willard Kitchener MacDonald (1916-2003), better known as the Hermit of Gully Lake. For sixty years, MacDonald endured hardship and extreme isolation, living as recluse in a cave-like shelter six feet by nine feet in the deep woods wilderness of northern Nova Scotia. He moved far into the woods after jumping from a troop train that would have taken him to Halifax and on to Europe for World War II. In the past thirty years, as his legend grew, many people began to seek him out, squeezing into his tiny shelter to play fiddles and guitars with the man they call Kitchener, marvelling at his wisdom, his wit and his intriguing views of events in the wider world, which he chose not to be part of. Even when his friends urged him to sign up for his old age pension in the 1980s, he steadfastly refused to sign his name to any document, even a government cheque. He was reluctant to speak about his past, saying only that he had refused to go and fight in World War II because the Bible told him, "Thou shalt not kill." When he died, however, there was enough national interest in this unique individual that both the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star sent reporters to cover the event. Joan Baxter is an award-winning Nova Scotian author who has written extensively about Africa. She is now living in northern Nova Scotia where she has turned her attention to this incredible story of a man of enormous strength and character who became a legend. She is back home after two decades of living in and reporting from Africa for the BBC World Service and Associated Press. Her most recent book, A Serious Pair of Shoes, won the Evelyn Richardson Award.

The world knew him as the Hermit of Gully Lake, a lean and bearded elderly man in rags who lived on his own for more than half a century in the deep woods wilderness of northern Nova Scotia. By the time he disappeared in December 2003, his legend had spread across Canada and beyond. According to that legend, he had jumped a troop train in the 1940s to avoid going off to World War II because he refused to kill. He then spent the rest of his days hiding out in a tiny, dark hut in the Cobequid Mountains near Gully Lake, enduring extreme hardship and isolation and living in fear of capture for desertion. In this colourful, intimate and respectful book about Willard Kitchener MacDonald, readers are offered a glimpse of the man behind the legend. Where did he come from? What was it in his nature and his past that drove him into the woods to a life of solitude? What were his passions and dreams? How did he survive on his own through the long and vicious winters? Baxter has crafted this book out of the memories and fascinating stories told by his friends and remaining relatives, a tribute to those who loved and looked out for their friend over the years. This is a book that will capture imaginations and keep alive the legend of the man who was the Hermit of Gully Lake.

The Mill --Fifty Years of Pulp and Protest explores the power that a single industry can wield. For fifty years, the pulp mill near Pictou in northern Nova Scotia has buoyed the local economy and found support from governments at all levels. But it has also pulped millions of acres of forests, spewed millions of tonnes of noxious emissions into the air, consumed quadrillions of litres of fresh water and then pumped them out again as toxic effluent into nearby Boat Harbour, and eventually into the Northumberland Strait. From the day it began operation in 1967, the mill has fomented protest and created deep divisions and tensions in northern Nova Scotia. This story is about people whose livelihoods depend on the pulp mill and who are willing to live with the "smell of money." It's about people whose well-being, health, homes, water, air, and businesses have been harmed by the mill's emissions and effluent. It's about the heartache such divisions cause and about people who, for the sake of peace, keep their thoughts about the mill to themselves. But it's also about hope, giving voice to those who led the successive groups that have protested and campaigned for a cleaner mill--First Nations, fishers, doctors, local councillors, tourism operators, artists and musicians, teachers and woodlot owners. Their personal stories are interwoven into a historical arc that traces the mill's origins and the persistent environmental and social problems it causes to this day. Baxter weaves a rich tapestry of storytelling, relevant to everyone who is concerned about how we can start to renegotiate the relationship between economy, jobs, and profits on one hand, and human well-being, health, and the environment on the other. The Mill tells a local story with global relevance and appeal.

Bertha Wilson and Claire L’Heureux-Dubé were the first women judges on the Supreme Court of Canada. Their 1980s judicial appointments delighted feminists and shocked the legal establishment. Polar opposites in background and temperament, the two faced many identical challenges. Constance Backhouse’s compelling narrative explores the sexist roadblocks both women faced in education, law practice, and in the courts. She profiles their different ways of coping, their landmark decisions for women’s rights, and their less stellar records on race. To explore the lives and careers of these two path-breaking women is to venture into a world of legal sexism from a past era. The question becomes, how much of that sexism has been relegated to the bins of history, and how much continues?

"Seven grains of paradise tells the fascinating and much neglected story about many kinds of food--and also delicacies--in Africa, a continent that gets precious little credit for anything, least of all its intricate cuisines, farms, farming know-how, food cultures and its ability to feed itself. It shouldn't be surprising that Africa has all of these, but for many it may be. Centuries of disparaging judgements and a half century of media reports churning out images of famine, disease and conflict on the continent, have eclipsed the facts that Africans have marvellous local foods and culinary cultures, and that small family farms still feed most of the continent. The narrative of the book is driven by Baxter's personal quest to learn about some fascinating and new (to her) foods in a handful of countries in sub-Sahara Africa and collect the stories these tell about the continent's farms, its markets, and its people. Her guides and tutors are the people who grow, sell, buy, prepare, and serve the foods. They help her explore the riddles of a continent better known for hunger than for its food, and why that is. It draws on stories collected over the more than thirty years that she has lived and worked in Africa, and builds on these with meticulous research. From the fabled city of Timbuktu on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, to the diamond fields of Sierra Leone, from the savannah of northern Ghana, to the rainforests of Central Africa, readers are invited along on a delightful journey of learning and eating--and some drinking too, of invigorating indigenous beverages, brews and palm wine straight from the trees. The culinary journey takes the reader down garden paths, into forests that double as farms, through the chaos of markets and into modest little roadside eateries. The real surprise here is not that Africa should boast such a dazzling array of delicious dishes and culinary traditions and indigenous foods; it is that the rest of the world knows so little about them. Baxter, a journalist, anthropologist, development researcher and writer, and Senior Fellow with the independent think tank, the Oakland Institute, does not shy away from the realities of hunger and poverty and the real lack of amenities, health facilities, and sanitation on the continent. While the book highlights the complexities and delights of African foods and family farms, it also documents the growing risks they face. So even if Seven grains of paradise is intimate and often light in tone, it is also an important and eye-opening work, thoroughly researched. The stories feed the overarching narrative of what makes for healthy food and farms and communities--what they are and how to maintain them on a continent where "slow food" and "local food" are still the normal fare for so many. With its focus on food, the book is timely and likely to garner much attention as the world confronts rising food prices, and the future of food--and the farms that grow it--in the face of climate change."--

If you have ever wondered about how hermits live, or if you are an active participant in the eremitical life, then its time to make this ultimate resource guide part of your book collection. Written by the editors of Ravens Bread, an international quarterly newsletter that provides guidance on hermit life, Consider the Ravens is a seminal study on eremitism as it has developed since the 1950s. Learn about All aspects of the vocation, including spiritual, practical, and juridical Hazards of the hidden life Practical recommendations for beginners in eremitical life Extensive citations from desert fathers and mothers Exploration of eremitical spirituality. Essentially, youll learn about the eremitic life straight from the hermits themselves, and its never an easy task to get their opinions and advice! The voices of many of todays hermits can now be heard loud and clear for the first time. Find the answers to your questions about a vocation as old as spirituality itself and discover why eremitism is becoming more popular than ever in Consider the Ravens.

This book represents the first multidisciplinary scientific work on a deep volcanic maar lake in comparison with other similar temperate lakes. The syntheses of the main characteristics of Lake Pavin are, for the first time, set in a firmer footing comparative approach, encompassing regional, national, European and international aquatic science contexts. It is a unique lake because of its permanently anoxic monimolimnion, and furthermore, because of its small surface area, its substantially low human influence, and by the fact that it does not have a river inflow. The book reflects the scientific research done on the general limnology, history, origin, volcanology and geological environment as well as on the geochemistry and biogeochemical cycles. Other chapters focus on the biology and microbial ecology whereas the sedimentology and paleolimnology are also given attention. This volume will be of special interest to researchers and advanced students, primarily in the fields of limnology, biogeochemistry, and aquatic ecology.