Bytown's early years - as military outpost and lumber town - did not presage greatness. Yet this rough little town (renamed Ottawa in 1855) did not remain insignificant, for geography and politics soon combined to place it at centrestage as Canada's national capital. Ottawa's fascinating story is recounted with skill and wit in John H. Taylor's Ottawa: An Illustrated History. Taylor tells this story in all its variations - the life of the French and the English, the poor and the rich; the politics of city hall and Parliament Hill; the social lives of Ottawans. Crisp and colourful, Ottawa: An Illustrated History focuses on the history of the city's relationship with its landlord - the federal government - but it also does more. It weaves together, for the first time, all the complex strands that over the years have shaped Ottawa's identity. Ottawa: An Illustrated History is handsomely illustrated by 150 historical photographs and by a dozen original maps depicting the city's geographical evolution.

This new version of Ottawa's history focuses on the city's ancient past, early beginnings, and the 50 years between 1900 and 1950.

Traces the citys development from the days when Bytown was a lumber village to its emergence as Canadas capital.

"It will put pink cheeks on you." That is what the managers of Radium Dial in Ottawa, Illinois, told the young women who painted radium on the faces of clock dials in the 1920s and 1930s. Instead, their teeth fell out and their jaws and bones disintegrated. Instead of putting pink in their cheeks, it put the women in their graves. The company knew the hazards of working with radium, but they took no safety precautions. They lied to the workers and they denied compensation to the victims. To avoid financial liability, Radium Dial closed its doors and reopened a few blocks away as Luminous Processes and continued its deadly work for another forty years. Radium Dial cared more about the health and profitability of its company than they cared about the health of the women who made the company profitable. There really was a "Society of the Living Dead," formed by the women who were dying from radium poisoning. Their astounding true story is told here.

Author Paul Yee tells the stories of eight Canadian Chinatown's -- Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax -- and explores the unique culture and heritage of each.