Bark, Skin and Cedar is an intelligent and grand exploration of that great Canadian icon -- the canoe. From the graceful birch bark vessels of the Micmac Indians to the wide and sturdy Haida dugouts, from the canvas-covered Chestnut Prospector to the sleek dragon racing boats, the fragile but powerful craft defines our history and our culture in a myriad of ways. James Raffan takes us on a canoe tripping journey: we are transported back in time to the notion of the canoe as a luminal vehicle, bearing the human spirit from one world to another; we are there at the Lachine Rapids, where Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain learned to paddle canoes, so different from their sea-faring vessels; we explore the canoe trip as a reflection of a heroic quest and the craft as a cradle or womb out of which love and new life will grow; and we investigate the canoe as a rich muse for our artists and profitable inspiration for our advertisers. Along the way we meet some of the canoe’s most ardent and colorful paddlers: Governor George Simpson, Frances Ann Hopkins, Edwin Tappan Adney, Eric Morse, Pierre Trudeau, Bill Mason and Kirk Wipper. With its fresh and unique blend of canoe history, legend, insight and imagination presented in an attractive gift book format, Bark, Skin and Cedar will capture a large and enthusiastic reading audience.

Often called one of the Seven Wonders of Canada, the canoe has played a particularly important role in British Columbia. This seemingly simple watercraft allowed coastal First Nations to hunt on the open ocean and early explorers to travel the province’s many waterways. Always at the crossroads of canoe culture, BC today is home to innovative artists and designers who have rediscovered ancient canoe-building techniques, as well as community leaders who see the canoe’s potential to bring people together in exciting, inspiring ways. The story of Canoe Crossings begins some fifteen thousand years ago, when, as compelling new evidence suggests, the first humans to reach the Americas did so by canoe down the West Coast. It continues through the centuries, chronicling the evolution of the canoe and its impact on the various people who used it to explore, hunt, trade, fight, race, create, and even heal. The book contains dozens of stories of colourful, passionate people who have contributed to the province’s canoe culture, including a teenager who lived ninety feet up in a tree house while designing and building the world’s longest kayak; a group of high school students who practised on a tiny lake and went on to win several World Dragon Boat Championships; and at-risk Aboriginal youth who reconnected with their traditional culture through annual “big canoe” trips. Canoe Crossings will appeal to anyone who has ever sought adventure, found solace, or seen beauty in a canoe or wondered about the origins of its design and use in British Columbia and beyond.

If the canoe is a symbol of Canada, what kind of Canada does it symbolize? Inheriting a Canoe Paddle looks at how the canoe has come to symbolize love of Canada for non-aboriginal Canadians and provides a critique of this identification’s unintended consequences for First Nations. Written with an engaging, personal style, it is both a scholarly examination and a personal reflection, delving into representations of canoes and canoeing in museum displays, historical re-enactments, travel narratives, the history of wilderness expeditions, artwork, film, and popular literature. Misao Dean opens the book with the story of inheriting her father’s canoe paddle and goes on to explore the canoe paddle as a national symbol – integral to historical tales of exploration and trade, central to Pierre Trudeau’s patriotism, and unique to Canadians wanting to distance themselves from British and American national myths. Throughout, Inheriting a Canoe Paddle emphasizes the importance of self-consciously evaluating the meaning we give to canoes as objects and to canoeing as an activity.

Having lost her family in a massive flood, sixteen-year-old Sebah finds her way onto a gigantic ark, where she must conceal herself from Noah and his family until it is safe for her and another stowaway to slip away.

In the 87 issues of Snow Country published between 1988 and 1999, the reader can find the defining coverage of mountain resorts, ski technique and equipment, racing, cross-country touring, and the growing sport of snowboarding during a period of radical change. The award-winning magazine of mountain sports and living tracks the environmental impact of ski area development, and people moving to the mountains to work and live.

A beautifully produced and illustrated (bandw) reference that offers complete descriptions and cultural contexts of the dress and ornamentation of the North American Indian tribes. The volume is divided into ten cultural regions, with each chapter giving an overview of the regional clothing. Individual tribes of the area follow in alphabetical order. Tribal information includes men's basic dress, women's basic dress, footwear, outer wear, hair styles, headgear, accessories, jewelry, armor, special costumes, garment decoration, face and body embellishment, transitional dress after European contact, and bibliographic references. Appendices include a description of clothing arts and a glossary. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Wood is an advantageous building material in many respects, but it is biodegradable and therefore requires protection when used in highly hazardous applications. This Special Issue comprises 19 papers by authors from 14 countries in Asia, North America and Europe. They represent a wide range of aspects related to wood protection and wood preservation, and give timely examples of research activities that can be observed around the globe. Several authors reported on the processes of thermal modification and different chemical wood modification techniques, which are among the latest alternative wood protection methods without the use of biocides. New preservatives and assessment methods of preservative-treated wood products are presented, as well as studies on the natural durability of wood, fire-retardant treated wood, the effect of concrete on wood durability and different novel surface modification techniques using plasma. In addition to biological durability, the mechanical properties, moisture performance, bonding properties, weathering stability and the corrosiveness of differently treated wood are investigated and reported within this Special Issue. Examples of research on fungal biology, service life planning with wood and test methodology are also included and complete the Special Issue.

The Native Races of the Pacific States is the magnum opus American historian and ethnologist Hubert Howe Bancroft who took upon himself the task of researching the exotic civilizations of the entire Pacific coast region. This region, from Alaska to Darien, including the whole of Mexico and Central America, he named the Pacific States. Before the arrival of Europeans, these territories were populated by aborigines, from the reptile-eating cave-dwellers of the Great Basin, to the Aztec and Maya civilization of the southern table-land. Volume 1 – Wild Tribes Volume 2 – Civilized Nations Volume 3 – Myths and Languages Volume 4 – Antiquities Volume 5 – Primitive History

Documented, historically accurate narratives, and thumbnail sketches comprise this outstanding contribution to the study of Pioneer life in Oregon from the viewpoint of pioneer women.