Books that speak about shared experiences

Top row, left to right:

Student Protest: The Student Radical in Search of issues… or, please don’t shoot the Piano Player by Gerald F. McGuigan (Methuen, 1968) – Articles with a variety of perspectives on student protest in Canada in the late 1960s.

Brotherhood to Nationhood: George Manuel and the Making of the Modern Indian Movement by Peter McFarlane with Doreen Manuel (Between the Lines, 2021) – Biography of George Manuel tracing his life from childhood through to his three-decade long career in Indigenous activism in which laid the groundwork for the Assembly of First Nations.

Rochdale: The Runaway College by David Sharpe (Anansi, 1987) – Describes the rise and fall of Toronto’s Rochdale college, an experimental institution of higher education with little to zero structure and “open” classes.

The Canadian Left: A Critical Analysis by Norman Penner (Prentice Hall, 1977) – Focuses on the emergence and development of Canadian socialist thought, with particular attention to the Communist Party of Canada and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.

A New Weave: Popular Education in Canada and Central America edited by Rich Arnold, Deborah Barndt, and Bev Burke (CUSO Development Education, 1986) – Guidebook discussing popular education experiences in Central America, and suggesting ideas for how they could be adapted to the Canadian context.

Bottom row, left to right:

Years of Hard Labour: Trade Unions and the Workingman in Canada by Morden Lazarus (OFL, 1974) – Broadly outlines the development of the trade union movement in Canada.

1837: Revolution in the Canadas as told by William Lyon Mackenzie edited by Greg Keilty (NC Press Limited, 1974) – The rebellions of 1837-1838 in Upper Canada and Lower Canada told through the writings of William Lyon Mackenzie.

Eight Men Speak: And Other Plays from the Canadian Workers’ Theatre edited by Richard Wright and Robin Endres (New Hogtown Press, 1976) – Collection of plays performed by the Canadian Workers Theatre, concerning the lives of workers during the Great Depression.

Pay Cheques & Picket Lines: All About Unions in Canada by Claire MacKay (Kids Can Press Ltd., 1987) – Teaches children about what unions are and what they do.

A Future Without Hate or Need: The Promise of Jewish Left in Canada by Ester Reiter (Between the Lines, 2016) – A history of the Jewish Left in Canada, looking at its origins in the immigrant communities which came to Canada in the early years of the 20th century.