Tumblehome: Meditations and lore from a canoeist's life

Raffan, James

HarperCollins Canada / H & C Hb Def

The adventure-filled story of the legendary Hudson’s Bay Company is inextricably linked to the formation of a Canadian nation stretching from sea to sea to sea. In an absorbing and lively new book on The Bay, James Raffan explores the forces that moulded a man, a company and a country.
The histories of Sir George Simpson and the HBC in the golden years of the 19th century are in many ways one history, for Simpson’s professional acumen and personal ambitions propelled a failing business to a position of great wealth and political power. At its height, the HBC trading territory covered an astonishing one-twelfth of the world’s surface. Raffan captures the many contradictions of the larger-than-life man at its centre: a brilliant manager who kept an iron grip on his fur forts from east to west, ensuring British power across the land; a pompous dandy who was most at home in a voyageur-paddled canoe; a man ashamed of his illegitimate birth but who went on to sire 13 children with eight different women, only one of whom was his wife; a master businessman who laid the foundations for the single greatest business enterprise of its day. Emperor of the North is the vibrant tale of a man who shaped much more than a fur-trading company―he launched an empire of ideas that led to the creation of a country. Meticulously researched, highly readable and wonderfully illuminated by maps and archival photographs, Emperor of the North is a delight for history buffs, armchair adventurers and biography fans alike.

Emperor Of The North

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Phyllis Bruce Books

When Bill Mason set off alone into the wilderness in his red canoe, many people went with him, if only in their imaginations. Now, James Raffan leads us into the heart of the vast landscape that was Bill Mason's own brilliant imagination, on a biographical journey that is entertaining, enriching and inspiring. Bill Mason was a filmmaker who gave us classics such as Cry of the Wild and Paddle to the Sea; he was author of the canoeist's bible, Path of the Paddle; he was the consummate outdoorsman. But few Canadians know that his gentleness and rugged self-sufficiency masked a life of great physical struggles. James Raffan reveals the private, sometimes anguished, man behind the legend.

Fire in the Bones: Bill Mason and the Canadian Canoeing Tradition

Arts & Literature

Harpercollins

Bark, Skin & Cedar: Exploring the Canoe in the Canadian Experience

Engineering & Transportation

Transportation

Harpercollins Canada

When Bill Mason set off alone into the wilderness in his red canoe, many people went with him, if only in their imaginations. Now, James Raffan leads us into the heart of the vast landscape that was Bill Masons own brilliant imagination, on a biographical journey that is entertaining, enriching and inspiring. 
 Bill Mason was a filmmaker who gave us classics such as Cry of the Wild and Paddle to the Sea; he was author of the canoeist's bible, Path of the Paddle; he was the consummate outdoorsman. But few Canadians know that his gentleness and rugged self-sufficiency masked a life of great physical struggles. James Raffan reveals the private, sometimes anguished, man behind the legend.

Fire In The Bones Reissue (Phyllis Bruce Books)

Humor & Entertainment

Phyllis Bruce Books Perennial

There are few writers who can take the facts of an actual event and transform them into a compelling story that captures the mind and the heart. James Raffan is that rare author, proving with Deep Waters that he is a masterful storyteller who has not only penned a story that is by turns harrowing and poignant, but is also a powerful investigative work that sensitively explores the nature of courage, risk and loss.
On the morning of June 11, 1978, 27 boys and four leaders from St. John’s School in Ontario set out on a canoeing expedition on Lake Timiskaming. By the end of the day, 12 boys and one leader were dead, with all four canoes overturned and floating aimlessly in the wind. This tragedy, which was first deemed to be an “accident,” was actually, as James Raffan explains, a shocking tale of a school’s survival philosophy gone terribly wrong, unsafe canoes and equipment, and a total lack of emergency preparedness training. Deep Waters is a remarkable story of endurance, courage and unspeakable pain, a book that also explores the nature of risk-taking and the resilience of the human spirit.

Deep Waters

Sports & Outdoors

Water Sports

The histories of Sir George Simpson and the Hudson's Bay Company are inextricably intertwined, for Simpson's business acumen and go-ahead personality would take a failing fur trading business to a position of great wealth and political power. Controlling a vast trading territory that stretched over 1/12 the world's surface, The HBC became the most significant business in 18th and 19th century Canada and shaped the nation. As its head, Sir George Simpson epitomized the self-made man of Victorian times. Raffan has captured the many contradictions of this larger-than-life figure: his shame at his illegitimate birth, yet his fathering of at least 13 children out of wedlock; his love of grandiosity, yet his ability to rough it with the voyageurs. As he ranged fearlessly across his "empire of furs," spurring his employees to even greater profits, Simpson set speed and endurance records for overland travel that have yet to be beaten. Under his ruthless, inventive and far-seeing management, the HBC became one of the greatest business empires ever and contributed to the concept of a Canadian nation stretching from sea to sea. In many respects, Simpson was a "father of Confederation" ahead of his time.

Emperor of the North

HarperCollins, Publishers

The bestseller from James Raffan, Emperor of the North tells the story of Sir George Simpson, whose extraordinary life coincided with the success of one of the greatest commercial empires in history: the Hudson’s Bay Company, a vast trading venture that became the world’s oldest continuous commercial enterprise.

Emperor of the North (Phyllis Bruce Books)

Harper

Wild Waters - Canoeing Canadian Wilderness Rivers

Key Porter Books

Over the course of three years, Jim Raffan, seasoned traveller and bestselling author-circumnavigated the globe at 66.5 degrees latitude: the Arctic Circle. Armed with his passion for the north, his interest in diverse cultures and his unquenchable sense of adventure, he set out to put a human face on climate change. What he discovered was by turns shocking, frustrating, entertaining and enlightening. In Circling the Midnight Sun, Raffan presents a warm-hearted, engaging portrait of the circumpolar world, but also a deeply affecting story of societies and landscapes in the throes of enormous change. Compelling and utterly original, this is both an adventure story and a book that will transform the way we think about northerners and the north.

Circling The Midnight Sun

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Books by Raffan, James