Alastair Sweeny's Books

Fire Along the Frontier

Great Battles of the War of 1812

By: Alastair Sweeny

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Fire Along the Frontier

Great Battles of the War of 1812

By: Alastair Sweeny

A view of the War of 1812 from a social perspective. This book provides a fresh new view of the battles of the war and goes behind the scenes to explore wartime trading activity, particularly American dealings with Napoleon and cross-border commerce, as well as the activities of John Jacob Astor, America’s richest man and war financier, and his fur-trading partners in Montreal. There was a wealth of military screw-ups. What did the generals do before each battle to lose it, and what could they have done to win? And did the incompetence and mixed loyalties of Military Governor Sir George Prevost, grandson of a financier of the American Revolution and nephew by marriage of Vice President Aaron Burr, nearly lose Canada for the British? The book also provides glimpses of some of the fascinating behind-the-scenes players, such as legendary but flawed President Thomas Jefferson, and President Madison’s wife, Dolley, who could have won the war single-handedly had she been able to get all the generals together in the same drawing room.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

273

Publisher

Dundurn

Published Date

ISBN 10

1459704347

ISBN 13

9781459704343

Black Bonanza

Canada's Oil Sands and the Race to Secure North America's Energy Future

By: Alastair Sweeny

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Black Bonanza

Canada's Oil Sands and the Race to Secure North America's Energy Future

By: Alastair Sweeny

What if Canada 's so-called environmental nightmare was really an engineering triumph and the key to a stable and sustainable future? For years, Canadians have been hearing nothing but bad news out of the Athabasca Oil Sands. From 20th Century economists decrying it as a perpetual money-loser in the face of more easily-extracted foreign oil to green groups around the world declaring it the world's worst industrial enterprise, sometimes it seems as though no good could ever come from this so-called dirty resource. But what if developing Canada's Oil Sands was the key to bridging the gap between current petroleum-based economies and the alternative energies that aren't ready for market yet? What if it meant eliminating the threat of Peak Oil and providing economic stability not just for Canada and the rest of North America, but for the world? And what if the environmental costs of the resource were both not nearly as dire as some would have you believe, but currently better than many other options with the industry already making huge advances in sustainability, energy use and water reclamation? That's exactly the case that Alastair Sweeny, author of BlackBerry Planet, argues is at the core of the Athabasca Sands: a bright future. By digging into the past, present and future of oil sands technology, Sweeny cuts through the hype and hysteria and makes a solid and engaging case that the Sands aren't the environmental boogeyman set to destroy humanity, but rather our best hope for a truly stable and sustainable future.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

273

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0470675837

ISBN 13

9780470675830

Thomas Mackay

The Laird of Rideau Hall and the Founding of Ottawa

By: Alastair Sweeny

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Thomas Mackay

The Laird of Rideau Hall and the Founding of Ottawa

By: Alastair Sweeny

The Laird of Rideau Hall explores the life and times of Thomas Mackay, the chief founder of Bytown/Ottawa. Born and raised in Perth, Scotland, Mackay and his family emigrated to Montreal in 1817. Partnering with fellow mason John Redpath, he built the locks of the first Lachine Canal, did military construction work at Fort Lennox and St. Helen’s Island, and supplied stone for Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica. Engaged by Colonel By of the Royal Engineers to build the Ottawa and Hartwell Locks of the Rideau Canal, Mackay used his profits to found the village of New Edinburgh and build a mill complex at Rideau Falls, as well as the residence his daughter named Rideau Hall. With his hefty canal profits—paid in Spanish silver pieces of eight—Mackay was a major financier of the Ottawa and Prescott Railway, and chief promoter of Ottawa as the capital of Canada. He served as Colonel of the Russell and Carleton militias, was MLA for Russell for seven years, and a member of the Legislative Council of Canada for fifteen. After Mackay’s death in 1855, his son-in-law and estate manager Thomas Keefer sold Rideau Hall to the government to serve as a residence for Canada’s Governor General. Keefer also developed a tract of land owned by the estate into the village of Rockcliffe Park, today home to over 70 diplomatic residences.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

443

Publisher

University of Ottawa Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0776636812

ISBN 13

9780776636818

Living in Liverpool

A Collection of Sources for Family, Local and Social Historians

By: Alastair Wilcox

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Living in Liverpool

A Collection of Sources for Family, Local and Social Historians

By: Alastair Wilcox

Liverpool was a city whose seemingly boundless opportunities bred wealth for the ambitious few and an often precarious lifestyle for its toiling masses. But how far can we penetrate that lost world of working class life in Liverpool? Is it possible to recreate that bustling, noisy, active city? Fortunately, Liverpool’s working classes were being watched. Recording (often, it must be said, with horror) their lifestyles, were a mixture of social commentators. Chief amongst these was local journalist, Hugh Shimmin, and a fresh selection of his best writings is reprinted here. But the observations of others, such as the nationally famous George Sims and the locally renowned Dr Duncan, are to be found within this selection as well. The work of less well-known, but equally remarkable, writers and statisticians who recorded the habits, health, housing, wages and religious affiliations of Liverpool is also included in this collection of over forty key sources. The sources have been given an introduction to put them into a context which will enable their use for general interest and educational purposes by social, local and family historians.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

260

Publisher

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1443830291

ISBN 13

9781443830294

School of Aces

The RAF Training School that Won the Battle of Britain

By: Alastair Goodrum

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

School of Aces

The RAF Training School that Won the Battle of Britain

By: Alastair Goodrum

This is the fascinating true story of RAF Sutton Bridge. Between 1926 and 1946, the base saw the development and implementation of a training system that turned inexperienced pilots into Top Guns. 400 graduates and staff fought with The Few to win the Battle of Britain.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

272

Publisher

Amberley Publishing Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

144568618X

ISBN 13

9781445686189

Canquiz

Take the Canquiz Test Your Canadian Trivia Knowledge!

By: Alastair Sweeny

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Canquiz

Take the Canquiz Test Your Canadian Trivia Knowledge!

By: Alastair Sweeny

The Chinese government says that a Buddhist monk from Kabul, Afghanistan discovered Canada in 458 A.D. Yes, it's true! Take the CanQuiz! CanQuiz is a compilation of brain teasers, quizzes, intriguing questions, incredible facts, and captivating photographs that will test your knowledge, stretch your mind, challenge your brain, and make you laugh. Give your brain a major workout in the categories of sports, politics, the arts, famous Canadians, history, and more. What do you know about events in Canadian history? Canadian symbols? The geography of this vast land? Our military? Canadian inventors? You may know more than you think! Or you may have a lot to learn… Take the challenge: Q: Why did Wayne Gretzky choose #99 for his sweater? A: The Great One wore #9 as a junior because it was the number of his idol Gordie Howe. When he moved up to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in 1977-78, Brian Gualazzi was already wearing #9, so Gretzky tried #14 and #19 before settling on #99.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

180

Publisher

Key Porter

Published Date

ISBN 10

1552634159

ISBN 13

9781552634158

BlackBerry Planet

The Story of Research in Motion and the Little Device that Took the World by Storm

By: Alastair Sweeny

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

BlackBerry Planet

The Story of Research in Motion and the Little Device that Took the World by Storm

By: Alastair Sweeny

BlackBerry Planet is a new tribe of people who simply cannot get along without their favorite device, Research in Motion’s innovative electronic organizer, the BlackBerry. This omnipresent device has gone beyond being the world’s foremost mobile business tool and entered the consumer mainstream as the Swiss Army Knife of smart phones. BlackBerry Planet tells the behind-the-scenes story of how this little device has become the machine that connects the planet. Starting with the early years of Mike Lazaridis’ invention and his founding of RIM at age 23, it details his drive to innovate, developing what was a glorified pager into the essential corporate communicator, used by everyone from dealmakers to the Queen, from movie stars to the entire US Congress. Since 1992, Lazaridis and co-CEO Jim Balsillie together have been the driving force behind the RIM story. With access to senior staffers and former RIM employees, BlackBerry Planet tells the inside story about the branding and marketing success of the BlackBerry, from its use during 9/11, which earned RIM a reputation for security and reliability, to the cultural adoption of the iconic device as a must-have symbol, to the backlash against the addictive properties of the “CrackBerry,” and the various patent suits RIM has had to fight off – including the five-year court battle that resulted in the largest technology patent settlement in US history. As the incredible story of the BlackBerry unfolds, and as RIM battles global giants like Nokia and Apple in the emerging super-phone marketplace, users, fans, investors and competitors can look to BlackBerry Planet for the insight and context of where they’ve been, to try and predict where they’re going.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

289

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0470675810

ISBN 13

9780470675816

Thomas Mackay

The Laird of Rideau Hall and the Founding of Ottawa

By: Alastair Sweeny

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Thomas Mackay

The Laird of Rideau Hall and the Founding of Ottawa

By: Alastair Sweeny

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

443

Publisher

University of Ottawa Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0776636812

ISBN 13

9780776636818

Fire Along the Frontier

Great Battles of the War of 1812

By: Alastair Sweeny

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Fire Along the Frontier

Great Battles of the War of 1812

By: Alastair Sweeny

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

274

Publisher

Dundurn

Published Date

ISBN 10

1459704355

ISBN 13

9781459704350

Black Bonanza

Canada's Oil Sands and the Race to Secure North America's Energy Future

By: Alastair Sweeny

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Black Bonanza

Canada's Oil Sands and the Race to Secure North America's Energy Future

By: Alastair Sweeny

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

273

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0470675837

ISBN 13

9780470675830

A Sixth Sense

By: Alastair Davie

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A Sixth Sense

By: Alastair Davie

What would you do to escape the grinding poverty of life in a Dublin slum in the 1930s? What chance do you have to break out of its debilitating and mind-numbing hold on you? Would you kill to survive? This is the dilemma facing Francis Reagan. He has a run-in with a paedophile priest whose subsequent murder unleashes for him a lifelong odyssey. Wherever he goes, he can't find peace as his past continuously haunts him and further crimes entrap him. He trusts only his instincts-- his sixth sense-- which enable him to keep one step ahead of his pursuers, or does he? In order to escape the hangman in Ireland, Francis volunteers as an ambulance driver for the Republican Army in Spanish Civil War. He is recruited by the Germans and reconnoitres the poor air-raid defences in Belfast. A significant German bombing raid occurred in April 1941, when some 1,000 people lost their lives and thousands were displaced. Francis was devastated and blamed himself for the many city-wide deaths, particularly those of his close friends. A disillusioned Francis escapes from the clutches of the Abwehr and from a suspicious British military intelligence officer by moving to Britain's Lake District. Francis finally finds a peaceful oasis as a Church of England vicar first in the racial cesspool that is Notting Dale, London, in the late 1950s, and then in quiet Branton, Devon. His first fifteen years there sees him at peace with his past, but his paranoia grows with the arrival in the village of the same intelligence officer who had been tasked to capture him during the war. Francis's life finally begins to unravel. A series of murders leads the police to focus on the amiable vicar and his past.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

380

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1493175017

ISBN 13

9781493175017

Boy on the Wire

By: Alastair Bruce

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Boy on the Wire

By: Alastair Bruce

He is a man who lied, who told a story, a wild, fanciful story, about the death of a child, a hard and unyielding story. It is that, he finds, that he hates most. The story that was told.' In 1983 Paul Hyde, aged ten, dies falling from a ledge in the mountains of the Karoo. His older brother Peter, who falls at the same time, survives but loses all memory of the event. The youngest brother, John, is the only witness. Many years later, John is living in London. He and his wife Rachel, who knows nothing of the tragedy of his past and nothing of his family, make plans to have children of their own. Their life together is disrupted when Peter arrives in London and claims his memory is returning. Pulled back in spite of himself, John returns to South Africa and the home he grew up in. His return makes him question his recollection of the tragedy. Can we ever be certain of events that happened that far in the past, certain we have not completely changed their meaning and our part in them?

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

188

Publisher

Profile Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1782831614

ISBN 13

9781782831617

Hello and Goodbye, Horace Hardcover

By: Alastair Hannay

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Hello and Goodbye, Horace Hardcover

By: Alastair Hannay

Ranging from astrology to neuroscience and cosmology, from homelessness to love and the fragility of human fellowship, the scope of Horace Hardcover's browser is unusually wide for a philosopher these days. His iconoclastic message is that uncertainty reveals more than the elimination of doubt. The light irony of Alastair Hannay's novella hands on this truth to the reader: Does it matter that we cannot decide whether its portrait of a philosopher is pure fiction, drawn from life or not even fictionally real? One thing is made clear: the dynamic of doubt and certainty when ripped from the deadpan pages of philosophy can play havoc with a life.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

156

Published Date

ISBN 10

1849212295

ISBN 13

9781849212298

Book's by Alastair Sweeny

Fire Along the Frontier

Fire Along the Frontier

Black Bonanza

Black Bonanza

Thomas Mackay

Thomas Mackay

Living in Liverpool

Living in Liverpool

School of Aces

School of Aces

Canquiz

Canquiz

BlackBerry Planet

BlackBerry Planet

Thomas Mackay

Thomas Mackay

Fire Along the Frontier

Fire Along the Frontier

Black Bonanza

Black Bonanza

A Sixth Sense

A Sixth Sense

Boy on the Wire

Boy on the Wire

Hello and Goodbye, Horace Hardcover

Hello and Goodbye, Horace Hardcover

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email