Crack Coach

by Steven Sandor

Overview

Gunboats on the Great Lakes tells the story of the three British gunboats which patrolled the Great Lakes as the politicians finalized the Confederation deal, and Irish nationalists recruited Civil War veterans and staged armed raids on Canada. The Fenians, a secret society of Irish immigrants in the United States, decided to attack Canada with the aim of seizing power in the remaining colonies and using them as bargaining chips with Britain. Their ultimate goal was Irish independence. Historian Cheryl MacDonald explores the impact of the Fenian attacks on average citizens, and examines how gunboat diplomacy — in this case, the presence of three British vessels — helped reassure thousands of Canadians and guarantee Canada's territorial sovereignty between 1866 and 1868. Drawing on hundreds of newspaper articles, government reports, and the logbooks of the Britomart, Cherub and Heron, as well as archive photos from the period, this book focuses on events that will intrigue any history buff.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459409811
Publisher:	James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers
Publication date:	09/21/2015
Sold by:	De Marque
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

CHERYL MACDONALD has been writing on historical topics for nearly 30 years. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines, including The Beaver and Maclean's, and she has written a number of books, mostly relating various aspects of southern Ontario history. Cheryl holds history degrees from the University of Waterloo and McMaster University.

Table of Contents

Contents

Preface by April Cormaci

Prologue     Welcome Guests

Chapter 1     The Fenian Threat

Chapter 2     Canada West Attacked

Chapter 3     Dealing with the Neighbours

Chapter 4     Improvising a Navy

Chapter 5     The Gunboats Arrive

Chapter 6     Jolly Jack Tar

Chapter 7     Discipline and Desertion

Epilogue     Maintaining a Presence

Conclusion

Postscript by Sandra MacDonald

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

"A football coach who's just been elected mayor spirals out of control, and his players suffer.

Maurice is a black, Haitian boy in grade nine in an immigrant-heavy part of Toronto. He and his South Asian best friend, Vijay, both make the junior football team. Maurice, in the shadow of his superstar brother, is a coach's favorite, but Vijay just barely makes the cut. Their teammates—especially the grade-10 player benched in favor of Maurice—resent the two. Tensions are aggravated by their coach, the white, newly elected mayor, Bob Jones, who is clearly modeled on Rob Ford. There's no subtle descent—right after the election he's insulting LGBTQ groups and getting kicked out of venues for public intoxication. Soon enough his team practices are beginning to resemble abuse, ethics complaints dog him, and scandals (both racial and crack-related) land him on international comedy programs. While at times Jones seems downright cartoonish, many of his antics seem to have been drawn straight from the headlines from Ford's tenure in Toronto (right down to Ford coaching a football team). The football scenes are a little weak—lots of successful plays, light on details—but the real story takes off once the team finally concludes that the coach must go. The third-person narration is occasionally broken up by text messages and news articles.

While more politics than sports, this is fast and unafraid of issues."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2016-07-20
A football coach who’s just been elected mayor spirals out of control, and his players suffer.Maurice is a black, Haitian boy in grade nine in an immigrant-heavy part of Toronto. He and his South Asian best friend, Vijay, both make the junior football team. Maurice, in the shadow of his superstar brother, is a coach’s favorite, but Vijay just barely makes the cut. Their teammates—especially the grade-10 player benched in favor of Maurice—resent the two. Tensions are aggravated by their coach, the white, newly elected mayor, Bob Jones, who is clearly modeled on Rob Ford. There’s no subtle descent—right after the election he’s insulting LGBTQ groups and getting kicked out of venues for public intoxication. Soon enough his team practices are beginning to resemble abuse, ethics complaints dog him, and scandals (both racial and crack-related) land him on international comedy programs. While at times Jones seems downright cartoonish, many of his antics seem to have been drawn straight from the headlines from Ford’s tenure in Toronto (right down to Ford coaching a football team). The football scenes are a little weak—lots of successful plays, light on details—but the real story takes off once the team finally concludes that the coach must go. The third-person narration is occasionally broken up by text messages and news articles. While more politics than sports, this is fast and unafraid of issues. (Fiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews