Canadian Yachting February 2017 - 70

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New Recent Reads Book Reviews
Reviewed by: R. John Garside, AP

THE PORT HOLE

A study in electronic navigation

The Beating Napoleon
Author: David Adams
Pages: 428
Published: 2012
Publisher: Abacus
ISBN: 978-349-14166-4

Dangerous Passage - Issues in the
Arctic
Author: Gerard Kenney
Pages: 211
Published: 2006
Publisher: Natural Heritage Books - Toronto
ISBN: 1-897045-13-1

The President and the Apprentice
Author: Lauren Scheuer
Pages: 243
Published: 2013
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 978-1-4516-9870-1

From the year 1789 to 1815 England was engaged in a long term conflict with the French.
Though not always at war, often the tension
was high and war was just around the corner. This historical period is often looked at
through the battles and treaties that came
about, but in this book, the author goes beyond that to paint a picture of the world at
that time and how the conflict evolved politically and the resulting consequences.
Many of you will be familiar with the plot
and how the English were constantly trying
to do something about Napoleon's ambitions and actions. This book takes you far
deeper than most general history books and
looks into the various political backgrounds
of the strange alliances that were generated to hold Napoleon in check. Not all of
them were successful of course, but a few
did work.
The author paints a very good picture of
the times and lets you see both sides as
they manoeuvre their forces and trade embargos across the European landscape and
the resulting worldwide consequences. This
is certainly, in many respects, the first global
conflict involving two superpowers and the
long drama is not always one sided. So if you
are a fan of Napoleonic times this book will
keep you very engaged.

The North West Passage has been a quest for
many nations and people for years and prior to
1905 the passage was untravelled and incomplete. There had been several famous attempts,
including Franklin's ill-fated attempt in the mid
1800s but the land surrounding the passage
and the passage itself was cloaked in secrecy.
However, in 1906 a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen leads the first successful passage and in
doing so learns many key elements about cold
weather living which will serve him well when
he travels to the South Pole in 1911.
In this book the author presents us with
three broad chapters, two dealing with traveling through the passage, one by Amundsen
and on other by Henry Larsen and his vessel
the St Roch, and the third chapter deals with
Canadian Sovereignty in the Arctic. Each
chapter of the book is filled with fascinating stories and facts and you can feel the
cold in each page as the crews of both ships
huddle down for the winter or face another
Arctic storm. The last chapter concerning
sovereignty is also very thought-provoking
as the Arctic is now not as ice bound as it
once was and with the increase in shipping
traffic in recent years the question "Who
does own the Arctic" becomes more important to address than ever. Kenney's book is
well researched delivering a good and informative read as well as being very thoughtprovoking, calling on us Canadians to take
Arctic action, while we can.

In the summer of 1956 I was only five years old
but had taken to reading the daily paper The Toronto Telegram which was delivered each day to
my parents' doorstep. The front page had a distinctive faded pink colour which was the trademark of the paper. That summer the first article
appeared concerning the upcoming US election
and featured a picture of the current Vice President Richard Nixon. I read the article and then for
the next forty years carefully followed his career
ups and downs. So when I saw this recent publication at my local bookstore I gladly bought it.
Though Nixon has been much maligned by
the Watergate Affair and other things, I found
that the author had crafted his volume regarding Nixon very well. Using extensive libraries and
historical tapes he paints a very good picture of
the US administration from 1952 to 1960. What
comes out in the book is the rather aloof attitude
of President Eisenhower, who though he is the
president, is really not a politician but a reclusive
five star general and runs the White House as
such. As a result Nixon is often called upon to be
the party flag waver and world traveller which
he gladly accepts. Nixon's dedication to getting
it right the first time is carefully chronicled by
the author and each chapter explores not only
what was said and reported about the president
and Nixon but also what really happened! The
current issues of the day are explored and explained which makes this book so interesting as
many of the Cold War decisions made then are
still with us today.

Canadian Yachting

February 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Yachting February 2017