Dennis Gruending lists and describes the best books that he read in 2022.
Best Books 2022
Best Books 2021
This is a list of my favourite books from 2021, broken down by month.
My reading list from 2020
At this time of year people who I know often share their reading list for the 12 months just past. I always find that interesting and have decided to mention some of the books that I read in 2020. I would appreciate your comments on any of them, or on your favourites. Here goes: January... Continue Reading →
Trevor Herriot, Towards a Prairie Atonement
In April, I was invited by the Canadian Council of Churches to interview the well-known writer, naturalist and activist Trevor Herriot. Members of the CCC's Commission on Justice and Peace were meeting in Ottawa and asked Trevor to address them during an all-day meeting. They believe, correctly, that Trevor has much to say about living sustainably and with justice in our... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life
Released by: Kingsley Publishers (October 2011) A provocative expose of the competition between religious progressives and conservatives for power and influence in Canadian politics. Gruending follows this contest between from Parliament Hill to the church basements, synagogues, temples and universities of the nation and abroad. Available from the author: dennis.gruending @sympatico.ca Tel: 613-730-6902 Readers™ Comments:... Continue Reading →
Truth to Power: The Journalism of a Benedictine Monk
Kingsley Publishing (2010) This book, introduced and edited by Dennis Gruending, presents the best from twenty years of provocative journalism by Father Andrew Britz, a Benedictine monk at St. Peter's Abbey in the hinterland of rural Saskatchewan, far from the centres of ecclesiastical and political influence. Britz was editor of the Prairie Messenger, a prophetic... Continue Reading →
Emmett Hall: Establishment Radical
Fitzhenry & Whiteside (2005) A revised and updated version of Dennis' 1985 biography of Emmett Hall, a Supreme Court Justice and father of medicare. Introduction by the Honourable Roy Romanow. Toll-free order: 1-800-387-9776 Toll-free fax: 1-800-260-9777. Email orders: godwit@fitzhenry.ca Reviewer Comments Dennis Gruending's book compellingly documents Emmett Hall's failings and strengths, and above all his... Continue Reading →
Great Canadian Speeches
Fitzhenry & Whiteside (2004) A thought-provoking collection of the finest speeches in Canadian history. The great orators are all here, from Joseph Howe in 1835 to Stephen Lewis in 2002. Dennis provides historical context, but also probes the content and technique to find out what makes these speeches great. A Canadian best seller. Available in... Continue Reading →
The Middle of Nowhere: Rediscovering Saskatchewan
Fifth House (1996) A collection of non-fiction writing about Saskatchewan, from the fur trade to the 1990s. Includes vivid recollections by aboriginal people, excerpts from fur trade diaries, accounts of mounties, explorers, and settlers, as well as stories of protest politics, booze, dust, the Depression, war and the environment. Toll-free order: 1-800-387-9776 Toll-free fax: 1-800-260-9777.... Continue Reading →
Promises to Keep
Western Producer Prairie Books (1990) A political biography describing how Allan Blakeney defeated the Liberal government of Ross Thatcher in Saskatchewan, and how as premier Blakeney stunned the continent by taking over half the province’s potash industry; how he broke with many in his own party over the issue of uranium development; and how he... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 