Nathan Tidridge, "Canada's Constitutional Monarchy" (2011)

An entertaining, informative, clearly-written assessment of Canada's relationship with the Monarchy.

Admirably thinking beyond the role the British Monarchy has played in Canada, Tidridge (a secondary school teacher no less) offers insights on the role played by French royal and vice-royal figures, as well as British. He indicates an encyclopedic knowledge of cultural and legal aspects of the Monarch, including Royal Tours, issues of protocol and patronage, as well as constitutional regulations. Generally, the book is better as a reference than as a cover-to-cover read, although for those seeking to better grasp the wide and important effects that the Monarchy has in Canada can certainly benefit from the entirety of this short book.

A sample chapter is available online from the publisher, Dundurn Books.

Thomas King, "The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America" (2013)

At times humorous, at times bitter, King's exploration of the history of indigenous North American's struggle to co-exist with European settlers up to the 21st-century is concurrently pleasurable and disturbing read.

More to follow.