{"product_id":"bush-friends-all-around-mark-robinson-algonquin-park-ranger-1917-1924-9798230020288","title":"Bush Friends All Around - Mark Robinson, Algonquin Park Ranger, 1917-1924","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom 1907 through to 1936, author, naturalist, and soldier Mark Robinson served as an Algonquin Park Ranger. His service included working twice as Chief Ranger, as well as twice as Acting Park Superintendent. Throughout these years, Robinson scrupulously maintained a daily diary, documenting early life in the Park. These diaries are an essential, evocative record of Canada's environmental, social, and military history during a time of unprecedented change.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis second volume of three devoted to Robinson's diaries opens in April 1917, as Robinson returns to Park duties after 20 months of military service in Canada, England, and France. The volume includes Robinson's experiences searching for and supervising examination of painter Tom Thomson's remains, the Park program to cull deer to meet wartime urban needs for meat, the introduction of wartime conscription, and the Spanish flu epidemic. In 1922, Robinson would be promoted to Chief Ranger, and subsequently, to Acting Park Superintendent. The volume closes during the summer of 1924, when Robinson is suddenly suspended from all Park duties, for what he guesses is insubordination.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe diaries offer unique insights into the people, wildlife, technologies, and society of Algonquin Park's early decades and Canadian life of the 1910s through to the 1930s. Robinson's encounters with artists, authors, socialites, provincial Cabinet ministers and criminals punctuate his notes regarding significant social, political, and technological changes, such as the introduction of radio, telephones, and airplanes; the granting of voting rights to women, and prohibition; when a Park Ranger's duties included enforcing a Sabbath ban on playing billiards.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e---\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEditor Gregory Klages, PhD, \u003c\/strong\u003e is author of \u003cem\u003eThe Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e (\u003cem\u003eNational Post\u003c\/em\u003e non-fiction bestseller, Writers' Trust of Canada Best Books 2016). Klages was Research Director for \u003cem\u003eDeath On A Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy (2008)\u003c\/em\u003e, part of the international award-winning Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History Project. His writing has been published in the \u003cem\u003eAmerican Review of Canadian Studies\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eAsian Review of Canadian Studies\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eOntario History\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSaskatchewan History, \u003c\/em\u003eand the anthology\u003cem\u003e Archives \u0026amp; Canadian Narratives.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis 350-page volume includes: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Over 200 annotations providing biographical information for key personalities, explaining terminology, providing historical context, and identifying contemporary geographic place names where these have changed from Robinson's era.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- A biographical essay about Robinson\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Essay on Algonquin Park history and policies\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Editor's notes\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- 8 photos, 1 map\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Excerpts from Robinson's published writing\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Excerpts from letters received by Robinson\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A triumph of Canadian storytelling and an endlessly fascinating read, the Robinson diaries are at once historical record, wilderness guidebook, and an autobiography of adventure. This book is far more than a journal; it's a companion. Whether you read a few lines or many pages at a time, Mark's diaries immerse us in one of the most iconic environments in Canada. His words bring to life the waters and hills of Algonquin, their mesmerizing calm, the insignificance of man, the colossal power of the natural world. That feeling is restorative and therapeutic, and even a few lines can transport the mind.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eJeff Lehman, Chair, Muskoka District Council (2022-present); Mayor, City of Barrie, Ontario (2010-2022)\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Dinerva Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51325105766674,"sku":"9798230020288","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5252ddb2-da6e-4da9-b51a-4a564fad0eda.jpg?v=1748714506","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/bush-friends-all-around-mark-robinson-algonquin-park-ranger-1917-1924-9798230020288","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}