The North Star -- Canada and the Civil War Plots Against Lincoln

[wpbinzel]

Julian Sher's latest book, The North Star—Canada and the Civil War Plots Against Lincoln, will be released on April 25th. It has been praised by assassination historians, including Ed Steers and Dave Taylor. The book looks at how the Confederacy utilized Canada to their advantage, as well as at the lives of several Canadians who played instrumental roles in the war and in the pursuit of John Wilkes Booth.

Julian Sher is an award-winning journalist and the author of six widely-acclaimed books, including White Hoods: Canada’s Ku Klux Klan and "Until You Are Dead”: Steven Truscott’s Long Ride into History. As an investigative reporter, he worked for The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. He was the Senior Producer of CBC’s The Fifth Estate, Canada’s premier investigative TV program for five years. He has directed and written major documentaries, covering wars and intrigue across the globe. His documentary Nuclear Jihad, produced for The New York Times and CBC, won the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. His latest film, Ghosts of Afghanistan, won three top Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Documentary. He is also active in protecting media freedoms, as a Senior Fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Centre for Free Expression and working with Journalists for Human Rights.

The Amazon link is: https://www.amazon.com/North-Star-Canada...107&sr=1-3

[RJNorton]

https://www.thesuburban.com/fyi/the-nort...42466.html

[David Lockmiller]

(05-06-2023 10:14 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  https://www.thesuburban.com/fyi/the-nort...42466.html

The book also shines a spotlight on the stories of such intrepid figures as Anderson Abbot, Canada’s first Black doctor, who joined the Union Army; Emma Edmonds, the New Brunswick woman who disguised herself as a man to enlist as a Union nurse . . . .

Jailed after the defeat of his rebel army, Davis was eventually released on bail. Once free, where did the hero of the South go? North – to Montreal, to join his wife and four children who already spent the closing months of the war in Canada. . . . The Confederate leader’s welcome tour in Canada included thousands of cheering fans in Toronto and a standing ovation at Montreal’s Theatre Royal, where the orchestra broke into “Dixie.”

[RJNorton]

Author Julian Sher has joined the forum - welcome Julian!

[wpbinzel]

I am going to tell tales out of school... When I was asked to edit The North Star for historical accuracy, I reached out to Julian and said that I would do it critically, and give him my best thinking. His response was "I would not want it any other way." I knew then and there that we would become friends.

[Anita]

Welcome Julian! I heard your excellent talk at the Surratt Society meeting and am looking forward to reading The North Star. It just arrived.

[RJNorton]

https://www.tvo.org/video/who-were-canad...he-us-civi

[David Lockmiller]

(05-12-2023 11:27 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  https://www.tvo.org/video/who-were-canad...he-us-civi

Excellent video. I highly recommend watching the entirety.

[David Lockmiller]

(05-12-2023 01:44 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  

(05-12-2023 11:27 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  https://www.tvo.org/video/who-were-canad...he-us-civi

Excellent video. I highly recommend watching the entirety.

3:38 mark:

There was huge swaths of the Canadian population, especially the elite - the bankers, the newspaper owners, the politicians, the church leaders - they had much more sympathy for the aristocracy in the South than the [people in] the North.

Many Canadians, tens of thousands of Canadians, and especially large numbers of black Canadians from southern Ontario, went to fight on Lincoln's side. But the Canadian establishment were pro-South.

The rest of the interview are the vivid details of this dichotomy ("division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups" - dictionary.com).

New York Times - The Morning - May 13, 2023

Story title: "Here's What a $75,000 Kid's [Birthday] Party Looks Like"

For the uber-wealthy in Los Angeles, over-the-top levels of production are increasingly common at children’s birthday parties.

[RJNorton]

https://oakvillenews.org/oakville-cultur...ok-review/

[David Lockmiller]

(06-11-2023 10:47 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  https://oakvillenews.org/oakville-cultur...ok-review/

A paragraph from the book review:

Many of us believe history is written by the winners, as did English Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who coined that phrase. On the other hand, President Lincoln believed 'history is not history unless it is the truth.'

[RJNorton]

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/julian-sh...-1.6964098

[David Lockmiller]

(09-13-2023 09:12 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/julian-sh...-1.6964098

[I]t's the fall of 1864 and the Confederates are determined to give the North a taste of their own medicine. Bennet Young is a young cavalry leader. The Confederates had already tried several unsuccessful raids from Canada into the northern states, hoping to break out the many Confederate prisoners who were being held in northern prisons. Young said, why don't we attack these unprotected northern towns?

He picks a small town in Vermont called St Albans, just across the border, largely unprotected, but big enough to have several banks. And in October, he will lead a small band of 20 men who arrive dressed as Canadian tourists. They announce they are taking over the town in the name of the Confederacy. They rob three banks in the space of a few minutes of $200,000. Kill an innocent bystander. Try to burn down the town. Gallop away on horseback and make it to the Canadian border. They make it to the Canadian side, but they're quickly arrested and they will be put on trial. [T]he Americans expect[ed] that these terrorists who committed a war crime and bank theft and murdered an innocent citizen would be duly prosecuted and extradited.

[But, to the contrary, the confederate prisoners] got wonderful wine and food served on white linen tablecloths. The New York Times talks about how the fine ladies of Montreal come down to see the Confederate prisoners. Young would have an affair with the daughter of the judge who would later acquit him.