The Handover: How Bigwigs and Bureaucrats Transferred Canadas Best Publisher and the Best Part of Our Literary Heritage to a Foreign Multinational By Elaine Dewar

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Elaine Dewar author journalist television story editor has been propelled since childhood by insatiable curiosity and the joy of storytelling Her journalism has been honored by nine National Magazine awards including the prestigious President s Medal and the White Award Her first book Cloak of Green delved into the dark side of environmental politics and became an underground classic Bones Discovering the First Americans an investigation of the science and politics regarding the peopling of the Americas was a national bestseller and earned a special commendation from the Canadian Archaeological Association The Second Tree of Clones Chimeras and Quests for Immortality won Canada s premier literary nonfiction prize from the Writers Trust Dewar has been called one of Canada s best muckrakers and Canada s Rachel Carson She aspires to be a happy warrior for the public good and lives with her husband Stephen in Toronto. The hanover manor Until recently McClelland and Stewart had been known as The Canadian Publisher the countrys longest lived and best independent press Its dynamic leader Jack McClelland worked with successive provincial and federal governments to help draft policies in the 1960s and 70s which ensured that Canadian stories would for the first time in the nations history be told and published by Canadians MS introduced Canadians to themselves while championing the nations literature bringing to the world Margaret Atwood Leonard Cohen Mavis Gallant Farley Mowat Rohinton Mistry Alice Munro Mordecai Richler and many others When 75% of MS was gifted amidst great fanfare to the University of Toronto on Canada Day 2000To achieve the survival of one great Canadian institution MS owner Avie Bennett declared at the time I have given it into the care of another great Canadian institutionone couldve assumed that it would remain in Canadian hands and under Canadian control in perpetuity. EBook The handover template In her controversial new book Elaine Dewar reveals for the first time how MS was sold salami style to Random House a division of German media giant Bertelsmann how smart businessmen and even smarter lawyers danced through the raindrops of the laws put into place to protect Canadian cultural institutions from foreign ownership while cultural bureaucrats looked the other way and why we should care It is the story not just of the demise of the countrys best independent publisher it is about the threats internal and otherwise facing Canadian culture The Handover is than just a CanLit How Done It it is essential reading for anyone interested in the telling of Canadian stories The Handover How Bigwigs and Bureaucrats Transferred Canadas Best Publisher and the Best Part of Our Literary Heritage to a Foreign MultinationalAn incredible story well researched and told with passion Elaine Dewar Dewar s book is a deep investigation of a turning point in Canadian cultural history when the iconic publisher McClelland Stewart was sold off to Penguin Random House for a buck Essential reading for everyone who cares about Canadian publishing It s long and deep but Elaine Dewar