![]() Treaty Port Shanghai, after all, was the crucible for all the twentieth-century ideologies - western colonialism and Chinese communism, authoritarianism and nationalism, free-market capitalism and aggressive globalization - that are continuing to forge history in the twenty-first century. And to understand today’s China, you have to know what Shanghai, its greatest city, was like yesterday. I believe that to understand what the world’s going to be like tomorrow, you have to understand China today. ![]() What is the one thing you want readers to learn from your book? Taras Grescoe is a finalist for the B.C. I started to read about China on the eve of the Second World War, and when I came across Emily “Mickey” Hahn, and her memoir China to Me, I knew I’d discovered an excellent eyewitness to Shanghai in its heyday as the wicked old “Paris of the Orient.” It struck me as a stage ready-made for gripping drama - or an intriguing work of historic non-fiction. When I returned home, I was haunted by what I’d seen in Shanghai. (As was the cocktail at the hotel bar, where I watched the octogenarian Chinese musicians in the Old Jazz Band lurching through Begin the Beguine and Slow Boat to China one night.) Architectural historians took me on tours of the city’s remaining Art Deco buildings and alleyway complexes, many of which seemed unchanged by the decades. The sense of faded glamour was intoxicating. Back in 2007, while doing the research for my book Bottomfeeder, I’d paid a visit to the Peace Hotel (the old Cathay) on Shanghai’s Bund. I wanted to bring a lost time and place back to life: Shanghai in the 1930s, before Communism. Shanghai Grand: Forbidden Love and International Intrigue on the Eve of the Second World WarĪ. If we want choices in the way we die, our final human right, we need to talk about our hopes and fears with our families, our doctors, our lawyers - and most of all our politicians. None of that will happen unless we demand better end of life treatment for ourselves and our loved ones. We need better access to quality palliative care, a comprehensive MAID law that helps grievously suffering patients and not just the terminally ill, and federal, provincial and territorial guarantees that the rights of qualifying patients are recognized in all publicly-funded institutions. Canadians now have the right, under certain conditions, to ask for medical assistance in dying (MAID), but that doesn’t mean the struggle for a good death is over. National Award for Non-Fiction for her book A Good Death. What is the one thing you want readers to learn from your book? Sandra Martin is a finalist for the B.C. So, I researched the history of the right-to-die movement around the world and told the stories of brave people, including Sue Rodriguez, Gloria Taylor and Kay Carter, who challenged the laws against physician-assisted dying in this country. Far too many of us think about death the way the Victorians treated sex: we know it happens but we don’t want to talk about it, and certainly not in public. I wanted to rip the shroud off death, one of our biggest taboos and greatest fears. It took me seven years to get anywhere near the bottom of it.Ī Good Death: Making the Most of Our Final ChoicesĪ. He said, “ Sure, it’s called The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.” That’s when I knew that I had stumbled upon a very deep vein of material. The word he used for this process was “optimization.” I asked him if he had a good book I could read about optimization. ![]() My big breakthrough came when I was talking to an entomologist about how ant trails continually evolve to be more efficient. Paths of wisdom - religions, philosophies, folklore - work that way too. Each person who walks a path changes it a tiny bit, and so paths evolve to suit (and represent) our desires. Over time I began to realize that paths aren’t static they’re dynamic, fluid. But I couldn’t stop noticing other kinds of trails: insect trails, deer paths, pilgrimage paths, and so on. I originally started out wanting to write a book about the Appalachian Trail, which I had recently spent five months hiking. National Award for Non-Fiction for his book On Trails. Robert Moor Robert Moor is a finalist for the B.C. The power of hope in what often seems like a hopeless situation. What is the one thing you want readers to learn from your book?Ī. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.Vancouver Sun Run: Sign up & event info. ![]()
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