Books

A Communist for the RCMP: The Uncovered Story of a Social Movement Informant

Now available in stores and on line.

A Communist for the RCMP: The Uncovered Story of a Social Movement Informant. This is the true story of Frank Hadesbeck, a longtime civilian informant for the RCMP Security Service. Over a period spanning 35 years, he infiltrated the Communist Party and also informed on hundreds of non-Communist progressives. A deeply researched book.  Available from Between the Lines books, good bookstores or Amazon.

Reviewer comments

Dennis Gruending provides a rich and masterful narration of previously unseen informant files, creating an unrelenting account into the everyday work of RCMP infiltration.” – Jeffrey Monaghan, associate professor, Carleton University

“At a time when we are all increasingly aware of being surveilled, this book offers fascinating insight into the motivations and operations of one of those who watched.” – Lesley Wood, associate professor, Department of Sociology, York University

“Gruending’s biography of long-time RCMP informant Frank Hadesbeck is ground-breaking.” – Jim Mochoruk, professor, Department of History, University of North Dakota

“In this fascinating and well-researched book, Dennis Gruending pulls open Cold War curtains to detail the life of an RCMP informant focused on catching perceived subversives instead of actual ‘criminals.’” – Steve Hewitt, associate professor, Department of History, University of Birmingham

Speeches That Changed Canada

Speeches That Changed Canada focuses upon some of Canada’s finest political orators, including John A Macdonald, Louis Riel, Wilfrid Laurier, Nellie McClung, Agnes Macphail, Tommy Douglas, Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau and Chief Joseph Gosnell. The book contains historical context for each speech and describes rhetorical devices used by orators to win over their audiences. Published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside in 2018. Order from Amazon.ca or purchase from the author.

Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life

Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life was released in 2011 by Kingsley Publishers. The book investigates competition between religious progressives and conservatives for power and influence in Canadian politics, mainly during the years of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. “Dennis Gruending brings both insight and hands-on experience to that fraught crossroads where faith and politics intersect . . .” – Marci McDonald, author of The Armageddon Factor Available from: Amazon or the author.

Truth to Power: The Journalism of a Benedictine Monk

Truth to Power: The Journalism of a Benedictine Monk presents the best from twenty years of provocative journalism by Father Andrew Britz, editor of the Prairie Messenger, a weekly news journal which was published by Benedictine monks in Saskatchewan for more than 100 years. Edited and with an Introduction by Dennis Gruending. “How refreshing it is to discover this collection of editorials skillfully assembled by the journalist and biographer Dennis Gruending . . .” — Michael W. Higgins, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut. Available from:  Amazon.

Emmett Hall: Establishment Radical

Emmett Hall: Establishment Radical, is a revised and updated edition of Dennis Gruending’s 1985 biography of Emmett Hall, a Supreme Court Justice whose Royal Commissioner recommended Medicare for Canada. Introduction by the Honourable Roy Romanow, former Premier of Saskatchewan. Published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside in 2005.
“Gruending has written a lively and highly readable story of a remarkable man.” — Toronto Star Available from: Amazon and from the author.

Great Canadian Speeches 

Great Canadian Speeches is a bestselling collection of 78 fine Canadian speeches. Among them: Sir John A. MacDonald making a case for Confederation, while Joseph Howe argues against it; Louis Riel pleading his case to a Regina jury in 1885;  Nellie McClung demanding the vote for women;  Dr. Norman Bethune urging Canadians to support the Republican cause in Spain;  Pierre Trudeau and Rene Levesque facing off in the 1980 Quebec referendum;  Thomas Homer-Dixon pondering Canada’s future in an increasingly unstable world;  and David Suzuki addressing environmental challenges.
“A history of Canada as seen from the podium.” – Paul Gessell, Ottawa Citizen. Available from: Amazon or from the author.

The Middle of Nowhere: Rediscovering Saskatchewan

The Middle of Nowhere: Rediscovering Saskatchewan is a selection of the best non-fiction writing about Saskatchewan from the fur trade to the 1990s. It was published by Fifth House in 1996. “A splendid collection of non-fiction pieces on Saskatchewan.“ — The Globe and Mail. Available from: Amazon.

Promises to Keep: A Political Biography of Allan Blakeney

Promises to Keep: A Political Biography
of Allan Blakeney is the inside story on former Saskatchewan Premier Allan Blakeney: his use of Crown Corporations, his takeover of half the potash industry, and his battles with Pierre Trudeau in the 1980s’ constitutional wars. Published by Western Producer Prairie Books in 1990.
“Gruending has chronicled a remarkable period in Prairie, indeed, national, politics.” —Toronto Star. Available from: Amazon and from the author.

Emmett Hall: Establishment Radical

Emmett Hall: Establishment Radical is a biography of a Saskatchewan boy who graduated from law school with John Diefenbaker and went on to become an outspoken jurist, a father of Medicare, a defender of Indigenous rights, and the conscience of a nation. Published by Macmillan in 1985.

“A number of crucial factors have gone into making Canada the nation that it is today: the Rockies, the St. Lawrence River, and Emmett Hall.” – Walter Stewart

Gringo: Poems and Journals from Latin America

Gringo: Poems and Journals from Latin America is a book of poems and journals based upon a  solitary eight-month journey through Latin America, much of it on buses, during a tense and violent time in the late 1980s. Published by Coteau Books in 1983. “Gringo is a personal book. It consists of one man’s adventures and impressions, and that is the source of its strength.” – The Globe and Mail. Available from the author.