Books
Noble Illusions: Young Canada Goes to War. Fernwood Books, 2014.
A popular boy’s magazine, filled with adventure stories and patriotic prose. A generation raring to enter the Great War. Cause and effect? A cautionary tale for the 21st century?
“An important and timely book. Noble Illusions is a useful and accessible book for those interested in an examination of… militaristic popular culture.” -- Jon Weier, Historical Studies in Education.
Available here.
McLuhan’s Children: The Greenpeace Message and the Media. Between the Lines, 1996.
How Greenpeace pioneered a new kind of politics for the electric age.
“Required reading, surely.” – The Globe and Mail
“Accessible, lucid and coherent in its narrative, this book is about far more than the rise of Greenpeace, it is about the form of the culture we are coming to inhabit as the next century approaches.” -- Vancouver Sun
“Engaged scrutiny at its best, fair-minded and independent of party lines.” – Todd Gitlin, NYU, author of “The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America is Wracked by Culture Wars.”
Available in paperback or as an e-book here.
Lost in the Suburbs: A Political Travelogue. Stoddart, 1999 (hardcover) and 2000 (paperback).
Suburban political backlash and its aftermath, on both sides of the 49th parallel.
“... [an] observant, witty and astute tour... one of the many virtues of Lost in the Suburbs is that it gets readers thinking...” --National Post
“Dale’s book provides plenty of insights while remaining accessible... offers a splendid analysis of the factors that have shaped the suburban political landscape.” – Canadian Forum
“[an] excellent book...” – David Lewis Stein, The Toronto Star
Sadly, this one’s out of print. You can probably find a second-hand copy on Amazon here or from another internet bookseller. Or you can contact me using the contact form here.
Candy from Strangers: Kids and Consumer Culture. New Star Books, 2005.
What’s really behind the furor over marketing to kids?
“… provides a provocative take on a hot political issue… [and] challenges us to consider the effects of not just technology… but also economic ‘advances’ on that most tenuous of human states: childhood.” — Rabble.ca
This one’s also out of print. If you want to find a copy, please search for a used one on Amazon or elsewhere, or send me a note using the contact form here.