Nobody's Boy: Ralph Harris - the Northern Connection

Nobody's Boy: Ralph Harris - the Northern Connection
Author: Daryl Ashby
Publisher: Daryl Ashby
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2022-11-20
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1738707512

The media is fond of using the phrase, “A usually quiet neighbourhood” when describing tragic events that often occur in what are truly peaceful communities. Indeed, most Canadian neighbourhoods enjoy a serenity that makes them enjoyable places to safely raise families or live out the golden years without fear or anxiety. However, some communities mask a more sinister underbelly, one that remains mostly unseen but exists, nevertheless. And it is wicked. And dangerous; a place law-abiding citizens dare not venture into. Journalist and author Daryl Ashby is a master researcher, with an impressive ability to extract details of outrageous criminal behaviour, injustice and intrigue from the characters who have participated in or been witness to activities that the average citizen is blissfully unaware. Folks in the central part of Vancouver Island – including Ladysmith, Chemainus and Nanaimo – may have heard rumours of drug manufacturing, outlaw bikers, unexplained disappearances, and unsolved murders, but until recently the stories were tantalizing yarns with little substantive evidence that any of them were authentic. Until recently. In his popular 2018 book, 85 Grams, Daryl Ashby began to peel back the layers of mystery surrounding the life of Second World War hero, brilliant inventor and drug manufacturer and dealer Art Williams. It was illuminating for neighbours and the larger community who may have grown up with some knowledge of the legend of Williams but dismissed much of the banter as fantasies that grew in importance as they made the rounds in the pubs and coffee shops. Ashby shone a brilliant light on a dark world that only Williams’ family, colleagues and the police knew existed. His research probed into a justice system that often failed, frequently outwitted by Williams and his criminal conspirators. Now, Daryl Ashby has upped the ante. Art Williams was a genius. Dangerous and enigmatic. Ralph Harris was no Art Williams in intellect, but what he lacked in book smarts or technical ability, he more than made up for in brute strength, street smarts and charisma. An entrepreneur – albeit a dodgy one – Harris was dangerous. He survived and thrived in the most dangerous of realms, capable of protecting his interests with deadly force. It has been said that every man’s life contains sufficient material for a book. Some stories are more compelling than others and few can match the outrageous tales provided by the central character in Nobody’s Boy, the notorious Ralph Harris. For some, the lead character’s moral code may be hard to swallow, but that doesn’t alter the fact that his life produced sufficient material to justify being recorded within these pages. This is a story about a man who defied the law, not so much for greed as was the case for many of his money-hungry associates, but for the steady infusion of adrenaline that raced through his veins. Rather than align himself with an established criminal organization, he chose to navigate his own course. No one thought to abuse Ralph’s loyalty or threaten those he held dear. To do so would be at their own peril. He was a man respected by his peers and in some cases, feared. For those who were slow to accept his ways, they would eventually realize, nothing would stand between him and his intended goal. With a treasure trove of material gleaned from court and police documents and, most vital to the story, personal interviews with Harris shortly before his death, family members and scores of police officers, bikers, drug runners and others who shared Ralph’s flamboyant life, Daryl Ashby had penned a book that exposes an underworld hereto undiscovered on Vancouver Island.

Nobody's Boy

Nobody's Boy
Author: Daryl Ashby
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022-10-31
Genre:
ISBN: 9781738707508

85 Grams

85 Grams
Author: Daryl Ashby
Publisher:
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2018-05-02
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 9781773703510

Why some individuals function well within society for the better part of their lives only to morph into a polar opposite without forewarning may forever remain a mystery. Arthur James Williams has been viewed as such a man. His path in life was predictable over four decades only to transform into one of Canada's most notorious drug lords. Highly regarded for his actions during the Second World War, he later handcrafted the Williams' Long Bow, a work of art sought after by the leaders in competitive archery; but something tweaked his psyche during this time causing his view of bureaucracy and its administrators to take a combative shift. Art Williams navigated for years beneath the judicial radar while hand selecting a crew that formed a criminal empire to take full advantage of synthetic drugs unrecognized within current legislation. The thirst for a chemical high along the North American west coast only wetted his appetite to meet the need. The thought of incarceration never daunted his aggressive approach as he considered himself superior to the best legal minds. This is the first time the story has been told in full with no supposition or literary liberty as each player from both sides of the law contributed their personal experience to expose a real life game of chess.

John Muir

John Muir
Author: Daryl Ashby
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2005
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781553800279

This historical biography--based on the life of British Columbia pioneer John Muir--tells the amazing story of a family from Scotland who came out to Canada in the late 1840s to work as "consignee" labourers for the Hudson's Bay Company. Ashby recreates the story of the Muirs' struggle to develop a place for themselves in the hierarchic colony ruled by James Douglas. With their vision of a country based on democratic principles, the Muirs fought to bring a new way of life to the West Coast. Drawing on the Muir family diaries, Ashby recounts the family's voyage from Scotland, their first years of toil in the coal mines near Fort Rupert on northern Vancouver Island, and their challenge to the Company when they initiated what may have been the first strike in Canada. Muir went on to become a magistrate with his own sense of justice for the working man, and later a Member of the first Legislative Assembly. So fascinating is Muir's personality and so intriguing is his struggle for a democratic way of life that his life's story reads at times like a novel. Ashby is to be commended for vividly bringing back to life this historic figure, a man who deserves to be better known in his own right and for his contribution to the development of the West

A Century of Innovation

A Century of Innovation
Author: 3M Company
Publisher: 3m Company
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2002
Genre: 3M Company
ISBN:

A compilation of 3M voices, memories, facts and experiences from the company's first 100 years.

In Search of Lake Wobegon

In Search of Lake Wobegon
Author: Garrison Keillor
Publisher: Studio
Total Pages: 134
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

"This book combines text and image to reveal the real-life origins of the place where "the women are strong, the men are good-looking and the children above average." Keillor meditates on the enduring culture of the county and on the years he spent there as a young writer and an outsider. And a short story of Lake Wobegon, "October," appears here for the first time in print."--BOOK JACKET.

Land of the Permanent Wave

Land of the Permanent Wave
Author: Bud Shrake
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2012-10-05
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 0292748523

Edwin "Bud" Shrake is one of the most intriguing literary talents to emerge from Texas. He has written vividly in fiction and nonfiction about everything from the early days of the Texas Republic to the making of the atomic bomb. His real gift has been to capture the Texas Zeitgeist. Legendary Harper's Magazine editor Willie Morris called Shrake's essay "Land of the Permanent Wave" one of the two best pieces Morris ever published during his tenure at the magazine. High praise, indeed, when one considers that Norman Mailer and Seymour Hersh were just two of the luminaries featured at Harper's during Morris's reign. This anthology is the first to present and explore Shrake's writing completely, including his journalism, fiction, and film work, both published and previously unpublished. The collection makes innovative use of his personal papers and letters to explore the connections between his journalism and his novels, between his life and his art. An exceptional behind-the-scenes look at his life, Land of the Permanent Wave reveals and reveres the life and calling of a writer whose legacy continues to influence and engage readers and writers nearly fifty years into his career.

Between the World and Me

Between the World and Me
Author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Publisher: One World
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2015-07-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0679645985

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF OPRAH’S “BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH” • NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” a bold and personal literary exploration of America’s racial history by “the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race” (Rolling Stone) NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • People • Entertainment Weekly • Vogue • Los Angeles Times • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • New York • Newsday • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.