Book Launch: The Beaches by Richard White

Join University of Toronto Press to celebrate the launch of The Beaches: Creation of a Toronto Neighbourhood by Richard White.

The event will begin with an introduction from Barbara Myrvold, followed by a conversation between Christopher Moore and Richard White.

Copies of The Beaches will be available for sale.

About the Speakers

Barbara Myrvold is active in the Beach neighbourhood where she has lived in the same house for more than 50 years. She was recognized as the Beach Citizen of the Year in 2021 for her contributions, notably her work to preserve and promote the heritage of the local area. With Mary Campbell, she is the author of The Beach in Pictures (1988) and Historical Walking Tour of Kew Beach (1995). She is a long-time director of The Beach and East Toronto Historical Society. Barbara has received awards for her work from Heritage Toronto and the Ontario Library and Information Technology Association.

Christopher Moore, twice winner of the Governor General’s Literary Awards, has been called Canada’s most versatile historian. His bestselling books include the children’s history The Story of Canada, the authoritative Illustrated History of Canada, and works in social history (Louisbourg Portraits), political history (1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal), and legal history (The Law Society of Upper Canada and Ontario’s Lawyers). He is a Contributing Editor at Canada’s History magazine, as well as a radio documentarian (CBC Radio Ideas), and an active blogger. A past chair and life member of the Writers’ Union of Canada, he has long been active in his local historical society in West Toronto Junction.

Follow Christopher Moore:

Website: christophermoore.ca

X: @cmedmoore

Instagram and Threads: @christo4852

Richard White is a historian, author, and former lecturer of Canadian history and urban planning history at the University of Toronto. He has lived in and walked the streets of the Beaches neighbourhood for some twenty-five years. A stint as the inaugural Research Director of the Neptis Foundation led him into the history of urban planning, a field in which he remains active; his Planning Toronto: The Planners, the Plans, Their Legacies, 1940-80 (UBC Press, 2016) was awarded the Ontario Historical Society’s 2017 J.J. Talman Award for the best book in local or regional history.

Follow Richard White:

Website: https://torontobeachesneighbourhoodhistory.ca/

About The Beaches: Creation of a Toronto Neighbourhood

The Beaches is one of Toronto’s best known and most admired neighbourhoods. It has no striking works of architecture or splendid public spaces, no must-see galleries or public institutions, and no associations with historic events or great celebrities – the sort of things that create neighbourhood reputations and draw visitors. It does, however, have an attractive character, and it is this character that Richard White seeks to understand, offering insights into how it came to be and why it has endured. Utilizing a wide range of archival records, including council minutes, newspapers, public land records, and historical photographs – as well as the present-day landscape – The Beaches reveals the various forces, public and private, local and international, that shaped this cherished urban neighbourhood.

Host or Publisher University of Toronto Press