Books

Brian “Chip” Martin is an award-winning journalist and author who worked at The London Free Press for 41 years where he gained an intimate knowledge of Southwestern Ontario and its characters. He developed a reputation for his insightful political reporting and his news stories from the London courthouse, captivating a large readership. Martin’s coverage of the Buxbaum murder trial in 1986 led to his first book, Buxbaum: A Murderous Affair.

His latest book, his tenth, From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge: Canada and the Civil War, is the fascinating story about Canada and Canadians before, during, and after the conflict that tore apart the United States.

He has written true crime books, biographies and several books about baseball history, some of which focus on the contributions made to the game by Canadians. An avid historian, he is a member of the London and the Detroit historical societies.

Many of his titles are available in independent and local bookstores. In London, Ontario, they include Oxford Books, Brown and Dickson Books and Attic Books. Also widely available online from other sources.

My next project

Canadian Joe Boyle was “King of the Klondike”, “Saviour of Romania” for his exploits in distant corners of the globe. Aside from earning those sobriquets, he led a team of Yukon hockey players east to Ottawa to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1905.

Boyle raised, financed and trained a Canadian machine gun company of goldminers that saw action in the battlefields of First World War.

He worked with the Russians and Romanians along the Eastern Front to keep them fighting alongside the Allies during that conflict. Boyle fed the starving and rescued those whose lives were in peril. And he still found time to romance a queen.

For his accomplishments, Boyle was awarded eight medals by four different countries, including Britain, earning its D.S.O.

In Canada, however, Boyle was considered persona non grata by officialdom and repeatedly ordered out of the military uniform he liked to wear despite holding only an honourary rank in the militia.

In many ways, Joe Boyle was like Norman Bethune, the Canadian doctor revered for his lifesaving work and medical innovations years later in faraway China, yet virtually unknown at home. Perhaps that is because Canada, as author Pierre Berton once observed, is reluctant to annoint heroes.

Joe Boyle, who died in poverty and was forgotten for decades, lead a colourful and remarkable life.

I am anxious to tell his intriguing story. And finding a publisher to help me do so.