{"product_id":"sacre-blues-an-unsentimental-journey-through-quebec","title":"Sacre Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinner of the 2000 Quebec Writers Federation First Book Award and the Mavis Gallant Prize for NonfictionA hip, enlightening portrait of a place most Canadians find baffling: Quebec without the politics.Why do three million Quebecers tune in the same absurd sitcom every week? How did they get the nickname pepsis? Why does Celine Dion put on a downhome accent when she returns to her home province?For referendumweary English Canadians, Quebec is an enigma wrapped in a yawn. Taras Grescoe treats the province as an exotic destination. He takes readers onto the shuffleboard courts of Florida, to a francophone countryandwestern festival in rural Mauricie, to the caf tables of expatriate Quebecers in Paris. He deconstructs a Montreal Canadiens hockey game, explores the stunning diversity of Quebecs newspapers, and dismantles Bombardier snowmobiles. En route, he meets Mohawk Warriors, Yiddishspeaking French Canadians, and the UFOobsessed followers of Ral.Informed and incisive, Sacr Blues explores the heart of contemporary Quebec: its lovehate relationship with France and the United States; the dance, theatre, and literary productions celebrated in Europe but little known here; its fears about distinctness on an increasingly uniform continent. Along the way we meet such Quebec residents as the playwright Michel Tremblay and the novelist Neil Bissoondath, Teleglobe CEO Charles Sirois and the arctic explorer Bernard Voyer, the foulmouthed columnist Pierre Foglia and the esteemed philosopher Charles Taylor.Sacr Blues serves up a spicy, irreverent, inside view of this unique and littleknown part of North America. With side orders of poutine, maple syrup, and Vachon snack cakes. And scarcely a mention of Lucien Bouchard.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brand: Macfarlane Walter Ross","offers":[{"title":"Grescoe, Taras \/ hardcover","offer_id":47840482787573,"sku":"SONG1551990482","price":10.09,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/5804\/8501\/files\/51WF7R89F4L.jpg?v=1773750360","url":"https:\/\/ergodebooks.com\/products\/sacre-blues-an-unsentimental-journey-through-quebec","provider":"Ergodebooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}