IN TODAY’S publishing world, establishing a successful magazine is a major achievement. Fashioning a book publishing company is a whole other matter. Esprit de Corps has succeeded in penetrating both realms.
Established in 1988, Esprit de Corps Magazine has become a mainstay of Canadian military culture. In 1998, Esprit de Corp Books published its first release, Tested Mettle. Since then a number of books have been published, including a two-volume history reference, Canada at War and Peace: A Millennium of Military Heritage (2001). Most recently, a quartet of Canadian military history titles has been released, in celebration of the Year of the Veteran.
Producing these works is a complex process. While the writing, acquisition and editorial aspects of publishing constitute one set of challenges, securing financial support is another battle. Like most Canadian publishers, Esprit de Corps Books is a small business. Although most small presses rely heavily on federal grants and other publishing initiatives, Esprit de Corps Books has been considered ineligible for funding.
During the Past century, ther have been two major clashes in the Anatolia-Caucasus region, both resulting in the widespread slaughter and forced expulsion of innocent civilians from all sides. The first ocurred when the strain of the Great War caused the collapse of both the Ottoman Empire and Czarist Russia.
The second conflict erupted between 1988 - 1994, when the disintegration of the Soviet Union left a temporary power vacuum in the Caucasus, and the new republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia battled over the sovereignty of Nagorno-Karabakh.
What these two confilcts also share is that few in the West have observed, chronicled, or been able to fully understand the complexity of the situation. Those existing accounts are rife with partisan propaganda and widely divergent assessments.
Unfortunately, the unreconciled differences of their shared history continue to negatively impact the lives of the Turks, Armenians and Azeris in the present. If left unresolved, this will prevent their progress towards a peaceful and mutually beneficial coexistence in the future.
During the Past century, there have been two major clashes in the Anatolia-Caucasus region, both resulting in the widespread slaughter and forced expulsion of innocent civilians from all sides. The first ocurred when the strain of the Great War caused the collapse of both the Ottoman Empire and Czarist Russia.
The second conflict erupted between 1988 - 1994, when the disintegration of the Soviet Union left a temporary power vacuum in the Caucasus, and the new republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia battled over the sovereignty of Nagorno-Karabakh.
What these two confilcts also share is that few in the West have observed, chronicled, or been able to fully understand the complexity of the situation. Those existing accounts are rife with partisan propaganda and widely divergent assessments.
Unfortunately, the unreconciled differences of their shared history continue to negatively impact the lives of the Turks, Armenians and Azeris in the present. If left unresolved, this will prevent their progress towards a peaceful and mutually beneficial coexistence in the future.
In September 2004, veteran Canadian journalist Scott Taylor was taken hostage in northern Iraq. While awaiting execution by beheading, he reflected on the events that had brought him to a torture chamber in a remote Iraqi village.
Taylor’s recounting in Unembedded includes his experiences as a Canadian Forces infantryman, and as a front-line reporter investigating military affairs for the military magazine Esprit de Corps. His quest to see “the other side” has taken him to Africa and the former Yugoslavia, and to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in twenty-one trips before, during and after the U.S.-led invasion.
In 1996, he co-authored the bestseller Tarnished Brass: Crime and Corruption in the Canadian Military. After being held hostage for 5 days in Iraq, Taylor returned to the country, and since then has resumed his role as an unembedded war correspondent in Afghanistan. In recognition of his ability to go beyond the jingoism of mainstream media, the Globe and Mail has dubbed him the “voice of the grunts.” With searing criticism, Taylor exposes the deceit of the politicians and media cheerleaders who are ultimately responsible for waging the senseless wars that cause so much needless suffering for innocent people.
“Unembeddedis the mid-life autobiography of a toy-soldier-playing boy turned real soldier, of a soldier turned journalist, or a fervent admirer of the military turned its acerbic critic, of a proud Canadian turned whistle blower on his own armed forces. It’s a riveting book which can be read at two levels: as a personal account of a man’s life and as a journalistic account of life on the other side of the trenches. …Regardless of our feelings about all things military, we should read Unembedded, because at the end of the day Taylor had the courage to trade his heavy machine gun for a light but powerful quill.”
The title is derived from the fact that, despite constituting approximately ten per cent of Iraq's population, the "forgotten" Turkmen are often grouped with other factions when foreign analysts and commentators refer to the ethnic makeup of Iraq. In discussions concerning post-war political representation, it is common to hear specific reference made to Shiite Arabs, Sunni Arabs, and Kurds, while the remaining ethnic groups, the Turkmen, Yazidi, Sabia, Marsh Arabs, etc. are often collectively referred to as the "others".
In fact, many people are surprised to learn about the presence of the indigenous Turkmen population, despite the fact that Turkmen settlements were established over fifteen hundred years ago in Iraq. Furthermore, during the past century the Turkmen have been deliberately repressed by successive Iraqi regimes. Under Saddam Hussein's drastic Arabification policy, little official mention was ever made of the distinct Turkmen society of northern Iraq.
"Spinning on the Axis of Evil combines a series of brilliantly graphic observations and rollicking anecdotes of Mr. Taylor's Iraqi adventures heading off towards the northern front-lines near the Turkish border on a bicycle, a cat-and-mouse game of dodging his Iraqi intelligence minders, being expelled from Baghdad as an agent of Israel's spy agency Mossad, and being offered a pocketful of diamonds to serve as a mercenary in Sierra Leone."
- Bruce Garvey, Ottawa Citizen
"Highly readable" Anyone interested in a "different" view of the war and Iraq will be rewarded by Taylor's account." - Peter Worthington, Toronto Sun
Spinning on the Axis of Evil is based on Scott Taylor's personal experiences and observations gathered during 14 separate trips into Iraq before and after the toppling of Saddam's regime. This book provides a rare insight.
Books
IN TODAY’S publishing world, establishing a successful magazine is a major achievement. Fashioning a book publishing company is a whole other matter. Esprit de Corps has succeeded in penetrating both realms.
In September 2004, veteran Canadian journalist Scott Taylor was taken hostage in northern Iraq. While awaiting execution by beheading, he reflected on the events that had brought him to a torture chamber in a remote Iraqi village.
