For a century professional cycle racing on the Continent has been shaped by a complex relationship between three groups: newspapers and television which organised the races and reported them; industry which sponsored the teams of riders; and the riders themselves. They have always needed each other but, because their interests are different, they have continually been in conflict with one another. The one interest they do share is in endowing cycle racing with its unique character - its emphasis on heroism and an extraordinary willingness on the part of the rider to suffer. So, the stories about the races and the riders have always been somewhat taller than the reality. In this most elegant and insightful book, Dutch sociologist Benjo Maso identifies the truth behind the legends of cycle racing, and the Tour de France in particular, as he effortlessly weaves this compelling history of the sport.

Articulate, thoughtful, resonant with integrity, these writings F.R. Scott express the political convictions of one of Canada's most respected intellectuals. The collection spans four decades of outspoken opinion on the political issues that were dear to Scott's heart: the advocacy of socialism, civil rights, Quebec politics, labour rights, social justice, and the political destiny of Canada. Presented in chronological order, the writings include letters to the editor of the Montreal Gazette, speeches, magazine articles from Canadian Forum and Saturday Night, and letters to such political colleagues as David Lewis and J.S. Woodworth. Scott played many roles in Canadian intellectual life: as a teacher, lawyer, social activist, and poet, he was one of Canada's most skilful communicators. The clarity of his prose and the depth of conviction behind it created a powerful vehicle for his ideas on the political and social issues of his day.

In 1931-2 the first organization of Canadian left-wing intellectuals was founded. Led by historian Frank Undergill of the University of Toronto and law professor and poet Frank Scott of McGill University, the League for Social Reconstruction was critical of industrial capitalism and called for basic social and economic change through educational activity and parliamentary and constitutional channels. In the first history of this unique organization Michiel Horn outlines the League's aims and accomplishments and its ideological influence on the CCF and the NDP. Initially, the LSR avoided the term 'socialism' and remained uncommitted to any political part, although its choice of J.S. Woodsworth as honorary president made its sympathies clear. When, not long after the LSR's establishment, the CCF was founded, many League members joined it. An attempt to link the LSR openly with the CCF failed, but the League soon became known as the CCF's 'brain trust, ' and the manifesto and programme adopted by the party in 1933 clearly reflected the influence of the LSR members. The League's own democratic socialist ideas were most fully stated in Social Planning for Canada (1935), Democracy Needs Socialism (1938), and in the pages of the Canadian Forum, acquired by the LSR in 1936. With the disillusionment of the later 1930s, the distraction of the war, and, most of all, the increased support enjoyed by the CCF after 1940, the LSR disappeared as a formal organization, but its ideas shaped a political tradition which found expression in the CCF and later the NDP.