An award-winning historian and mariner takes readers on an engrossing
international journey of self-discovery that explores timely themes of
human conflict, ethics, and reconciliation.A member of
the so-called Silent Generation, Michael Hadley has a great deal to say
in his twilight years. Opening with his Depression-era childhood on a
lonely lighthouse on the west coast of Vancouver Island, this remarkably
nuanced memoir spans decades, countries, and oceans.
Hadley’s
reflections move through his years growing up in wartime Vancouver in
the 1940s, his concert tours on the British vaudeville stage in the
1950s, and his early teaching career in Manitoba in the 1960s. He shares
his naval service on both coasts and on the Great Lakes, and his
professional experience in Germany, where unexpected friendships with
former submariners trigger an interest in how countries deal with
difficult wartime pasts. Human conflict, ethics, and multi-faith
engagement in criminal justice reform and Restorative Justice shape
Hadley’s understandings of reconciliation, taking him on prison visits
across Canada, the UK, and Uganda.
Whether examining ancient
historical sites and battlegrounds, navigating at sea, or riding camels
in the desert, he seeks universal patterns of human experience. At once a
deeply personal chronicle of a fascinating life and a measured, mature
reflection on some of the most cataclysmic events of the past century, Boxing the Compass is an unforgettable journey that will leave readers reflecting on the experiences that affect us all.
