Champagne and Meatballs

Active for over 40 years with the Communist Party of Canada, Bert
Whyte was an underground historical rogue who challenged the illegality
of left-wing politics during the 1930s and onwards. His unforgettable
life story spans decades and continents, his wanderlust pushing him
onto the Canadian railroad during the Great Depression as a migrant
worker, into the controversial politics of Beijing and Moscow as a
press correspondent, and out of the RCMP's reach during World War
II as a draft dodger. A cigar-smoking rabble-rouser, Whyte was known by
many as a most charming storyteller, never afraid to report the
unbiased truth about even his own political brotherhood. A sanitized
Communist memoir this is not.

Brought to light and introduced by editor and historian Larry Hannant,
Champagne and Meatballs is Bert Whyte's fascinating
memoir written months before his death in Moscow in 1984. Brash, funny,
irreverent, and entertaining, it highlights an important perspective on
world history while delving into the story of the man who was brave
enough to live it.