Welcome!
My name is Glenn J Lea and I live in Berlin, Germany (since 2001). By profession I am a Senior Technical Writer but I consider myself a historian of Canada.
I graduated from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada with an honours B.A. in English and History with a start of an M.A in theology.
I’ve been a Technical Writer for most of my career but always enjoyed the teaching aspect of my work.
Well travelled
Born and raised in the suburbs of Toronto, I’ve lived in Western Canada (Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria), United States (Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts) and now Berlin, Germany.
So, I’ve seen and experienced much of Canada and a good chunk of the States - and now Europe.
In all those locations, I’ve come to value what it means to be a Canadian.
About “Beyond Brant and Brock”?
I started this Substack after being inspired by the structure of the British History Podcast created and hosted by Jamie Jeffers out of Portland, Oregon.
Despite my history degree, I knew only vague details about the development of Canada. I knew the names of the key figures in the story - Cartier, Champlain, Joseph Brant and General Brock. Beyond that, it was basically a blank canvas.
This is an attempt to fill in those gaps. I chose as a starting point John Cabot’s discovery of the New World in 1497. The end goal is the founding of Canada in 1867.
What you’ll get by subscribing:
A new article roughly each month: Well written and researched (without the use of AI) articles of about 4,000 words focusing on one topic. No flooding of your inbox with multiple posts every week!
Suggested reading: References for further reading on your own to stimulate your own research.
Each article focuses on one story: Chronological retelling of the development of Canada from first contact by Portuguese, English and French explorers to the founding of Canada.
For now, Beyond Brant and Brock has a free subscription.
Paid subscription planned
Once I reach an as yet unspecified number of articles, I will offer a paid subscription. Purchasing books and the time required to do the research is costly. At the moment, I can absorb this but soon it will require some reader support. I’ll make an announcement when that happens.
