Larry Hannant is a journalist, author of three books, co-writer of a documentary, and contributor to an award-winning Canadian history website. Oh, and he’s also a history professor right here at Camosun College: he’s truly a busy man.
One of Hannant’s passions is unsolved mysteries. As a contributor to Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History (canadianmysteries.ca), Hannant has authored Explosion on the Valley Kettle Line: the Death of Peter Verigan and Death of a Diplomat: Herbert Norman and the Cold War.
“The goal of the website is to use a mystery with background documents to cause students to delve into Canadian history aspects,” explains Hannant.
The award-winning site currently features 12 unsolved mysteries and each includes relevant background information and archived documents pertinent in solving these historical cold cases.
“I did have several people who came forward with some new ideas, and they were fertile, but I didn’t think they were a compelling argument,” says Hannant about whether anyone has solved one of these mysteries.
In a password-protected, closed section of the site are interpretations by specialists, including a forensic explosives expert.
Aside from his work with the website, Hannant written three books, The Infernal Machine: Investigating the Loyalty of Canada’s Citizens; Champagne and Meatballs: Adventures of a Canadian Communist; Politics and Passion: Norman Bethune’s Writing and Art, which won a Kenny Award in left/labour studies.
Hannant’s research has extended from book writing to documentary writing, and his involvement with a feature-length documentary was extensive and challenging. He researched and co-wrote the script for The Spirit Wrestlers, a piece about the Doukhobours which broadcast on History Television in 2002
“With academic books, you can write and they encourage you to explore everything,” he says. “Film scriptwriting, you’ve got to get down to the nub of the issue immediately, and you’ve got to have a powerful, evocative kind of idea, or quote, or personality that can bring that out.”
But his passion still rests in history and teaching, and Hannant always encourages his students to read up on history to really appreciate what they, and all of us, have today.
“I’m really trying to open students’ eyes to how complex and elaborate the historical process is,” he says, “how different people’s outlooks and their experiences were. We can learn from them, but we won’t have that time again.”