Between the Lines was established in 1977 as a joint project of the Development Education Centre of Toronto and Dumont Press Graphix of Kitchener. After more than thirty-five years of operating, with what Quill and Quire recently called an “outsider advantage,” we have published more than 300 titles and we maintain a high proportion of these in print.

Our mandate–to publish Canadian-authored non-fiction on a broad range of social and cultural issues, to present new ideas and challenge readers to rethink the world around them, and to offer analysis of historical events and contemporary issues from an alternate viewpoint--is as relevant now as it was when BTL published its first book in 1977.

And now, in Toronto, Ottawa, and across Canada, it seems more and more Canadians are asking questions about how our governments work and how we might mend what appear to be broken democratic systems. It seems apt, then, that our most recent books include titles that offer information and inspiration for ordinary Canadians who are ready to take political action. From practical pointers about copyright law to suggestions for progressive tax reforms, and from radical 1960s Montreal to unlikely radicals in Northern Ontario, the newest BTL books call on readers to arm themselves with knowledge and to challenge the powerful.