Facts of Life is the first historical study of any Canadian civil registration statistics since 1930 and the first study, for any jurisdiction, that extends into the twentieth century. George Emery examines Ontario's vital statistics from 1869, when civil registration for births, marriages, and deaths was first introduced, through the period between 1921 and 1952 when the province participated in Canadian national registration.

Using cliometric methods and records from six grand-lodge archives, A Young Man's Benefit rejects the conventional wisdom about friendly societies and sickness insurance, arguing that IOOF lodges were financially sound institutions, were more efficient than commercial insurers, and met a market demand headed by young men who lacked alternatives to market insurance, not older men who had an above-average risk of sickness disability. Emery and Emery show that many young men joined the Odd Fellows for sickness insurance and quit the society once self-insurance - savings - or family insurance -...