A Concise History of Canada
Margaret Conrad's history of Canada begins with a challenge to its readers. What is Canada? What makes up this diverse, complex and often contested nation-state? What was its founding moment? And who are its people? Drawing on her many years of experience as a scholar, writer and teacher of Canadian history, Conrad offers astute answers to these difficult questions. Beginning in Canada's deep past with the arrival of its Aboriginal peoples, she traces its history through the conquest by Europeans, the American Revolutionary War and the industrialization of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to its prosperous present. Despite its successes and its popularity as a destination for immigrants from across the world, Canada remains a curiously reluctant player on the international stage. This intelligent, concise and lucid book explains just why that is.
- Electronic book text
- 22 Jun 2012
- CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
- Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)
- Cambridge, United Kingdom
- 54 b/w illus. 5 maps
Table of contents
Introduction: a cautious country; 1. Since time immemorial; 2. Natives and newcomers, 1000-1661; 3. New France, 1661-1763; 4. A revolutionary age, 1763-1821; 5. Transatlantic communities, 1815-49; 6. Coming together, 1850-85; 7. Making progress, 1885-1914; 8. Hanging on, 1914-45; 9. Liberalism triumphant, 1945-84; 10. Interesting times, 1984-2010.
"This impressive history of Canada tells a rich and surprisingly new story in a relatively brief space. It is constructed on an awareness of the past half-century of historical writing and is especially convincing in its approach to Aboriginal communities, French-speaking households, and Atlantic Canada. I recommend it wholeheartedly." -Gerald Friesen, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Manitoba "Conrad's book has energy and narrative drive and never seems didactic or heavy-handed. It has what Stephen Pyne calls the hallmark of all good non-fiction: "voice and vision." Instead of the literary conceits or clunky structural devices others may have relied on, Conrad trusts her own voice and the history of Canada itself to tell an inclusive yet coherent national story." -Jeffrey L. McNairn, Queen's University "Margaret Conrad's elegant, erudite and sophisticated study of Canada's history is both dramatic in scale and detailed in exposition. Throughout, Conrad traces a clear narrative trajectory that juxtaposes Canada's internal social, political and cultural dynamics and its external influences, especially those emanating from the nation on the other side of Niagara Falls, to emphasize both the challenges and triumphs that the nation has faced in constructing and sustaining a distinctive, coherent and inclusive identity in the face of internal dissent, global unrest and economic uncertainty." -Susan-Mary Grant, Professor of American History, Newcastle University "Recommended." -Choice
About Margaret Conrad
Margaret Conrad is Professor Emerita at the University of New Brunswick, Canada and has published widely in the fields of Canadian and women's history. Her publications include Atlantic Canada: A History, with James K. Hiller (2010), History of the Canadian Peoples, with Alvin Finkel (2009), No Place Like Home: The Diaries and Letters of Nova Scotia Women, with Toni Laidlaw and Donna Smyth (1988), and George Nowlan: Maritime Conservative in National Politics (1986). A founding member of the Editorial Board of Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal, she was also instrumental in the founding of the Planter Studies Centre at Acadia University, where she was a member of the history department from 1969 to 2002. She held the Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Studies at the University of New Brunswick (2002-9) and Nancy's Chair at Mount Saint Vincent University (1996-8). An Officer of the Order of Canada since 2004, she is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada.