Portrait of Canada
2 journalers for this copy...
A readable, one-volume history of Canada from the earliest European settlements to the 1980s . . . especially useful for the vast majority of Americans who (like me) are totally clueless about Canadian history, culture, politics, and everything else except possibly hockey.
The three most surprising things I learned reading this book:
1) Canada is about as ethnically, racially, and religiously homogeneous as the United States . . . which is to say, not much! Issues of national identity, immigration, assimilation, and race relations are just as historically significant on the other side of the 49th parallel.
2) Canada's transition from colonies to nation (something on which I'd always been hazy, though I was pretty sure something important happened in 1867 or so) was complex, rocky, and punctuated by political donnybrooks and occasional violence.
3) The RCMP (aka the Mounties) have a history--and a relationship to the Canadian government and the Canadian people--that is not adequately depicted in "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" and "Dudley Do-Right."
The three most surprising things I learned reading this book:
1) Canada is about as ethnically, racially, and religiously homogeneous as the United States . . . which is to say, not much! Issues of national identity, immigration, assimilation, and race relations are just as historically significant on the other side of the 49th parallel.
2) Canada's transition from colonies to nation (something on which I'd always been hazy, though I was pretty sure something important happened in 1867 or so) was complex, rocky, and punctuated by political donnybrooks and occasional violence.
3) The RCMP (aka the Mounties) have a history--and a relationship to the Canadian government and the Canadian people--that is not adequately depicted in "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" and "Dudley Do-Right."
Just got it today! Thanks So Much
