CANADA.
History.
We take issue with the “short” in this book’s title, for this seems as definitive a single volume of the timeline of America’s polite robust neighbor to the north as could be. It is short, only by a purely academic measure; as it covers ALL of the not surprisingly rich and raucous history of Canada. Following a brief intro that hovers over Canada’s official recognition as an actual country: Dominion Day, July 1, 1867, (actual full independence from the United Kingdom not arriving until 1982, a fact that would surprise most, us too!) Morton resets to the very beginning. He does well by the First Nations, who were estimated at near half a million individuals across today’s Canada at first contact with Europeans: from the Abenaki in the east, Ottawa and Wyandot in modern Ontario, Ojibwa and Blackfoot on the plains, and the many coastal First Nations along the Pacific coast. As with natives across the Americas, their numbers plummeted mostly as a result of disease, but also conflict and land loss, as Europeans moved in. Morton moves his narrative into the Canada of fur traders, logging, and commercial fisheries unequaled in their raw resource capability; Canada (like America) boasting a long agrarian tradition too. There is the Canada navigating French and English Canadians living side-by-side in the wake of their respective homelands fighting bitter wars, Morton bringing this unease up to the modern era attempts at Quebec’s independence. There is the Canada leery of its ever-questing ever-unsettled southern neighbor, using this as a source of irritation to swell its own independent growth, development, and national pride. And finally, there is Morton landing on a curious question: was the 20th century the American—or Canadian—century? We will leave off with this from Morton himself: “In each generation, Canadians have had to learn how to live with each other in this big, rich land. It has never been easy. If we ignore history, we make it doubly difficult.” [Condition: Used Good. At first glance, this book looked brand new. And so, we were upset to find pen / highlighter markings across the first few chapters. Luckily, the pen-wielding reader seemed to have only read or at least marked up to page 60, the majority of the book left unmarked. Put aside the markings and we could have listed the book “Like New.”]
Condition: Used Good.
Nonfiction / History.
Desmond Morton.
McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2001 (original © 1983).
Softcover, 395 pgs, 5.5 x 8.5 " / 1 lb 2 oz
