A Concise History of Canada (Cambridge Concise Histories) - Softcover

Conrad, Margaret

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521744431 ISBN 13: 9780521744430

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2012

Synopsis

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. As a social historian, Conrad emphasizes the peoples' history: the relationships between Aboriginal and settler, the French and the English, the Catholic and Protestant, and the rich and poor. She writes of the impact of disease, how women fared in the early colonies, and of the social transformations that took place after the Second World War as Canada began to assert itself as an independent nation. It is this grounded approach which drives the narrative and makes for compelling reading. In the last chapter, the author explains the social, economic, and political upheavals that have transformed the nation over the last three decades. 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.

About this title

Book Description:

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? 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 the Europeans to the industrialization of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to its prosperous present. Conrad emphasizes the peoples' history: the relationships between Aboriginal and settler, the French and the English, the Catholic and Protestant, the rich and poor, and black and white. In the last chapter, the author explains the social, economic, and political upheavals that have transformed the nation over the last three decades. Despite its successes and its popularity as a destination for immigrants from across the world, Canada remains a reluctant player on the international stage. This intelligent, concise and lucid book explains just why that is.

About the Author:

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0521744431
• ISBN 13: 9780521744430
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 346