Story of a Nation: Defining Moments in our History

Inspired by history, Story of a Nation is a beautifully illustrated collection of original stories from some of Canada's most celebrated and best-loved authors. Twelve of the country's finest writers, including Margaret Atwood, Roch Carrier, Timothy Findley, Antonine Maillet, Alberto Manguel and Michael Turner, when presented with the question, What are the great events in Canadian history? responded by travelling into the past to discover the moments, both familiar and unexpected, that shaped our nation.

Drawing on their skills as master storytellers, the contributors to this collection offer wonderfully imaginative accounts of what it's like to make history. Margaret Atwood casts her eye back to 1759 and brilliantly captures the journal entries of a frightened French woman, trapped in Québec City as the English forces attack. In "The First of July," David Macfarlane's youthful narrator loses himself in the papers of an elderly neighbour, and through the records of her past, experiences the heartbreaking, stunting loss of war. In Thomas King's hilarious story, "Where the Borg Are," a young boy named Milton Friendlybear offers a Star Trekkian reinterpretation of the Indian Act, linking its significance to the fate of the universe. And revisiting an occasion of huge national pride, Michelle Berry tells the story of a four-year-old girl caught up in the excitement of the 1972 Summit Series, hopeful that the passion of hockey will hold her crumbling family together.

Each of these magical stories is further brought to life by an accompanying visual narrative. Vividly illustrating the joy, sorrow, anger and passion of more than two centuries of our history, here are fifty unforgettable images: the Belgian Queen, a seductive reminder that the Klondike of Roch Carrier's story was anything but a purely masculine domain; Kurt Meyer, the SS officer who represented evil in the childhood of John Ralston Saul and of many other children whose fathers landed on Juno beach in June 1944; and Viola Desmond at the Hi-Hat Club, whose glamour and elegance contrasted starkly with the small-minded racism so powerfully chronicled by Dionne Brand.

With a preface by Rudyard Griffiths, executive director of The Dominion Institute, and introduced by distinguished historian Christopher Moore, Story of a Nation is a moving celebration of Canada's extraordinary history and our exceptional writers.

Contributors
Margaret Atwood
Michelle Berry
Dionne Brand
Roch Carrier
Timothy Findley
Thomas King
David Macfarlane
Antonine Maillet
Alberto Manguel
Hal Niedzviecki
John Ralston Saul
Michael Turner

Preface by Rudyard Griffiths, The Dominion Institute
Introduction by Christopher Moore


From the Hardcover edition.