Last night the Toronto school board approved plans to create a new "afrocentric" school within the public system. It was a close vote, preceded by a lot of thoughtful debate in the black community and in Toronto generally.
Some of the advocates and commentators keep talking about a school in which young black Torontonians will learn the history and culture of Africa and the African diaspora -- and be empowered. That's an argument that reminds me of the notion if we just taught more Canadian history to the kids in school, we could Save The Country.
I favour teaching Canadian history in schools; I favour teaching black history too. But I don't think history alone will save the country or save black Toronto either.
You know, lots of kids are just not hugely interested in history when they are kids. For many people, history is an adult interest, discovered when they are adults. I suspect that many young black kids in the highrises or townhouses around Toronto would not get a lifechanging experience from being immersed in the history of the kings of ancient Zimbabwe or trade union activism in Jamaica or the underground railroad. Many of them have no more engagement with that material than their white counterparts may have with the United Empire Loyalists or Prairie dustbowl life. For a lot of kids, and adults too, today's crucial history and culture is post-1990; it's right around them. Sell the school on history, and you have may have a hard sell engaging the students it's intended for.
The basis for afrocentric schools: it's reported that right now 40% of black students do not graduate. Black achievement, black success, black economic progress is what Toronto's black community, and Toronto itself, urgently need. Academic success is what this school should aim for. When kids are coming out of Afrocentric High with great marks, great report cards, and great scholarships, then it's working. If an Afrocentric school can create conditions in which black students can thrive, succeed, be stimulated, and go on to great things, then I'm all for it.
That can happen. The great success of all the alternative and specialty schools that Toronto already has come not so much from their various curriculums. It is how they give students a sense of belonging. Just by applying, just by being accepted, just by being placed in a like-minded group of students and teachers, students know they are not just being warehoused in the local school. They have exercised a choice, and with choice comes allegiance. It even works for kids who chose not to go specialty. Because they could have, they too know their own local school is a choice they made.
An Afrocentric school, well planned, can foster that. And if there are kids in it who want to immerse themselves in black history and culture, good on 'em. But the school itself should judge itself on how it fosters academic achievement.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
What Have You Done For Us Lately?
Barbara Berson, the Penguin Canada editor who developed "Our Canadian Girl," the very successful multi-volume series of historical novels for young readers, has left the company. Part of a restructuring, the company says.
"Our Canadian Girl" and the rival series developed at Scholastic Canada, "Dear Canada," were part of the ongoing expansion of kids' historical fiction in Canada in the last ten years. Entertained a lot of kids and kept quite a few good writers in work. Good luck, Barbara Berson.
"Our Canadian Girl" and the rival series developed at Scholastic Canada, "Dear Canada," were part of the ongoing expansion of kids' historical fiction in Canada in the last ten years. Entertained a lot of kids and kept quite a few good writers in work. Good luck, Barbara Berson.
John Seeley and the problem of the ethical professor
Sandra Martin's powerhouse obituary on sociologist John Seeley raised a troubling question rarely asked: can you be an ethical scholar and work in the modern university? Martin herself is married to a professor; interesting that she poses the question so sharply,
John Seeley did groundbreaking research and publishing in sociology, notably Crestwood Heights, a study of society, economy, and class in Toronto's Forest Hills. Interesting life: a name change, abuse, coming to Canada as a child immigrant and striving his way into scholarship. But what interests Martin most is how difficult his academic career was. No one questioned his scholarship, it seems, but he was not an organization man, at least not for the kind of organization the modern university has become.
He seems to have had olympian ideals for what a university should be. And as a result he was hounded out of one university after another, and increasingly denied opportunities for employment. He went to help found York University because they told him it aspired to be a small liberal arts school built around a cluster of colleges. When it turned out it was going to be, well, York University, he had the grace to be outraged. That was the end of his career there.
Academic freedom. It's like freedom of the press, they say: it mostly belongs to those who own one.
John Seeley did groundbreaking research and publishing in sociology, notably Crestwood Heights, a study of society, economy, and class in Toronto's Forest Hills. Interesting life: a name change, abuse, coming to Canada as a child immigrant and striving his way into scholarship. But what interests Martin most is how difficult his academic career was. No one questioned his scholarship, it seems, but he was not an organization man, at least not for the kind of organization the modern university has become.
He seems to have had olympian ideals for what a university should be. And as a result he was hounded out of one university after another, and increasingly denied opportunities for employment. He went to help found York University because they told him it aspired to be a small liberal arts school built around a cluster of colleges. When it turned out it was going to be, well, York University, he had the grace to be outraged. That was the end of his career there.
Academic freedom. It's like freedom of the press, they say: it mostly belongs to those who own one.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Seven Years (Global) War
Here's a cool one. A conference on the global Seven Years War. Skirmishes in the Pennsylvania woods and the siege of Quebec and that unpleasantness with the Acadians, sure, but also Frederick the Great's battles in central Europe, and Plassey in India and fleet actions in the Caribbean and all -- the first global war, with global consequences. Actually, I once thought of a book on the subject, hence my enthusiasm (...sigh).
This is planning ahead: the (mostly academic) conference is in October 2009. Can you work out the 250th anniversary on your fingers? It's sponsored by Brock and Niagara Universities and the Omohundro Institute at William & Mary in Virginia, to be held on the Niagara frontier. Details and call for papers from Omohundro here .
This is planning ahead: the (mostly academic) conference is in October 2009. Can you work out the 250th anniversary on your fingers? It's sponsored by Brock and Niagara Universities and the Omohundro Institute at William & Mary in Virginia, to be held on the Niagara frontier. Details and call for papers from Omohundro here .
History of Rabies
Small sensation in Toronto this week over a Humane Society worker infected with rabies -- the first case of rabies in humans in the city in twenty years.
What better opportunity to recall the ignominious death in 1819 of the Governor General of Canada, the 4th Duke of Richmond and Lennox -- bitten by a fox and died horribly. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online has the gory details here.
What better opportunity to recall the ignominious death in 1819 of the Governor General of Canada, the 4th Duke of Richmond and Lennox -- bitten by a fox and died horribly. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online has the gory details here.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Gorden Pinsent did not get his Oscar nomination, but...
... the shortlist for the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction also came out this morning.
Quill & Quire reports the nominees are (with links to Q&Q reviews):
Kevin Bazzana’s Lost Genius: The Story of a Forgotten Musical Maverick (McClelland & Stewart), about the seriously odd musical prodigy Ervin Nyiregyházi.
David Gilmour’s The Film Club: A True Story of a Father and Son (Thomas Allen Publishers);
Lorna Goodison’s From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People (M&S), a memoir of a mixed-race childhood that is also on the BC Book Prize shortlist;
Richard Gwyn’s John A.: The Man Who Made Us: The Life and Times of John A. Macdonald, Volume One: 1815-1867 (Random House Canada);
and Anna Porter’s Kasztner’s Train: The True Story of Rezsö Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust (Douglas & McIntyre).
A pretty good list, I think. Three histories and two memoirs, you could say. Gilmour's might be my sentimental favourite, though he's the only one who could be called a novelist dabbling in non-fiction. (Goodison is a poet.) Jurors: Charlotte Gray, J.B. Mackinnon, and John Manley.
Quill & Quire reports the nominees are (with links to Q&Q reviews):
Kevin Bazzana’s Lost Genius: The Story of a Forgotten Musical Maverick (McClelland & Stewart), about the seriously odd musical prodigy Ervin Nyiregyházi.
David Gilmour’s The Film Club: A True Story of a Father and Son (Thomas Allen Publishers);
Lorna Goodison’s From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People (M&S), a memoir of a mixed-race childhood that is also on the BC Book Prize shortlist;
Richard Gwyn’s John A.: The Man Who Made Us: The Life and Times of John A. Macdonald, Volume One: 1815-1867 (Random House Canada);
and Anna Porter’s Kasztner’s Train: The True Story of Rezsö Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust (Douglas & McIntyre).
A pretty good list, I think. Three histories and two memoirs, you could say. Gilmour's might be my sentimental favourite, though he's the only one who could be called a novelist dabbling in non-fiction. (Goodison is a poet.) Jurors: Charlotte Gray, J.B. Mackinnon, and John Manley.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Lewis on Heritage Conservation
Stephen Lewis, statesman, UN ambassador, commentator, and more or less our unofficial national orator, speaks tonight at Toronto's Winter Garden Theatre on the subject "Tomorrow's Past Matters: Investing in Heritage and Enriching Democracy." $30, seems seats may still be available (www.ticketmaster.ca).
It's organized by the Ontario Heritage Foundation. Details here.
It's organized by the Ontario Heritage Foundation. Details here.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Who Do?
I'm working up a column for The Beaver on the genealogy boom, and made a point of watching CBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" Are people watching this thing? I find it very effective television.
There was some clumsy scripting (discussing the American Revolutionary War, the narrator actually said slaves who fled their masters to freedom inside the British lines "chose the losing side." Whaaa?), but it's clever and often quite moving, I think. Certainly helped that Measha Bruggergosman, the one exploring her family history last night, is just irresistably charming. But sassmaster Shaun Majumder had much the same impact in a recent episode.
Anyway, my Beaver piece won't be out for six weeks or more. Lots of time to get your subscription started.
There was some clumsy scripting (discussing the American Revolutionary War, the narrator actually said slaves who fled their masters to freedom inside the British lines "chose the losing side." Whaaa?), but it's clever and often quite moving, I think. Certainly helped that Measha Bruggergosman, the one exploring her family history last night, is just irresistably charming. But sassmaster Shaun Majumder had much the same impact in a recent episode.
Anyway, my Beaver piece won't be out for six weeks or more. Lots of time to get your subscription started.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Story of Canada 2008
When a writer hasn't had a new book out for a while, reprints and re-editions are a lovely thing. So here's to announce the new revised updated 2008 edition of The Story of Canada, the history of Canada for kids and families that has been been getting a wonderful reception in all its various editions ever since the first some fifteen years ago.
Not quite a new title, but we added new material and new images. And hey, getting a box of crisp new copies of your own work delivered from the publisher feels like something. At better bookstores everywhere.
I appreciate all the support Key Porter Publishing has given this book over the years. Fond memories of working with Janet Lunn and Alan Daniel, too. Mostly it's all the appreciative readers we have to thank.
Back in 2000 Quill and Quire chose The Story of Canada as one of the ten best Canadian children's books of the twentieth century.
American Heritage
It was a surprise last year when the big glossy American history magazine American Heritage went belly up. I'd have guessed there was a huge niche for a mag of that sort in the US. Then one of the Grosvenors (of National Geographic fame, American royalty almost) bought it up, and it seemed likely to revive.
Meanwhile, the American Heritage website continued. Along with ongoing brief articles and material from the mag's archives, it offered one of the only substantial historyblogs (histblog? histoblog? blistory?) I've come across. Along with some wierd only-in-the-US Red State/Blue State slanging matches among its team of bloggers, it had some lively, thoughtful coverage of historical issues and events.
Now the new team announces it is finally ready to take over. Seems all it has done, however, is fire all the bloggers. Too bad.
Late Update: Greg Pepus of American Heritage's new team assures me they have big plans for both the magazine and website. "It takes time and a huge amount of money to restart an enterprise," he says. Fair enough. We'll keep looking in.
Meanwhile, the American Heritage website continued. Along with ongoing brief articles and material from the mag's archives, it offered one of the only substantial historyblogs (histblog? histoblog? blistory?) I've come across. Along with some wierd only-in-the-US Red State/Blue State slanging matches among its team of bloggers, it had some lively, thoughtful coverage of historical issues and events.
Now the new team announces it is finally ready to take over. Seems all it has done, however, is fire all the bloggers. Too bad.
Late Update: Greg Pepus of American Heritage's new team assures me they have big plans for both the magazine and website. "It takes time and a huge amount of money to restart an enterprise," he says. Fair enough. We'll keep looking in.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
My Life as a Dinosaur Hunter
"During the stormiest weather, when the sea thrashes the steep coastline of southern England, demolishing entire limestone cliffs, Chris Moore likes to go hunting for big game -- big, long-dead game."
This story is not about me at all, just about a Chris Moore I would suddenly like to be...
This story is not about me at all, just about a Chris Moore I would suddenly like to be...
Friday, January 11, 2008
Centre for Confederation Studies
Stephen Michael MacLean announces that he is marking John A. Macdonald's 193rd birthday (today -- many happy returns!) by launching the website of The Centre for Confederation Politics.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Robert Stacey memorial
Friends and colleagues of Bob Stacey are invited to an event to celebrate Bob’s life and work.
Date: Saturday, February 9, 2008
Time: 2:00-5:00pm
Location: Arts and Letters Club, 14 Elm Street,Toronto
Program: 3:00pm
Remarks by Friends
Reminiscences by absent friends will be read
Club cash bar will be open
RSVP: Regrets only ( to rsjames@sympatico.ca)
Date: Saturday, February 9, 2008
Time: 2:00-5:00pm
Location: Arts and Letters Club, 14 Elm Street,Toronto
Program: 3:00pm
Remarks by Friends
Reminiscences by absent friends will be read
Club cash bar will be open
RSVP: Regrets only ( to rsjames@sympatico.ca)
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
The History Book market
No Canadian history books in the top 50 sellers? (see post below)?
Well, Altitude Publishing of Canmore, Alberta, had a refreshingly commercial and pragmatically down-market approach to moving books about Canadian history. Amazing Stories: slim books, colourful stories -- crimes, disasters, heroes, legends. No pretention, no promotion, mostly unknown authors. Titles published in great profusion, prices kept low, and 20 or 40 different titles displayed together on Altitude's own display racks rather than shelved with all the other publishers' wares.
Now Altitude is unable even to pay royalties to its authors and may be toast.
Altitude is blaming the aggressive returns policies of the big-box chains. It's easy to see the problem. Altitude's marketing strategy is to make Amazing Stories timeless. When you want a little history, there's sure to be something on the Amazing Stories rack to catch your eye. Just published or ten years old, who cares?
But the chains want to wallpaper their stores with new books and return everything that doesn't sell through very fast. And they are too big and inflexible to understand niche strategies that might actually work for Canadiana and Canadian history.
If Altitude can survive, it should future-focus on tourist destinations, hotel lobbies, and other retail spaces that mesh with its strategy. Live by the Chindigo, die by the Chindigo.
[Later update: On reflection, I realize this is misplacing the blame. I'm not a reflexive big-box hater. They do a lot to sell books and bring people into contact with books. But we desperately need alternate outlets too. When Chindigo dominates the retail marketplace, things like this happen that should not happen.]
Meanwhile, here's a history title guaranteed its fifteen minutes of fame. If there's anything the media likes about Canadian history, it's a story that can be treated as funny and trivial.
Well, Altitude Publishing of Canmore, Alberta, had a refreshingly commercial and pragmatically down-market approach to moving books about Canadian history. Amazing Stories: slim books, colourful stories -- crimes, disasters, heroes, legends. No pretention, no promotion, mostly unknown authors. Titles published in great profusion, prices kept low, and 20 or 40 different titles displayed together on Altitude's own display racks rather than shelved with all the other publishers' wares.
Now Altitude is unable even to pay royalties to its authors and may be toast.
Altitude is blaming the aggressive returns policies of the big-box chains. It's easy to see the problem. Altitude's marketing strategy is to make Amazing Stories timeless. When you want a little history, there's sure to be something on the Amazing Stories rack to catch your eye. Just published or ten years old, who cares?
But the chains want to wallpaper their stores with new books and return everything that doesn't sell through very fast. And they are too big and inflexible to understand niche strategies that might actually work for Canadiana and Canadian history.
If Altitude can survive, it should future-focus on tourist destinations, hotel lobbies, and other retail spaces that mesh with its strategy. Live by the Chindigo, die by the Chindigo.
[Later update: On reflection, I realize this is misplacing the blame. I'm not a reflexive big-box hater. They do a lot to sell books and bring people into contact with books. But we desperately need alternate outlets too. When Chindigo dominates the retail marketplace, things like this happen that should not happen.]
Meanwhile, here's a history title guaranteed its fifteen minutes of fame. If there's anything the media likes about Canadian history, it's a story that can be treated as funny and trivial.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
History: Um, let's think of it as a special interest
Quill and Quire magazine has just published a listing of the top-selling 50 titles by Canadian authors during the Christmas rush, December 2007. (QQ uses the relatively new BookNet system, which is said to generate pretty reliable data. Before BookNet, it was often rumoured booksellers called a title a hot seller when they wanted to generate interest in it -- because it was not selling.)
Anyway, lots of good books in the top fifty. Literary fiction, current events, hockey, how-to, memoirs, the whole gamut. But not a single title I would have claimed as a "history" title. You won't find any of the books on my Notable History Books list (see below, January 2) in BookNet's top 50 sellers.
Anyway, lots of good books in the top fifty. Literary fiction, current events, hockey, how-to, memoirs, the whole gamut. But not a single title I would have claimed as a "history" title. You won't find any of the books on my Notable History Books list (see below, January 2) in BookNet's top 50 sellers.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Obamabee -- who cares?
American primary politics is always stupid and boring, and I try to avoid it. Given up http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/ for the duration. So I should not even have read Christopher Hitchens on the process. But at least someone exposes the whole thing as counter-democratic and absurd and mostly a self-serving stunt by the media.
When's someone going to do the equivalent for our own expensive cesspool of inaccountability and votebuying: the leadership convention? As Hitchens says, the scandal is not what's illegal. It's what's legal.
When's someone going to do the equivalent for our own expensive cesspool of inaccountability and votebuying: the leadership convention? As Hitchens says, the scandal is not what's illegal. It's what's legal.
Archives in peril again
The National Post here wrings its hands about the difficulty digital information creates for archivists. I suspect in the long run this is a problem with its own solution, but still...
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Notable Canadian history books of 2007... so far.
The Globe & Mail’s Notable Books list of December 29, 2007 included no Canadian histories whatsoever. I’m not about to say they were wrong. I’m not sure 2007 gave us any breakout bestsellers, classics in the making, or titles that really changed the genre of Canadian historical writing. Still, I found a lot to note, a lot I would still like to read.
I’ve listed here books of Canadian historical interest that struck me as notable, whether I have read them or just want to, plus the books suggested to me online if they fitted a capacious definition of “history” and “Canadian” and were published in the last year or so.
Who is publishing noteworthy Canadian history? Looks like McClelland & Stewart by a nose on the trade side (kudos to little Goose Lane of Fredericton) and University of Toronto Press on the academic side (McGill-Queen’s close behind).
Thanks to all who have already participated. New suggestions and responses remain welcome.
Angus L. Macdonald: A Provincial Liberal T. Stephen Henderson (University of Toronto Press)
Recommended by James Muir, online. Hmm, no one mentioned the Chre´tien and Mulroney memoirs.
Beaverbrook: A Shattered Legacy Jacques Poitras (Goose Lane Editions)
Mostly about the fight over the art collection at the Beaverbrook Gallery in Fredericton, I understand. Recommended by Margaret Conrad online as (to her own surprise) “a page-turner,” and a nominee for the BC Prize for the best Canadian non-fiction.
The Canadian Founding: John Locke and Parliament Janet Ajzenstat (McGill-Queens)
Ajzenstat seems to me almost the only political/constitutional scholar in Canada with any historical sense, and that put this one on my to-read list.
Craft Capitalism: Craftworkers and Early Industrialization in Hamilton, Ontario Robert B. Kristofferson (University of Toronto Press).
Recommended by James Muir, online.
Deadly December, The Battle of Hong Kong Ronald C Parker
Ron Parker drew this to my attention online. (It’s the only digitally-published book on this list. Details at http://www.lulu.com/content/561522.) I might add that Canadian military history thrives. Notable this year: At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914-16 the first of a two-volume history by Tim Cook; Baptism of Fire: The Second Battle of Ypres by Nathan Greenbaum; Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary by Mark Zuehlke; and several books about Canada in Afghanistan.
Falsework Gary Geddes (Goose Lane)
Recommended by Ann Eriksson online (“poetry/prose about the collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver in 1958”), but it would have been on my list too.
God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal and the Dream of Discovery Douglas Hunter (Doubleday)
A book that links the explorations of Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson, recommended by Ken McGoogan online. In the (surprisingly) thriving field of exploration history, I also noted Emperor of the North by James Raffan (HarperCollins)
The Invincible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon Conrad Black (McClelland & Stewart)
I’m not sure I really want to read about Nixon, but Black was so damned interesting on Franklin Roosevelt a few years ago, I give him the benefit of the doubt.
I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad Karolyn Smardz Frost (Thomas Allen Publishers)
A worthy winner of the non-fiction GG in 2007. There’s barely a word by or from Thornton Blackburn about his own life, yet by scrupulous research and careful thought, Frost created an insightful biography of someone largely anonymous.
James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left Bryan Palmer (University of Illinois Press)
I know distance doesn’t really count online, but Sean Purdy (who said this book “reflects the maturity of Canadian historians, at least in some areas, who are branching out and tackling broader topics with a more international scope”) sent this suggestion in from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
John A: The Man Who Made Us Richard Gwyn (Random House)
Recommended by John Muir online but would have made my list anyway. I like to think my 1867 helped revive the writing of 19th century Canadian political history, and it’s good to see Gwyn advance the cause with this first of a two-volume life. Also of note: the historical novel Macdonald by Roy McSkimming.
The Making of the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade Carolyn Podruchny (University of Nebraska Press, 2006)
Okay, I missed this when it appeared in 2006, but I’ve been thinking for years a big solid book on this subject would be a good thing, so I’m shoehorning in what looks to be a doctoral dissertation reworked.
Mapping a Continent: A Historical Atlas of North America 1492-1814 Raymonde Litalien, Jean Francois Palumbo, Denis Vaugeois (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
Recommended by Ken McGoogan online, it’s the only translation of a book from Quebec on the list.
Maverick in the Sky: The Aerial Adventures of Flying Ace Freddie McCall Shirlee Matheson (Frontenac House)
Shirlee Matheson drew this one to my attention online. There’s always a huge amount of local publishing about Canadian history; let this stand for a score of good books I never heard of last year.
Measuring Mother Earth: How Joe the Kid became Tyrell of the West Heather Robertson (McClelland and Stewart)
Recommended by Ken McGoogan online, and it’s good to be reminded that copyright litigation is only a sideline for Heather Robertson, a gifted writer on many subjects.
A Memoir of Friendship: The Letters Between Carol Shields and Blanche Howard (Penguin)
Blanche Howard mentioned this one to me, and she was right; there’s a vital part of the literary history of Canada in these letters.
The Painted Valley: Artists along Alberta’s Bow River 1845-2000 Christopher Armstrong and H.V. Nelles (University of Calgary Press)
Armstrong and Nelles, together and individually, have written good books on the most amazing range of historical topics. That’s enough to whet my interest in this one. Also I suspect it is beautiful. One of my “wish I’d had a review copy” books.
The Persons Case: The Origins and Legacy of the Fight for Legal Personhood Robert J. Sharpe and Patricia I. McMahon (Osgoode Society/University of Toronto Press)
By a judge and a lawyer, good legal history and good history.
The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein (Random House)
Recommended by Denis Smith, online: “While it's not precisely Canadian history, her impressive account of the underside of recent international history necessarily involves Canada as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Washington Consensus.”
Some Family: The Mormons and How Humanity Keeps Track of Itself Donald Akenson (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
I’ll read pretty much anything by Akenson with expectations of laughing out loud while reading some very serious thinking about history. Another BC Book Prize nominee.
The Washington Diaries 1980-1989 Allan Gotlieb (McClelland and Stewart)
For aficionados of diaries, these seemed to be the ones to be reading in 2007.
I’ve listed here books of Canadian historical interest that struck me as notable, whether I have read them or just want to, plus the books suggested to me online if they fitted a capacious definition of “history” and “Canadian” and were published in the last year or so.
Who is publishing noteworthy Canadian history? Looks like McClelland & Stewart by a nose on the trade side (kudos to little Goose Lane of Fredericton) and University of Toronto Press on the academic side (McGill-Queen’s close behind).
Thanks to all who have already participated. New suggestions and responses remain welcome.
Angus L. Macdonald: A Provincial Liberal T. Stephen Henderson (University of Toronto Press)
Recommended by James Muir, online. Hmm, no one mentioned the Chre´tien and Mulroney memoirs.
Beaverbrook: A Shattered Legacy Jacques Poitras (Goose Lane Editions)
Mostly about the fight over the art collection at the Beaverbrook Gallery in Fredericton, I understand. Recommended by Margaret Conrad online as (to her own surprise) “a page-turner,” and a nominee for the BC Prize for the best Canadian non-fiction.
The Canadian Founding: John Locke and Parliament Janet Ajzenstat (McGill-Queens)
Ajzenstat seems to me almost the only political/constitutional scholar in Canada with any historical sense, and that put this one on my to-read list.
Craft Capitalism: Craftworkers and Early Industrialization in Hamilton, Ontario Robert B. Kristofferson (University of Toronto Press).
Recommended by James Muir, online.
Deadly December, The Battle of Hong Kong Ronald C Parker
Ron Parker drew this to my attention online. (It’s the only digitally-published book on this list. Details at http://www.lulu.com/content/561522.) I might add that Canadian military history thrives. Notable this year: At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914-16 the first of a two-volume history by Tim Cook; Baptism of Fire: The Second Battle of Ypres by Nathan Greenbaum; Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary by Mark Zuehlke; and several books about Canada in Afghanistan.
Falsework Gary Geddes (Goose Lane)
Recommended by Ann Eriksson online (“poetry/prose about the collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver in 1958”), but it would have been on my list too.
God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal and the Dream of Discovery Douglas Hunter (Doubleday)
A book that links the explorations of Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson, recommended by Ken McGoogan online. In the (surprisingly) thriving field of exploration history, I also noted Emperor of the North by James Raffan (HarperCollins)
The Invincible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon Conrad Black (McClelland & Stewart)
I’m not sure I really want to read about Nixon, but Black was so damned interesting on Franklin Roosevelt a few years ago, I give him the benefit of the doubt.
I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad Karolyn Smardz Frost (Thomas Allen Publishers)
A worthy winner of the non-fiction GG in 2007. There’s barely a word by or from Thornton Blackburn about his own life, yet by scrupulous research and careful thought, Frost created an insightful biography of someone largely anonymous.
James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left Bryan Palmer (University of Illinois Press)
I know distance doesn’t really count online, but Sean Purdy (who said this book “reflects the maturity of Canadian historians, at least in some areas, who are branching out and tackling broader topics with a more international scope”) sent this suggestion in from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
John A: The Man Who Made Us Richard Gwyn (Random House)
Recommended by John Muir online but would have made my list anyway. I like to think my 1867 helped revive the writing of 19th century Canadian political history, and it’s good to see Gwyn advance the cause with this first of a two-volume life. Also of note: the historical novel Macdonald by Roy McSkimming.
The Making of the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade Carolyn Podruchny (University of Nebraska Press, 2006)
Okay, I missed this when it appeared in 2006, but I’ve been thinking for years a big solid book on this subject would be a good thing, so I’m shoehorning in what looks to be a doctoral dissertation reworked.
Mapping a Continent: A Historical Atlas of North America 1492-1814 Raymonde Litalien, Jean Francois Palumbo, Denis Vaugeois (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
Recommended by Ken McGoogan online, it’s the only translation of a book from Quebec on the list.
Maverick in the Sky: The Aerial Adventures of Flying Ace Freddie McCall Shirlee Matheson (Frontenac House)
Shirlee Matheson drew this one to my attention online. There’s always a huge amount of local publishing about Canadian history; let this stand for a score of good books I never heard of last year.
Measuring Mother Earth: How Joe the Kid became Tyrell of the West Heather Robertson (McClelland and Stewart)
Recommended by Ken McGoogan online, and it’s good to be reminded that copyright litigation is only a sideline for Heather Robertson, a gifted writer on many subjects.
A Memoir of Friendship: The Letters Between Carol Shields and Blanche Howard (Penguin)
Blanche Howard mentioned this one to me, and she was right; there’s a vital part of the literary history of Canada in these letters.
The Painted Valley: Artists along Alberta’s Bow River 1845-2000 Christopher Armstrong and H.V. Nelles (University of Calgary Press)
Armstrong and Nelles, together and individually, have written good books on the most amazing range of historical topics. That’s enough to whet my interest in this one. Also I suspect it is beautiful. One of my “wish I’d had a review copy” books.
The Persons Case: The Origins and Legacy of the Fight for Legal Personhood Robert J. Sharpe and Patricia I. McMahon (Osgoode Society/University of Toronto Press)
By a judge and a lawyer, good legal history and good history.
The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein (Random House)
Recommended by Denis Smith, online: “While it's not precisely Canadian history, her impressive account of the underside of recent international history necessarily involves Canada as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Washington Consensus.”
Some Family: The Mormons and How Humanity Keeps Track of Itself Donald Akenson (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
I’ll read pretty much anything by Akenson with expectations of laughing out loud while reading some very serious thinking about history. Another BC Book Prize nominee.
The Washington Diaries 1980-1989 Allan Gotlieb (McClelland and Stewart)
For aficionados of diaries, these seemed to be the ones to be reading in 2007.
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