A Concise History of Canada

by Margaret Conrad

Overview

Margaret Conrad's history of Canada explains what makes up this diverse, complex, and often contested nation-state. Beginning in Canada's deep past with the arrival of its Indigenous peoples, she traces its history through the conquest by Europeans, the American Revolutionary War, and Confederation in the nineteenth century to its prosperous present. This impressive second edition has expanded by 20 percent, including revised chapters and an insightful analysis of the fraught relationship between Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump. As a social historian, Conrad emphasizes the relationships between Indigenous peoples and settlers, French and English, Catholic and Protestant, men and women, rich and poor. It is this grounded approach that drives the narrative and makes for compelling reading. Despite its successes and its popularity as a destination for immigrants from across the world, Canada remains a cautious and contested country. This thorough yet concise new edition explains why.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108736374
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/11/2022
Series:	Cambridge Concise Histories
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	556
Sales rank:	855,138
Product dimensions:	5.47(w) x 8.46(h) x 1.26(d)

About the Author

Margaret Conrad has published widely in the fields of Canadian history, women's studies, and digital humanities. She is co-author of a two-volume History of the Canadians Peoples, Atlantic Canada: A History and Canadians and Their Pasts. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Canada, and served as president of the Canadian Historical Association from 2005 to 2007. She has received four honorary degrees.

Table of Contents

Introduction: a cautious country; 1. Since time immemorial; 2. Natives and newcomers, 1000–1661; 3. New France, 1661–1744; 4. The struggle for a continent, 1744–1763; 5. A revolutionary age, 1763–1815; 6. The great northwest, 1763–1849; 7. Transatlantic communities, 1815–1849; 8. Coming together, 1849–1885; 9. Making progress, 1885–1914; 10. Hanging on, 1914–1945; 11. Liberalism ascendant, 1945–1984; 12. Anxious times, 1984–2015; 13. Where are We Now?

Editorial Reviews

"This impressive history of Canada tells a rich and surprisingly new story in a relatively brief space. It is constructed on an awareness of the past half-century of historical writing and is especially convincing in its approach to Aboriginal communities, French-speaking households, and Atlantic Canada. I recommend it wholeheartedly." -Gerald Friesen, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Manitoba

"Conrad's book has energy and narrative drive and never seems didactic or heavy-handed. It has what Stephen Pyne calls the hallmark of all good non-fiction: "voice and vision." Instead of the literary conceits or clunky structural devices others may have relied on, Conrad trusts her own voice and the history of Canada itself to tell an inclusive yet coherent national story." -Jeffrey L. McNairn, Queen's University

"Margaret Conrad’s elegant, erudite and sophisticated study of Canada’s history is both dramatic in scale and detailed in exposition. Throughout, Conrad traces a clear narrative trajectory that juxtaposes Canada’s internal social, political and cultural dynamics and its external influences, especially those emanating from the nation on the other side of Niagara Falls, to emphasize both the challenges and triumphs that the nation has faced in constructing and sustaining a distinctive, coherent and inclusive identity in the face of internal dissent, global unrest and economic uncertainty." -Susan-Mary Grant, Professor of American History, Newcastle University

"Recommended." -Choice

From the Publisher