Canada Since 1960 A Peoples History

When Winnipeg's Cy Gonick started the magazine Canadian Dimension in 1963 to provide a home for the thinking and analysis of mostly young leftists engaged in Canadian economic, social, cultural, artistic and political issues, he had no grand plan. But Canadian Dimension was welcomed by intellectuals, scholars and students, and it proved enduring. Hundreds of Canada's leading figures of the left have contributed to its pages over the years, writing about every major topic in Canadian public life. This book offers an account of the most important developments in Canadian history from the sixties until today, as seen and interpreted by scholars and writers on the pages of Dimension. Each chapter reviews a major theme, such as Canada's relationship to the U.S., the development of our health care system, the dynamics of Aboriginal-non-Aboriginal relations and the role of Canadian cultural work in shaping Canadian society. Taken together, the book provides a unique and broad perspective on virtually every significant event and development in recent Canadian history. Readers who know the magazine will find this book a compelling summary of how Canada changed in the past five decades, and how the Left saw those changes and challenged them. Readers who discover Canadian Dimension through this book will find a multitude of compelling voices who challenge the dominant neoliberal thinking of mainstream Canadian intellectual life. The twenty-seven contributors, from every part of the country are Greg Albo, Brenda Austin Smith, Chris Bailey, Evan Bowness, Mordecai Briemburg, Elizabeth Comack, Angela Day, Bryan Evans, Alvin Finkel, Peter Graefe, Judy Haiven, Larry Haiven, Trevor Harrison, Henry Heller, David Hugill, Peter Kulchyski, Andrea Levy, James McCorrie, James Naylor, Bryan Palmer, Denis Pilon, Joe Roberts, Stephanie Ross, Arthur Schafer, Frank Tester, John Warnock and Chris Webb.

The top non-fiction bestseller of fall 2000 was the authoritative and beautiful Canada: A People’s History, Volume One. For fall 2001, M&S is proud to present the equally stunning and comprehensive second volume of this landmark work. This fall, on consecutive Sunday evenings starting on September 30, the CBC will broadcast eight new episodes from its spectacular – and spectacularly successful – series Canada: A People’s History. Volume Two opens with the rebellion over property and language rights for the French-speaking Métis in Manitoba, led by the charismatic and troubled Louis Riel – a key event in our history and one that haunts us to this day. It closes with the less bloody but no less traumatic confrontation between the Mohawk and the army at Oka, Quebec, in 1990. Between these two harrowing events lie more than a hundred years of astonishing change and development in Canada. In those years Canadians have fought in two world wars, struggled through long, savage Depression years, adjusted to the post-war world, and peaceably accommodated themselves to wave after wave of immigrants arriving from around the globe. The political changes have been no less striking, with the eruption of nationalism in Quebec, women’s long fight for equal rights, and the creation of Canadians’ most cherished social service: universal health care. Even more than was possible in Volume One, this well-researched book tells the major events of the twentieth century as a story of people: the famous and occasionally flamboyant politicians and public figures are here, but the book’s strength lies in the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. The tremendous popularity and the impeccable historical accuracy of both the first year of the television series and the first volume of the book, surprised and delighted historians and reviewers alike. The second year of the series and the second volume of the book are both now poised to rocket to even greater success in 2001.

Revealing a little-known part of North American history, this lively guide tells the fascinating tale of the settlement of the St. Lawrence Valley. It also tells of the Montreal and Quebec-based explorers and traders who traveled, mapped, and inhabited a very large part of North America, and "embrothered the peoples" they met, as Jack Kerouac wrote.Connecting everyday life to the events that emerged as historical turning points in the life of a people, this book sheds new light on Quebec's 450-year history--and on the historical forces that lie behind its two recent efforts to gain independence.

Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.

The pre-1960 history of print culture and libraries, as they relate to the First Peoples of Canada, has gone largely untold. Paper Talk explores the relationship between the introduction of western print culture to Aboriginal peoples by missionaries, the development of libraries in the Indian schools in the nineteenth century, and the establishment of community-accessible collections in the twentieth century. While missionaries and the Department of Indian Affairs envisioned books and libraries as assimilative and "civilizing" tools, Edwards shows that some Aboriginal peoples articulated western ideas of print culture, literacy, books, and libraries as tools to assist their own cultural, social, and political aspirations. This text also serves to illustrate that the contemporary struggle of Aboriginal peoples in Canada to establish libraries in communities has a historical basis and that many of the obstacles faced today are remarkably similar to those encountered by earlier generations.

"Throughout his concise history, award-winning author H.V. Nelles reminds us of such fateful events, whether strategic or happenstance, that have shaped Canada as we know it today. Beginning with the earliest human occupation of North America, nearly 14,000 years ago, Nelles takes us on a whirlwind tour of the land and its inhabitants to the present day. Canada's enduring theme, he argues, is transformation. ... Fully revised throughout, this updated edition incorporates the latest research that helps us understand the course of history. Lively and opinionated, this is the ever-evolving story of a nation"--From www.amazon.ca.

Canada's Native people have inhabited this land since the Ice Age and were already accomplished traders, artisans, farmers and marine hunters when Europeans first reached their shores. Contact between Natives and European explorers and settlers initially presented an unprecedented period of growth and opportunity. But the two vastly different cultures soon clashed. Arthur J. Ray charts the history of Canada's Native people from first contact to current land claims. The result is a fascinating chronicle that spans 12,000 years and culminates in the headlines of today.

"A History of the Canadian Peoples is an abridged edition of the much-lauded two-volume work, The Peoples of Canada. Like its predecessor, this book provides an overview of the economy, society, the family, and culture, as well as political and constitutional issues. Sidebars offer fascinating perspectives on the experiences of early explorers, settlers, ordinary citizens, and politicians, as well as more in-depth portraits of leading figures." "This book, a skilful condensation by the author of the two-volume version, describes the Native peoples before contact with early European visitors; exploration, settlement, and the development of British North America; the federation of the provinces of British North America in the Dominion of Canada; industrialization and urbanization; and social and political developments that conclude with a look at Canadian culture in the 1990s. The highly readable text, sidebars, suggestions for further reading, and illustrations offer an insightful look at Canadian history." --Book Jacket.