Canada's First Century (Reissue)

by Creighton (deceased), Donald; Wright, Donald

• ISBN13: 9780195449228
• ISBN10: 0195449223
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-08-30
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Award-winning author Donald Creighton was a Red Ensign nationalist and firm supporter of the British Empire. At the time of writing this book, in 1970, he had come to believe that Canada was a lost cause. When everyone else was celebrating Canada's centennial, he was busy writing his ownlament for a nation. Canada's First Century paints a large and complex canvas of historical rise and fall: a great transcontinental nation is built, but it is eventually undone as Canada turns its back on the British Empire and embraces a continental role alongside the United States. A courageousand contentious book for its day - Creighton is intensely anti-American and highly critical of Quebec nationalism - it was met with criticism, but, as Donald Wright points out, Canada's First Century initially outsold Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex and, for a time, even the Bible.A beautifully written, in-depth introduction by Donald Wright explores Creighton's larger understanding of Canadian history, his preoccupation with Canada's role in the Empire, and his major contribution to economics and geography as a key feature of history.

Author Biography

Donald Creighton (1902-1979) was English Canada's leading historian. A member of the University of Toronto's Department of History, Creighton wrote a dozen books including The Commercial Empire of the St Lawrence, the two-volume biography of Sir John A. Macdonald, and The Road to Confederation. For his outstanding contributions to Canada's intellectual life, he received many awards and honours, including the Tyrrell Medal, the Governor General's Award, the Molson Prize, and honorary degrees from universities across the country. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Donald Wright is associate professor of political science at the University of New Brunswick. He is a visiting fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge, in 2011-12. His publications include The Professionalization of History in English Canada (Toronto, 2005) and The Canadian Historical Association: A History (Ottawa, 2003).

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Wynford Edition
List of Illustrations
1. Confederation and Expansion
2. National Decisions
3. Time of Troubles
4. A Nation on Trial
5. The End of Colonial Security
6. The Consequences of Success
7. The Great Divide
8. Unrest and Dissent
9. The Mackenzie King Millennium
10. The Crash
11. The Politics of Evasion
12. The Return to Colonial Status
13. The Rule of the Professionals
14. Point of No Return
15. Obscure Destiny
Epilogue: Ottawa, 1967
Books for Further Reading
Index