Canadian History for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: Fails to Convey Importance of Military History
Review: I am reviewing this book from the standpoint of military history. With that in mind, I rate this book as a two. While it is written in a style conducive to imparting informaton to newcomers to the field, it unfortunately concentrates far too much emphasis on the wrong areas. I'm speaking specifically of the Second World War chapter; Canada played a vital role in three major operations in NW Europe - Normandy, the Scheldt and the Rhineland. Normandy is mentioned in passing and the latter two are not mentioned at all.

The focus of the chapter is on Dieppe - two entire pages. While Dieppe is of course a focus of national attention, it was not the only chapter in military history and the book is very misleading by suggesting that it was. Canada had five divisions in the field by 1944, fighting for 22 months in Italy and 11 months in NW Europe. Why a 9 hour battle would get two pages and some 33 months of fighting get only a brief paragraph describing the casualty rates in Italy is beyond comprehension.

A page is also devoted to Conscription - and the information presented is accurate and again, well written - but again highlights failed policy rather than successful military operations. Another two pages are devoted to the Internment camps and the Holocaust. Important subjects, but again done at the expense of our positive military achievements.

The Battle of Normandy destroyed the German Army in France beyond recovery. The Battle of the Scheldt cleared the waterways to Antwerp and allowed desperately needed supplies onto the continent at a location much closer to the front (the Allies were using more gasoline trucking supplies from the Normandy beachhead than the gasoline they were using for fighting). The Battle of the Rhineland paved the way for the final crossing of the last major obstacle to a general Allied advance into Germany itself. These were dramatic battles in which Canadians paid a grave cost and yet acquitted itself very well. None of this is mentioned in the book, and those truly ignorant of history - the people this book is aimed at - would have no clue what the Canadian military achieved and instead walk away with the understanding that Canada's WW II effort was largely a litany of failed political decisions, interspersed with the occasional massacre of our own men.

Disappointing, especially since other areas are covered in better detail by the same author. Perhaps the fault lies with the editor, but either way, I recommend caution in purchasing this book, especially if interested in military history.

Rating:
Summary: Cheeky, But Ferguson Stands on Guard in Top-Notch Intro
Review: In the Fifties, Marilyn Monroe (supposedly) said she thought Canada was "way up in the mountains somewhere," and I can't say my ignorance was much lighter until I visited sophisticated and efficient Toronto, avant Montreal and tragically beautiful Vancouver--and grabbed Will Ferguson's CANADIAN HISTORY FOR DUMMIES to try to make sense of the land that, during my childhood, was condescendingly referred to as "Our friendly neighbor to the North."

Okay, it seems that every time I'm up yonder some key component of the economy is on strike, and the taxes are practically Scandinavian, but somehow it hangs together. Survey after survey show that Canadians enjoy the highest standard of life in the world. Not the most SUV's per capita, necessarily, but taking into account along with the hard goods such intangibles as access to health care, reliable public transit, equitable justice and so on, they're tops. Try the Canadian gov't website (ocanada) and you'll see a wealth of things the Canadian government does for (not to) its citizens--truly, this is not propaganda for the rest of the world so much as Canada's putting her best foot forward without resorting to brag.

Will Ferguson--a born iconoclast if ever I read one--explains what a long strange road it's been. While Canada's past certainly contains mean and genocidal acts against its Native citizens, the image of the French *voyageur* working with the Native is a seminal myth not unlike our cowboy. Why Canada's government came about by evolution, not revolution. (Can the historian find that One Definitive Date at which Canada cut all apron strings with Mother England? Not bloody likely.) How Canada's parliamentary legacy (as opposed to the American winner-take-all electoral system) shaped national politics. Why the linguistic clash of English-versus-French rather than the racial clash of black-versus-white remains Canada's sticking point. (I never saw such a country where the white people have such un-fear of people of color instilled in them. Everyone does indeed get along, at least if they're talking the same language; it's wonderful.)

CANADIAN HISTORY FOR DUMMIES will explain why, pre-Brian Mulroney at least, it was usually the Conservative Party politicans who were more anti-American than the Liberals. How Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia a-l-m-o-s-t wound up as American property. Why it took well into the 20th Century to build the second transcontinental rail line (hint: it had little to do with climate).

Ferguson does not defer. Down here he would be considered merely a contentious baby boomer, but read the blurbs from Canadian officials about this book and you know that, while they admire the research and user-friendly presentation, they've just been slapped with the witch hazel of bluntness. (As we'd expect from the likes of the author of the book BASTARDS AND BONEHEADS, Ferguson calls LBJ a "Redneck" and treats Canadian pols no more respectfully.) His is not a kneejerk liberal presentation, though; while Ferguson mentions that forty-some thousand American young men fled to Canada during the Vietnam war, he also introduces the shocking statistic that ten thousand Canadian young men entered the States -- COMPLETELY without encouragement from their own government -- to enlist as soldiers in the U.S. armed services during that conflict.

Rarely have I read a book that conveyed so much information so enjoyably and so efficiently. CANADIAN HISTORY FOR DUMMIES' bibliography is oriented much more toward websites than books; these days that's probably the way to go. (Of course, Amazon is more than happy to recommend a few kindred books for the bookish!) This book is recommended before or after any trip, for the idly curious, or just for an ignorance-defuser in this age of deflated school curricula.

Oh, by the way did I mention that many Canadian school systems extend high school through Grade 13? Maple Leaf Forever!

Rating:
Summary: Badly needed!
Review: This is a badly needed book. Canadians are woefully ignorant of their own history. It's not just that we've forgotten the embarassing bits like when we interned Japanese-Canadians in WWII (maybe OK) until three years after the war ended (definitely NOT OK!) but we've also forgotten the good bits like constructing the Canadian Pacific Railway, the battle of Vimy, and even why we wear poppies in November (hint: the last two are closely related).

Ferguson also puts French Canadian history in its proper perspective, e.g. by confirming Samuel de Champlain as a true visionary and rightfully condemning Jacques Cartier as a fraudster, and reminding us how really great the Voyageurs were.

He also presents one of the great injustices in Canadian history. We've forgotten that the first man to brew beer in Canada, i.e. Jean Talon, intendant (industry supremo) of New France. Montreal has a street and subway station named after him, but do we have a beer or a holiday named in his honour? We do not and we need to do something about this. Ferguson's started ball the rolling. Thumbs up, waaaaayyyy up.


Rating:
Summary: gillis1
Review: Why didn't Nova Scotia become the 14th American colony?

This difficult to find book is an excellent introduction to Canadian history; perfect for the American who is looking for the highlights of Canada's past, and, as for the above question, it provides wonderful information about America's past, too.

Rating:
Summary: A relatively light, but fun, treatment of history
Review: Will Ferguson's best known work in Canada is called WHY I HATE CANADIANS -- a title only a Canadian could come up with, since no one else could muster so strong a feeling about the country (by the way, I'm Canadian too). This work is a worthy follow-up, a light, readable, but useful reference, traipsing through Canadian history. Ferguson is more interested in political questions than cultural ones, but it sort of goes with the territory. He does a reasonably good job of making a subject I always found dry and uninvolving (back in my high-school days) very engaging and readable, and, to his credit, gives lots of attention to Native issues (and refrains from too many potshots at Quebec separatists). Ferguson also gives abundant links to cool sites on the internet, to supplement his research. This is, needless to say, very much a populist work, but, well, it IS in the FOR DUMMIES SERIES... I like it. I teach English in Japan, and am using it as a reference, in case I need to quickly explain what an inukshuk is or so forth...