R. Douglas Francis

Howard Palmer

Historical Readings

The Prairie West

Phillip Alfred Buckner

The essays presented in this collection consider a wide range of cultural, social and intellectual topics specific to British History from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. The book attempts to show the centrality of the Empire in the history of various nations created by the British diaspora overseas. It examines numerous topics relating to British history, including the history of the old self-governing Dominions -- Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia -- and seeks to uncover the true nature of how British Imperial history has been written. Rejecting a nostalgic point of view, these essays written by leaders in the field, are cast in a critical light asking the reader to evaluate the historiographical context of British history.

Rediscovering the British World

Chris Kitzan

In 1906, the Sugar Maple Tree Song was just one example of the rhapsodic pieces that touted the Canadian West as the "promised land." In the formative years of agricultural settlement from the mid-nineteenth century to the First World War, the Canadian government, along with the railways and other Prairie boosters, further developed and propagated the image within the widely distributed promotional literature that was used to attract millions of immigrants from all corners of the world. The West was ripe with promise for those wishing to escape religious persecution, unproductive land, or intolerable living and working conditions.

The Prairie West as Promised Land

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Canadian national identity underwent a transformation. Whereas Canadians once viewed themselves as British citizens, a new, independent sense of self emerged after the war. Assured of their unique place in the world, Canadians began to reflect on the legacies and lessons of their British colonial past. Canada and the British World surveys Canada's national history through a British lens. In a series of essays focusing on discrete aspects of Canadian identity over more than a century, the complex and evolving relationship between Canada and the larger British world is revealed. From the 19th century's staunch belief in Canadians as Britons to the realities of modern multicultural Canada, this book eschews nostalgia in its endeavor to understand the dynamic and complicated society in which Canadians did and do live. Candid and ambitious, Canada and the British World is recommended reading for historians and scholars of colonialism and nationalism, as well as anyone interested in what it really means to be Canadian.

R. Douglas Francis

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