Canadian History for Dummies

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!


Required Reading for Immigrants from the US.   February 24, 2003
3 out of 14 found this review helpful

Funny, accurate, and needed to understand the culture.....or what passes for culture


gillis1   November 30, 2001
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

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.


A relatively light, but fun, treatment of history   March 7, 2001
Allan MacInnis (Vancouver)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

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...