CANADA: A Modern History

Broad, in scope, scholarly but never pedantic, this excellent book, one of the University of Michigan's ""History of the Modern World"" series and a fitting companion volume to its superb History of the United States, presents a detailed and vivid study of Canadian social, economic and political development from the earliest explorations and settlements to the present day, a story of which far too, many North Americans are ignorant. Before New England was born French colonists in the Canadian maritime provinces were growing rich from fisheries, furs and forests; explorers, missionaries, traders and soldiers penetrated the Canadian wilderness, established settlements on the St. Lawrence, and made friends with the Indians, enlisting them in the ferocious French-Indian-English wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, which resulted in British victory and the eventual expulsion of the French from the continent. 19th century westward expansion solidified the country, and boundary disputes with the United States ended, thanks to good sense on both sides, in an international understanding, if not always a mutual devotion, unique in modern times. Written with selectivity and a humorous awareness of significant detail, this long and readable book, possibly the definitive history of Canada, will appeal to teachers and students of North American history and is an essential addition to all American historical collections on both sides of the boundary.