Margaret Conrad

Margaret Conrad's history of Canada explains what makes up this diverse, complex, and often contested nation-state. Beginning in Canada's deep past with the arrival of its Indigenous peoples, she traces its history through the conquest by Europeans, the American Revolutionary War, and Confederation in the nineteenth century to its prosperous present. This impressive second edition has expanded by 20 percent, including revised chapters and an insightful analysis of the fraught relationship between Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump. As a social historian, Conrad emphasizes the relationships between Indigenous peoples and settlers, French and English, Catholic and Protestant, men and women, rich and poor. It is this grounded approach that drives the narrative and makes for compelling reading. Despite its successes and its popularity as a destination for immigrants from across the world, Canada remains a cautious and contested country. This thorough yet concise new edition explains why.

Margaret Conrad's history of Canada explains what makes up this diverse, complex, and often contested nation-state. Beginning in Canada's deep past with the arrival of its Indigenous peoples, she traces its history through the conquest by Europeans, the American Revolutionary War, and Confederation in the nineteenth century to its prosperous present. This impressive second edition has expanded by 20 percent, including revised chapters and an insightful analysis of the fraught relationship between Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump. As a social historian, Conrad emphasizes the relationships between Indigenous peoples and settlers, French and English, Catholic and Protestant, men and women, rich and poor. It is this grounded approach that drives the narrative and makes for compelling reading. Despite its successes and its popularity as a destination for immigrants from across the world, Canada remains a cautious and contested country. This thorough yet concise new edition explains why.

At the Ocean’s Edge offers a vibrant account of Nova Scotia’s colonial history, situating it in an early and dramatic chapter in the expansion of Europe. Between 1450 and 1850, various processes – sometimes violent, often judicial, rarely conclusive – transferred power first from Indigenous societies to the French and British empires, and then to European settlers and their descendants who claimed the land as their own. This book not only brings Nova Scotia’s struggles into sharp focus but also unpacks the intellectual and social values that took root in the region. By the time that Nova Scotia became a province of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, its multicultural peoples, including Mi’kmaq, Acadian, African, and British, had come to a grudging, unequal, and often contested accommodation among themselves. Written in accessible and spirited prose, the narrative follows larger trends through the experiences of colourful individuals who grappled with expulsion, genocide, and war to establish the institutions, relationships, and values that still shape Nova Scotia’s identity.

What role does history play in contemporary society? Has the frenetic pace of today’s world led people to lose contact with the past? A high-profile team of researchers from across Canada sought to answer these questions by launching an ambitious investigation into how Canadians engage with history in their everyday lives. The results of their survey form the basis of this eye-opening book. Canadians and Their Pasts reports on the findings of interviews with 3,419 Canadians from a variety of cultural and linguistic communities. Along with yielding rich qualitative data, the surveys generated revealing quantitative data that allows for comparisons based on gender, ethnicity, migration histories, region, age, income, and educational background. The book also brings Canada into international conversation with similar studies undertaken earlier in the United States, Australia, and Europe. Canadians and Their Pasts confirms that, for most Canadians, the past is not dead. Rather, it reveals that our histories continue to shape the present in many powerful ways.

What role does history play in contemporary society? Has the frenetic pace of today’s world led people to lose contact with the past? A high-profile team of researchers from across Canada sought to answer these questions by launching an ambitious investigation into how Canadians engage with history in their everyday lives. The results of their survey form the basis of this eye-opening book. Canadians and Their Pasts reports on the findings of interviews with 3,419 Canadians from a variety of cultural and linguistic communities. Along with yielding rich qualitative data, the surveys generated revealing quantitative data that allows for comparisons based on gender, ethnicity, migration histories, region, age, income, and educational background. The book also brings Canada into international conversation with similar studies undertaken earlier in the United States, Australia, and Europe. Canadians and Their Pasts confirms that, for most Canadians, the past is not dead. Rather, it reveals that our histories continue to shape the present in many powerful ways.