Canada in the European Age, 1453-1919 [Paperback]

R. T. Naylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2006

When "Canada in the European Age, 1453-1919" was first published, it reversed traditional methodology by placing Canada's evolution in the context of the rise and fall of empires around the world, not just in the Americas. R.T. Naylor contends that the struggle for property (and political) rights in early nineteenth-century Newfoundland is incomprehensible without an understanding of events as distinct as the Afro-American slave trade or the Napoleonic Wars; the opening of the natural resource frontier of British Columbia makes sense only if seen as another manifestation of the same historical forces that fired the opening shots in the Opium wars in China; and the fate of Canada's native peoples may have been different in form but not in essence from that of the aboriginal inhabitants on almost every continent.As Bruce Trigger explains in his preface, "Canada in the European Age, 1453-1919" was the first history in which native peoples appeared as genuine actors in human dramas - mainly tragedies - instead of as part of the flora and fauna in the background. By stressing the interconnections between the grand events of the conquest and subjegation of the globe by European empire builders and the less dramatic events in Canada, Naylor's book led to a fundamental reinterpretation of Canadian social, economic, and political history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An author who can visualize the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway from Winnipeg to Vancouver in 1880-82 as an act of British imperialism linking India to Britain must be praised for raising Canadian history to new levels of perception." Canadian Book Review Annual "An outstanding work of synthesis that merits a wide readership among all those interested in a cogent challenge to the liberal view of Canadian history." British Journal of Canadian Studies "Refreshingly sardonic and elegantly sarcastic, Naylor writes with wit and unusual antagonism to the powerful." American Historical Review

About the Author

R.T. Naylor is professor, economics, McGill University, and the author of many books, including Economic Warfare: Sanctions, Embargo Busting, and Their Human Cost, and Bankers, Bagmen, and Bandits: Business and Politics in the Age of Greed.

Product Details

• Paperback: 617 pages
• Publisher: Mcgill Queens Univ Pr; 2 edition (July 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0773530916
• ISBN-13: 978-0773530911
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,361,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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