Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism 40th Anniversary Edition (Carleton Library) [Paperback]

George Grant (Author), Andrew Potter (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2005 | Series: Carleton Library (Book 205)

Canadians have relatively few binding national myths, but one of the most pervasive and enduring is the conviction that the country is doomed. In 1965 George Grant passionately defended Canadian identity by asking fundamental questions about the meaning and future of Canada's political existence. In Lament for a Nation he argued that Canada - immense and under-populated, defined by a shared border, history, and culture with the United States, and torn by conflicting loyalties to Britain, Quebec, and America - had ceased to exist as a sovereign state. Nonetheless, Lament for a Nation became the seminal work in Canadian political thought and Grant became known as the father of Canadian nationalism. The fortieth anniversary edition introduces Lament for a Nation to a new generation. A major introduction by Andrew Potter explores Grant's arguments in the context of changes in ethnic diversity, free trade, globalization and post-modernism. Potter discusses the shifting uses of the terms "liberal" and "conservative" and closes with a look at the current state of Canadian nationalism. George Grant's Lament for a Nation remains essential reading for anyone interested in questions of Canadian identity, sovereignty, and national unity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Lament for a Nation should be respected as a masterpiece of political meditation ... In this study Professor Grant opened Canadian public debate, with frankness and depth, to include the most fundamental and perennial questions a nation must ask itself about the full meaning of its own political existence. He challenged us to reflect on the unique possibilities and limits constituting our destiny as Canadians." Peter Emberley, Professor of Political Science, Carleton University. "Masterpiece is not a word to use lightly, but Lament for a Nation merits it. In it Grant distilled his years of study of theology and philosophy, together with his knowledge of history and his acute attention to the daily passage of political events. The former adult educator put it all into a book that was instantly accessible to the broad reading public, but rewarded repeated reading by academic philosophers." William Christian, author of George Grant: A Biography

About the Author

George P. Grant (1918-1988) was the author of Philosophy in the Mass Age, Technology and Empire, English-Speaking Justice, and Technology and Justice.<br>Andrew Potter is a visiting fellow at the Centre de Recherche en Ethique at the Université de Montréal,

Product Details

• Paperback: 99 pages
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press; 40th anniversary edition (February 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 077353010X
• ISBN-13: 978-0773530102
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,355,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Essay thet Presaged theGlobalization Debate, August 27, 2002

By 

Tom Gray (Fort-Coulonge, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism (Carleton Library Series) (Paperback)

In the light of September 11th, many Americans are asking the rhetorical question 'Why do they hate us so?' This essay from 1965 brilliantly outlines the forces, in modern liberalism, that are antagonistic to local culture. The lament that it describes is a lament for a local nationalism that has been abandoned by its population in favor for the attractions of a global culture based on American values. These American values are the values of the modern culture, in which traditional values which provide meaning to life are abandoned for the ease which modern technology can bring. Traditional values which provided meaning but also constraints to human life and action are being abandoned according the this book view for a shallow notion of human freedom. This shallow freedom is the freedom to enjoy temporary conveniences at the expense of the ability to live life in compatibility with eternal principles. What meaning that modern life can provide are rationalizations of self-indulgence which will be adjusted to fit the needs of technology as it evolves in its self-defined way.

The book describes how Canadians have abandoned their traditional 'conservative' values in favor of the easy continentalist option of acquiring American wealth by accepting American values. The author describes how 1960s Gaullism in France was a reaction to the same forces. The same observations can be made today about the knee-jerk anti-Americanism in Europe and France in particular that is paradoxically based on the inherent attractiveness of American values. The American culture is becoming the world culture. It is dispossessing all other cultures that it encounters. This provokes a reaction among 'conservative' (which includes the globalization protestors who in this book's terms are conservative in respect to culture although they would see themselves as anarchistic, radical etc.) who fear that the cultures that they value are going to be lost to the forces of technic- `the one best way'.

I cannot do justice to this book which links these ideas into the flow of Western ideas. It shows the conflicts that of these differing sets f ideas in the works of philosophers and theologians. it does so in a manner that is very accessible to the general reader but has also provided a basis for research by professional philosopher's, political scientists etc. for the 37years since it was published.

This book is on a par with Jacques Ellul's 'The Technological Society.' It is a book that will be remembered and studied for hundreds of years. It uses as its starting point the issue of Canadian nationalism but its implications are universal. I wish that I could give it six stars.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb commentary on Canada - U.S. culture & politics., July 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism (Carleton Library Series) (Paperback)

This is an extraordinary book dealing with the pervasiveness of U.S. culture in Canada, and how Canadians have seemingly allowed their own culture and politics to be subsumed into American versions. Although written from a small-c conservative point of view, and in the 1960s, it remains an extraordinary book that will intrigue any person interested in Canada and US relations. In addition, Mr. Grant is a gifted writer; his fluent use of words in a serious political work such as this one, only accentuates his poetic capabilites.