The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1974, Page 51

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
49
BDDK REVIEW:
CANADIAN HISTORY SINCE CDNFEDERATION
ESSAYS AND INTERPRETATIONS
Bruce Hodglns and Robert Page.
607 pages, Irwin Dorsey Limited,
Georgetown, Ont. 1972
Price: $10.00
The history of any given era remains
the same unless new evidence comes to
light by way of new discoveries or
other related means. However, inter-
pretations of specific facts and situ-
ations are always subject to variation
as time moves on.
The revisionist thesis in this volume
give it a uniqueness sorely needed to
broaden the traditional points of view.
To a large extent this is accomplished
by many of the essays presented in this
book in six general areas of Canadian
History, namely, The Confederation
Era; The Age of the National Policy:
Late Victorian Canada and Pier Ex
ternal Interests; Early Twentieth Cen-
tury Canada; The Inter-War Years;
Contemporary Canada.
These six sections contain over thirty
essays presented by over thirty authors.
Consequently there is built into this
material a great deal of variety and
a lack of any single bias running
through the full content. It offers
rather refreshing reading as approach
and style differ with the various auth-
ors. As a result of the great number of
historians involved in this eclecticism
of Canadian history since Confeder-
ation, there are reinforcing and excit-
ing infusions of human interest that
help to eliminate the monotony and
drudgery that the student, or well est-
ablished historian engaged in research,
normally is faced wih. For them this
book offers a new breath of vitality for
history in general. For example it gives
this reader considerable “relief” from
tediousness when he “lives” through
the essay “The Wake”, by Ralph Con-
nor. What a delight to discover a hi-
story “text” wherein one learns some-
thing of the emotional background
of the people who made history! Per-
haps if we had a greater knowledge of
how people thought, felt, believed and
consequently reacted, we would be the
better able to accept some of he events
that evolved.
In an essay abou Riel, edited from
“The History of Quebec: A Patriot’s
Handbook by Leandre Bergeron”, as
far as this reader is concerned, Riel
comes out the hero. It is refreshing
that this view is expressed in an ap-
parently reputable edition of Canadian
History.
Certainly few accounts of Canadian
history include much, if anything