Our Lives: Canada After 1945

by Alvin Finkel

This book offers a short, comprehensive history of post-war Canada. All the major events and developments in Canadian history are the evolution of the welfare state; the growth of economic domination by the United States; the halcyon days as a Middle Power; the Quiet Revolution; the First Nations' quest for autonomy; the flowering of English-Canadian nationalism; Quebec nationalism; the women's movement; neo-conservatism; and globalization. Finkel covers political, economic, social, and cultural history in this volume. This second edition includes a substantial new chapter that discusses the people, events, and developments that have dominated the period from 1995 to 2012. This chapter looks at the growing social inequality within Canadian society; the effects of globalization on Canada's industries, economy, and workers; and the increasing environmental challenges that we face. Extensively illustrated, Our Canada after 1945 is a uniquely accessible and comprehensive overview of a period only beginning to attract the attention of historians.

Genres: Nonfiction

423 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Meaningless · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knew there were so many protests and strikes in Canada following WW2??
Reading this was me trying to amend the piss poor education I had about Canadian history during elementary and high school. We mostly learned about American history, instead.

I remember this book being an intriguing deep dive. Learning about past politics, notably, who the past prime minsters were. What the political climate was like. What people did after WW2, as most histories about the world or countries seem to gloss over the half century after WW2 - for people who lived during that era, that may be less important, but for a young boy like myself, that time period is an enigma, aside from the major events that are nigh universally talked about, like, "the hippie '70s and the Vietnam war," "the cold war," "the Korean war," "the war in the Middle East," and ending with the dawn of the digital era at the start of the 21st century.

So, thanks Alvin Finkel for shedding some light about this country I've been born and raised in :)