A Traveller's History of Canada

by Robert Bothwell

A Traveller's History of Canada gives a comprehensive survey of the country's past from the earliest times right through to the present. It begins with the first immigrants to arrive well over 15,000 years ago who traveled across a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska. These native cultures saw a succession of Westerners from the early, mainly unsuccessful Viking settlements, to the British and French in later centuries attempting to make life possible on what could be an inhospitable landscape. The European powers brought with them not only a thirst for land but also their own quarrels, which resulted in battles and skirmishes with each other, and with America after its independence. The battles continued into the twentieth century - but only on the cultural and language front between the French and English. The impact of the two world wars and its relationship with its brash neighbor, the U.S., are thoroughly discussed. The book is brought fully up to date with a profile of modern Canada, its successes, present difficulties and a prognosis for the new millennium.

Genres: Canada, History, Nonfiction, Travel

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Robert Bothwell is a professor of Canadian history, and the foremost scholar on Canadian Cold War participation, as well as a frequently published author.

Bothwell completed his BA at the University of Toronto and his PhD at Harvard University. He is currently Director of the University of Toronto's International Relations program at Trinity College, where he is a fellow, and a professor of Canadian political and diplomatic history. Bothwell holds the May Gluskin Chair in Canadian History. His research interests include modern Canadian history and political, diplomatic and military history. Bothwell is an expert on Canada-U.S. relations.

Reviews

[Kate]

A solid introduction to Canadian history.

[Baris Balcioglu]

One of my friends gave it as a gift to me in 2003 as I was moving to Canada. I didn't read it until very recently. Now that I was merely a traveler here instead of a resident as I used to be. Well, some phrases I could not understand which made me thought that my English was as mediocre as my biking skills. But more than anything a country so unfortunate with a boring history. But even France could appear boring when told in a concise manner.

[Spencer]

Being someone who enjoys reading history, I once again find myself in the awkward position of reading an overview, with nothing to compare it with. That said, I found the pace of this book to be appropriately quick. This is not a book that will list every twist and turn in Canadian events. Rather, it familiarized me we major Canadian political figures, and showed the development of Canada as a nation state, while giving some indication as to the different cultural forces in different areas of the country.

Overall, it seemed evenhanded, and well meaning. I would recommend to my fellow Americans who think of Canada as not really having anything distinct about it to differentiate it from its neighbor to the south.

[Jack Wolfe]

This book is exactly as advertised: a history (not a travelogue) for travellers (i.e. folks who are just visiting, and who might not have a great idea of what they're getting into) about Canada (our hilariously dorky Northern neighbors*). I read it as me and my wife journeyed thru Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. I found it witty, easy-to-read, and informative, with a helpful "Gazeteer" detailing the individual stories of more populous cities and regions. It turns out that Canada is like us, but different! Wow!

*to Canadians offended by this statement: it's okay, I accept your apology

[Cyclewheeler]

This book is very readable giving one insight into how Canada evolved nearly 5000 years ago to present day. The English and the French brought all the
same prejudices and opinions with them as they colonized Canada. Power plays, intrigue and conflict are explained. I liked how he takes the reader up to
the present day and the chronology, indexes lists of government officials and
brief history of territories at back of book really added to the explanation and
gave me a nice reference. I plan to go back over the book highlighting some main points

[Konrad Plechowski]

Informative summary of the history of Canada. Perfect background before the travel, as I bet nobody not related to the place has ever wondered how come that such country exists there up north of the USA.

[AJ Nolan]

I barely knew anything about Canadian history, so I picked up this book. It is well written and researched, comprehensive, and yet not too long, and all and all, a great introduction to the history of a country. I think I'm going to work my way through all of the Traveller's History series as an attempt to learn more about other countries' histories. Reading 5 of these a year would mean in 5 years I'd know the history of 25 other countries, and that would be a good start. The most fascinating part of the history was in the Revolutionary War era, in which the author referred to the American colonists as "insurgents," and Bothwell looked as some of the contributing factors to the Revolution that are often skipped in our K-12 history, like that the war was as much over land as it was over taxes, with the colonists angry over England's treaties with the North American tribes to stop Westward Expansion. That and that we invaded Canada repeatedly during the War of 1812. Who knew? Not me. But now I do.

[Dee]

informative, but a bit boring. I was looking more for what it's like living in canada.

[Patricia]

Short and sweet. This was a good thousand foot overview.