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New Brunswick: A short history
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 8, 2011
Tim Frink's book about the history of New Brunswick is not an academic treatise. In fact, it's more like your friend down the pub telling you about the topic, interspersing the general trends with stories about interesting and important local figures. I was more interested in the earlier parts where the First Nations figured prominently than the later parts, apart from finding out what the 1812 war with Britain was all about, which has been a mystery to me since I came across it in one of Patrick O'Brian's books. These reflect personal interests more than any variation in quality of the book, however.
If you should happen to want to get a general overview of the history of the region, this is probably a good starting point at the least.
If you should happen to want to get a general overview of the history of the region, this is probably a good starting point at the least.
August 16, 2025
I first saw this book in a thrift store in Fredericton and picked it up wanting to learn some more about my new community. The first thing that struck me was the lack of summary on the back cover, as well as the unique forward. As far as I could tell, the author has no formal education in this area which is interesting for the type of book that is being presented. The author very clearly states that this book was not intended to be a scholarly work but clearly has some trouble with this intention. For example the book combines
The book floats across the history of New Brunswick well, hopping from period to period getting a general sense of what happened, who was involved and why, which is very helpful in a place as spread out as New Brunswick. It does this well but comes with the added quirk that every time period mentioned deserved its own book, as such the sweeping generalizations on why certain things happen which anyone acquainted with academic history studies will pick up on as suspect. There are some issues of focus and intent. The author wants to tell interesting little folk stories but also summarize the economic and social development of the region. The book would definitely have benefited from choosing one or the other, either focussing on stories and explaining their context within the development of the province or describing development and using occasional stories to emphasise the human factor of history. Where the book excels in the telling of these stories, both humorous and informative, exploring recognizable places in New Brunswick and tying them to famous figures.
The voice the author uses in the book is interesting, most alike to hearing a grandfather tell you how it was like in his day. It's relaxed and uses a couple quick jabs at petty bureaucracy and stuffy elites, but is applied unevenly over the text. I liked it but it did appear during some crucial parts of the book.
I will now note the stories that blew me away and showed the signs of a far superior book; The LaTour v d'Aulney rivalry, the Madawaska region, the raids of Bengamin Church, the streetcar riots, the great fire of 1877, etc. These were fantastic snapshots of life in New Brunswick that made everything else worthwhile.
Another area of interest is what the book chooses to focus on. The focus is far from balanced in the representation of different eras and perspectives. Given the book was what appears to be the passion project of an elderly Maritimer, the expectation would be that they would take a beneficial attitude towards British heritage and the overall benefits of Canadian institutions, however this is absent for the most part. He acknowledges the corruption endemic to early confederation, the inherent cruelty of the Irish potato famine and subsequent immigration, class tensions and labour relations, role of women and role of indigenous peoples to degree. particularly I had no concept of how brutal conditions were for Irish immigrants forced off their land by poverty, starvation and landowners (though comparing the conditions to those of the slave trade are not appropriate as done in the book). The early labour relations were also fascinating seeing as the current situation in New Brunswick is of complete dominance by corporate interests. However there are parts of the book that were clearly afterthoughts in the author's mind, such as the near complete exclusion of indigenous peoples post-1812. Another issue was the focus on Saint John as a setting, which may just be due to the fact that Saint John was one of the few places where anything was happening.
Attitudes towards indigenous peoples as well as women and minorities are for the most part neutral. Indigenous peoples are portrayed as flawed humans and part of early maritime society but as mentioned before their subsequent erasure is left out. Treatment of minorities gets a minor mention with the Black loyalists choosing immigration in Sierra Leone rather than integration in New Brunswick but not much else. The importance of women is also a footnote, but their specific political achievements are far more impressive and well articulated which was nice to see. The Acadian issue I thought was well told, detailing the cruelty of the expulsion of 1755 and the Acadians slow crawl from underclass to having a distinct nationality.
There were a few parts left out that I thought were interesting. They follow in no particular order: the acquisition of land for Base Gagetown, the effect of the mactaquac damn on Woodstock, how the Irving's accumulation of wealth impacted the local economy, etc.
Accuracy with this book is a fickle thing. Judging from the sources and the amount of actual citations this was not a well researched book, but I did not put the time nor research in to discover just how many inaccuracies there were. The main one I saw was the author getting the US president during the war of 1812 was, but I am sure there are others. As mentioned there is also plenty of "perhaps they thought this..." or "history records..." type phrases that are red flags to those looking for accuracy. The small anecdotes here and there that reinforce what the author is speaking about are of course given some license and could be exaggerated or the result of political propaganda (something similar to Nero singing while Rome burned) but that is what the reader is here for, an essentially oral history of New Brunswick. However the issue stated before of the book not knowing what it wants to be rears it's head. The book will cite census statistics and war casualties in one section then tell the story of the fastest ship Saint John built in the next. Then at the end of a chapter there will be a summary of how and why something like an economic depression happened in New Brunswick, or even skimming over decades with a few phrases talking about how the province was skipped over in Federal planning or lost industry due to competition. I can believe that some of the author's explanations are plausible, but not applicable. In general it is difficult to see if you are getting an accurate overview of the history of New Brunswick.
This is a flawed book, but that's what made it so captivating. It was an attempt by someone who did not possess the knowledge to write a historical book but the will to do it anyway. The result is not bad, introducing the reader to long dead stories of their own rivers and shores. The most valuable part of history to the average person is the ability to answer questions like "why is that island named Bone island?", "why is that fort there?", "why is my area poor/rich?", "why are some areas composed of different ethnic groups and nationalities than others?", and "why are there only a few corporations holding so much disproportionate power?" This book goes a long way towards answering these but required more research and careful consideration of method before becoming the definitive version of that.
2/5. Needed to choose an identity and have a firm grasp on the factual history of New Brunswick.
The book floats across the history of New Brunswick well, hopping from period to period getting a general sense of what happened, who was involved and why, which is very helpful in a place as spread out as New Brunswick. It does this well but comes with the added quirk that every time period mentioned deserved its own book, as such the sweeping generalizations on why certain things happen which anyone acquainted with academic history studies will pick up on as suspect. There are some issues of focus and intent. The author wants to tell interesting little folk stories but also summarize the economic and social development of the region. The book would definitely have benefited from choosing one or the other, either focussing on stories and explaining their context within the development of the province or describing development and using occasional stories to emphasise the human factor of history. Where the book excels in the telling of these stories, both humorous and informative, exploring recognizable places in New Brunswick and tying them to famous figures.
The voice the author uses in the book is interesting, most alike to hearing a grandfather tell you how it was like in his day. It's relaxed and uses a couple quick jabs at petty bureaucracy and stuffy elites, but is applied unevenly over the text. I liked it but it did appear during some crucial parts of the book.
I will now note the stories that blew me away and showed the signs of a far superior book; The LaTour v d'Aulney rivalry, the Madawaska region, the raids of Bengamin Church, the streetcar riots, the great fire of 1877, etc. These were fantastic snapshots of life in New Brunswick that made everything else worthwhile.
Another area of interest is what the book chooses to focus on. The focus is far from balanced in the representation of different eras and perspectives. Given the book was what appears to be the passion project of an elderly Maritimer, the expectation would be that they would take a beneficial attitude towards British heritage and the overall benefits of Canadian institutions, however this is absent for the most part. He acknowledges the corruption endemic to early confederation, the inherent cruelty of the Irish potato famine and subsequent immigration, class tensions and labour relations, role of women and role of indigenous peoples to degree. particularly I had no concept of how brutal conditions were for Irish immigrants forced off their land by poverty, starvation and landowners (though comparing the conditions to those of the slave trade are not appropriate as done in the book). The early labour relations were also fascinating seeing as the current situation in New Brunswick is of complete dominance by corporate interests. However there are parts of the book that were clearly afterthoughts in the author's mind, such as the near complete exclusion of indigenous peoples post-1812. Another issue was the focus on Saint John as a setting, which may just be due to the fact that Saint John was one of the few places where anything was happening.
Attitudes towards indigenous peoples as well as women and minorities are for the most part neutral. Indigenous peoples are portrayed as flawed humans and part of early maritime society but as mentioned before their subsequent erasure is left out. Treatment of minorities gets a minor mention with the Black loyalists choosing immigration in Sierra Leone rather than integration in New Brunswick but not much else. The importance of women is also a footnote, but their specific political achievements are far more impressive and well articulated which was nice to see. The Acadian issue I thought was well told, detailing the cruelty of the expulsion of 1755 and the Acadians slow crawl from underclass to having a distinct nationality.
There were a few parts left out that I thought were interesting. They follow in no particular order: the acquisition of land for Base Gagetown, the effect of the mactaquac damn on Woodstock, how the Irving's accumulation of wealth impacted the local economy, etc.
Accuracy with this book is a fickle thing. Judging from the sources and the amount of actual citations this was not a well researched book, but I did not put the time nor research in to discover just how many inaccuracies there were. The main one I saw was the author getting the US president during the war of 1812 was, but I am sure there are others. As mentioned there is also plenty of "perhaps they thought this..." or "history records..." type phrases that are red flags to those looking for accuracy. The small anecdotes here and there that reinforce what the author is speaking about are of course given some license and could be exaggerated or the result of political propaganda (something similar to Nero singing while Rome burned) but that is what the reader is here for, an essentially oral history of New Brunswick. However the issue stated before of the book not knowing what it wants to be rears it's head. The book will cite census statistics and war casualties in one section then tell the story of the fastest ship Saint John built in the next. Then at the end of a chapter there will be a summary of how and why something like an economic depression happened in New Brunswick, or even skimming over decades with a few phrases talking about how the province was skipped over in Federal planning or lost industry due to competition. I can believe that some of the author's explanations are plausible, but not applicable. In general it is difficult to see if you are getting an accurate overview of the history of New Brunswick.
This is a flawed book, but that's what made it so captivating. It was an attempt by someone who did not possess the knowledge to write a historical book but the will to do it anyway. The result is not bad, introducing the reader to long dead stories of their own rivers and shores. The most valuable part of history to the average person is the ability to answer questions like "why is that island named Bone island?", "why is that fort there?", "why is my area poor/rich?", "why are some areas composed of different ethnic groups and nationalities than others?", and "why are there only a few corporations holding so much disproportionate power?" This book goes a long way towards answering these but required more research and careful consideration of method before becoming the definitive version of that.
2/5. Needed to choose an identity and have a firm grasp on the factual history of New Brunswick.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 17, 2021
Overall, this book summed up areas of the province that other books I read got too into the weeds on.
Judging from the bibliography the author didn't spend a lot of time looking up more than 20 sources to base his book on - as he says in the foreword, it's not meant to be a scholarly work just a summation - which is too bad because his first chapter could stand to have an editor and an Indigenous person proofing it for him because he sure does sound racist and dismissive as heck.
There's a lot of opinion, and adjectives are ripe where they don't need to be, even for something not intended to be scholarly. Frankly the title should be changed to reflect the laissez-faire regard to its subject matter.
Perhaps "A Bar Patron Gossips about New Brunswick".
Judging from the bibliography the author didn't spend a lot of time looking up more than 20 sources to base his book on - as he says in the foreword, it's not meant to be a scholarly work just a summation - which is too bad because his first chapter could stand to have an editor and an Indigenous person proofing it for him because he sure does sound racist and dismissive as heck.
There's a lot of opinion, and adjectives are ripe where they don't need to be, even for something not intended to be scholarly. Frankly the title should be changed to reflect the laissez-faire regard to its subject matter.
Perhaps "A Bar Patron Gossips about New Brunswick".
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews