Welcome back to our monthly series, “Upcoming Publications in Canadian History,” where I’ve compiled information on all the upcoming releases for the following month in the field of Canadian history from every Canadian academic press, all in one place. This includes releases in both English and French. To see the releases from September and August, click here. It’s my first time writing an Unwritten Histories regular feature, so I’m pretty excited!
***Please note that the cover images and book blurbs are used with permission from the publishers.***
N.B. This list only includes new releases, not rereleases in different formats.
September 16
Tony Tremblay, New Brunswick at the Crossroads: Literary Ferment and Social Change in the East (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2017)
What is the relationship between literature and the society in which it incubates? Are there common political, social, and economic factors that predominate during periods of heightened literary activity? New Brunswick at the Crossroads: Literary Ferment and Social Change in the East considers these questions and explores the relationships between periods of creative ferment in New Brunswick and the socio-cultural conditions of those times.
The province’s literature is ideally suited to such a study because of its bicultural character—in both English and French, periods of intense literary creativity occurred at different times and for different reasons. What emerges is a cultural geography in New Brunswick that has existed not in isolation from the rest of Canada but often at the creative forefront of imagined alternatives in identity and citizenship. At a time when cultural industries are threatened by forces that seek to negate difference and impose uniformity, New Brunswick at the Crossroads provides an understanding of the intersection of cultures and social economies, contributing to critical discussions about what constitutes “the creative” in Canadian society, especially in rural, non-central spaces like New Brunswick.
Formats Available: Paperback
Publisher’s Link: https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/N/New-Brunswick-at-the-Crossroads
Buy it from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/New-Brunswick-Crossroads-Literary-Ferment/dp/1771122072/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505405141&sr=1-1&keywords=new+brunswick+at+the+crossroads
October 4
David Campbell, It Can’t Last Forever: The 19th Battalion and the Canadian Corps in the First World War (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2017)
The 19th Battalion was an infantry unit that fought in many of the deadliest battles of the First World War. Hailing from Hamilton, Toronto, and other communities in southern Ontario and beyond, its members were ordinary men facing extraordinary challenges at the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Amiens, and other battlefields on Europe’s Western Front. Through his examination of official records and personal accounts, the author presents vivid descriptions and assessments of the rigours of training, the strains of trench warfare, the horrors of battle, and the camaraderie of life behind the front lines. From mobilization in 1914 to the return home in 1919, Campbell reveals the unique experiences of the battalion’s officers and men and situates their service within the broader context of the battalion’s parent formations—the 4th Infantry Brigade and the 2nd Division of the Canadian Corps. Readers will gain a fuller appreciation of the internal dynamics of an infantry battalion and how it functioned within the larger picture of Canadian operations.
Formats available: Hardcover
Publisher’s link: https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/I/It-Can-t-Last-Forever
October 7
Barbara Mitchell, Mapmaker: Philip Turnor in Rupert’s Land in the Age of Enlightenment (Regina: University of Regina Press, 2017)
A story of exploration, family ties, and how the territorial interests of a large corporation enabled scientific study of the natural world, Mapmaker is the first biography of Philip Turnor, the surveyor who traversed and mapped vast areas of northern Canada.
Formats Available: Hardcover.
Publisher’s Link: https://uofrpress.ca/Books/M/Mapmaker
Buy it on Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Mapmaker-Philip-Turnor-Ruperts-Enlightenment/dp/0889775036/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505402857&sr=1-1&keywords=mapmaker+rupert%27s+land+age+of+enlightenment
October 13
Ryan Bullock, Gayle Broad, Lynn Palmer, Peggy Smith (Eds), Growing Community Forests: Practice, Research, and Advocacy in Canada (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2017)
Canada is experiencing an unparalleled crisis involving forests and communities across the country. While municipalities, policy makers, and industry leaders acknowledge common challenges such as an overdependence on U.S. markets, rising energy costs, and lack of diversification, no common set of solutions has been developed and implemented. Ongoing and at times contentious public debate has revealed an appetite and need for a fundamental rethinking of the relationships that link our communities, governments, industrial partners, and forests.
The community forest is one path that promises to build social, economic, and ecological resilience. This model provides local control over common forest-lands in order to activate resource development opportunities, benefits, and social responsibilities. Implementing community forestry in practice has proven to be a complex task, however: there are no road maps or well-developed and widely-tested models for community forestry in Canada. But in settings where community forests have taken hold, there is a rich and growing body of experience to draw on.
Growing Community Forests brings leading researchers, practitioners, Indigenous representatives, government representatives, local advocates, and students together to share resources, and tools to forest communities, policy makers, and industry.
Forms Available: Paperback
Publisher’s Link: https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/growing-community-forests
Buy it on Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Growing-Community-Forests-Practice-Research/dp/0887557937/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505401495&sr=8-1&keywords=growing+community+forests
Kathryn A. Young & Sarah M. McKinnon, No Man’s Land: The Life and Art of Mary Riter Hamilton (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2017)
What force of will and circumstance drove a woman with a burgeoning art career following years of study in European art schools from a comfortable life to one of hardship and loneliness in the battle zones of France and Belgium following the Great War?
For western Canadian artist Mary Riter Hamilton (1868–1954), art was her life’s passion. Her tale is one of tragedy and adventure, from homestead beginnings, to genteel drawing rooms in Winnipeg, Victoria, and Vancouver, to Berlin and Parisian art schools, to Vimy and Ypres, and finally to illness and poverty in old age. No Man’s Land is the first biographical study of Hamilton, whose work can be found in galleries and art museums throughout Canada.
Young and McKinnon’s meticulous research in unpublished private collections brings to light new correspondence between Hamilton and her friends, revealing the importance of female networks to an artist’s well-being. Her letters from abroad, in particular, bring a woman’s perspective into the immediate post-war period and give voice to trying conditions. Hamilton’s career is situated within the context of her peers Florence Carlyle, Emily Carr, and Sophie Pemberton, with whom she shared a Canadian and European experience.
Formats Available: Paperback
Publisher’s Link: https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/no-mans-land
Buy it on Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/No-Mans-Land-Hamilton-1868-1954/dp/0887558119/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505402151&sr=1-1&keywords=no+man%27s+land+mary+hamilton
October 21
Neal McLeod, The Book of Ayâs (Regina: University of Regina Press, 2017)
In the book of ayâs, Neal McLeod takes his place among the great Indigenous storytellers of the continent. He has situated stories of ayâs — a traditional Cree figure who experiences exile, dislocation, and encounters with a dark spirit — in the Plains Cree world of the mid-nineteenth century. McLeod then extends these stories and weaves them into the experience of contemporary Indigenous men who are dealing with legacies of colonial violence and trauma. At the center of McLeod’s vision is the ancient marriage of Cree language and land. “With the revival of kinêhiyawêwinaw (our Cree language),” he says, “we can awaken the old horse songs of our ancestors and sing our beings back to wholeness and light.” University of Regina Press is deeply honoured to be publishing this extraordinary long poem. McLeod has given us both an important work of Cree narrative history and a profound and moving meditation on cultural violence and rejuvenation. It is destined to become a classic. the book of ayâs is of special interest to fans of Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red and Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, as well as any reader looking for the latest in strong Indigenous voices.
Formats available: Paperback
Publisher’s link: https://uofrpress.ca/Books/T/the-book-of-ayas
Buy it on Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/book-ay%C3%A2s-Neal-McLeod/dp/0889775125/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505405024&sr=8-1&keywords=the+book+of+ayas
That’s all for this month! Are there any books in particular that you are looking forward to? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments below! And don’t get to check back on Sunday for a brand new Canadian history roundup! See you then!
I am just starting to research my husband’s Canadian great grand father , Bazile/Basile Joyal. The only place I have found anything is French Quebec. So I can better understand what is going on I am looking for background reading material. I don’t even know enough to know what is good for that. Kansas is a little far removed from French Canadian. He does come to St. Clair county, Illinois, eventually. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Carol! Thanks for your comment. There are many great sources on Québec, especially when it comes to genealogy. For family records, start with this: http://www.cangenealogy.com/quebec.html. All parish records (birth/marriage/death) certificates prior to 1849 can be found on https://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/home (although there is a fee that needs to be paid to access the website). As for historical sources, there are many! The problem is many of them are in French, and are very specialized. Could you maybe let me know what time period you are looking for? Or what area? It would help with recommendations. Also remember: Illinois was once part of New France, and “French Canada” is much bigger than Québec so if you can’t find him in that province it might be useful to branch out!
I would also recommend Gail Dever’s website, where she has a list of resources for individuals who want to work on the history and genealogy of French Canada (http://genealogyalacarte.ca/?page_id=10646). There isn’t really one book per se that I can recommend, simply because the history of French Canada is so large and complex, and, as Stephanie noted, much of this is in French. I would however recommend the Quebec History Encyclopedia (http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/index.htm) as a great primer on Quebec history, including their list of online resources about Quebec history (http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/sites/quebec.htm). I hope this helps!