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.
Unfortunately, due to a surplus of projects (my dissertation, a museum exhibit and lecture series which you will be hearing all about this coming July thanks to an exciting collaboration with Borealia and Acadiensis, etc.), I sort of missed the fact that June happened. So, to make up for the missed month, please accept this bumper-bonus of Upcoming Publications, with a slightly different format – first, all the publications in Canadian history from the month of June, followed by Upcoming Publications for the months of July and August. That’s right, the entire summer, covered in one post!
To see the releases from our last post, click here.
***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.
June
Kirsty Robertson, Tear Gas Epiphanies: Protest, Culture, Museums (Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019)
Museums are frequently sites of struggle and negotiation. They are key cultural institutions that occupy an oftentimes uncomfortable place at the crossroads of the arts, culture, various levels of government, corporate ventures, and the public. Because of this, museums are targeted by political action but can also provide support for contentious politics.
Though protests at museums are understudied, they are far from anomalous. Tear Gas Epiphanies traces the as-yet-untold story of political action at museums in Canada from the early twentieth century to the present. The book looks at how museums do or do not archive protest ephemera, examining a range of responses to actions taking place at their thresholds, from active encouragement to belligerent dismissal. Drawing together extensive primary-source research and analysis, Robertson questions widespread perceptions of museums, strongly arguing for a reconsideration of their role in contemporary society that takes into account political conflict and protest as key ingredients in museum life.
The sheer number of protest actions Robertson uncovers is compelling. Ambitious and wide-ranging, Tear Gas Epiphanies provides a thorough and conscientious survey of key points of intersection between museums and protest – a valuable resource for university students and scholars, as well as arts professionals working at and with museums.
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback
Publisher’s Link: https://www.mqup.ca/tear-gas-epiphanies-products-9780773557017.php?page_id=73&#!prettyPhoto
Buy it from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Tear-Gas-Epiphanies-Protest-Culture/dp/0773557016/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=tear+gas+epiphanies&qid=1554394740&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmrnull
Marcel Martel, Une brève histoire du vice au Canada depuis 1500 (Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval, 2019)
Rares sont ceux qui qualifient aujourd’hui de « vice » les jeux de hasard et d’argent, la consommation excessive d’alcool ou la dépendance à la drogue ou au sexe. On croit généralement qu’il s’agit plutôt d’une maladie. Ces comportements étaient pourtant considérés comme des vices il n’y a pas si longtemps.
Cet ouvrage propose et analyse, dans une brève exploration de la façon dont la société canadienne a fait face au vice au cours des 500 dernières années, ceux que l’État et les institutions ont le plus souvent tenté de combattre.
Available Formats: Paperback
Publisher’s Link: https://www.pulaval.com/produit/une-breve-histoire-du-vice-au-canada-depuis-1500-format-de-poche
Marc Vallières: Courtiers et entrepreneurs: Le courtage financier au Québec, 1867-1987 (Québec: Septentrion, 2019)
L’affirmation des Québécois francophones dans le monde des affaires s’est appuyée sur les institutions financières qu’ils se sont données, tant les banques et les sociétés d’assurance que le courtage financier à la bourse et dans les émissions de valeurs mobilières. La réussite des entreprises canadiennes-anglaises pouvait en grande partie s’expliquer par leur position dominante dans le système financier canadien. Les francophones se devaient donc d’employer les mêmes moyens.
La contribution de ces courtiers francophones à l’économie du Québec a souvent été ignorée, mais certains ont réussi à se démarquer par leur talent d’entrepreneur. Pensons à Louis-Joseph et Rodolphe Forget, à Louis de Gaspé Beaubien et à J.-Louis Lévesque.
Pendant plus d’un siècle, le courtage financier a joué un rôle déterminant dans l’organisation des marchés financiers au Québec, où les courtiers ont exécuté des transactions de valeurs mobilières au fil des crises et des poussées spéculatives: autant d’occasions pour eux de participer à la construction de fortunes ou d’en gérer les revers.
Available Formats: Paperback, PDF
Publisher’s Link: https://www.septentrion.qc.ca/catalogue/courtiers-et-entrepreneurs
Buy it from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Courtiers-entrepreneurs-Courtage-financier-1867-1987/dp/2897910550/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Courtiers+et+entrepreneurs&qid=1561654713&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Monica MacDonald, Recasting History: How CBC Television Has Shaped Canada’s Past (Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019)
Since 1952, CBC television has played a unique role as the primary mass media purveyor of Canadian history. Yet until now, there have been no comprehensive accounts of Canadian history on television.
Monica MacDonald takes us behind the scenes of the major documentaries and docudramas broadcast on the CBC, including in Explorations (1956-64) and the series Images of Canada (1972-76), The National Dream (1974), The Valour and the Horror (1992), and Canada: A People’s History (2000-02). Drawing on a wide range of sources, MacDonald explores how producers struggled to represent the Canadian past under a range of external and internal pressures. Despite dramatic shifts in the writing of history over this period, she determines that television themes and interpretations largely remained the same. The greater change was in the production and presentation, particularly in the role of professional historians, as journalists emerged not only as the new producers of Canadian history on CBC television, but also as the new content authorities.
A critique of public history through the lens of political economy, Recasting History reveals the conflicts, compromises, and controversies that have shaped the CBC version of the Canadian past.
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback
Publisher’s Link: https://www.mqup.ca/recasting-history-products-9780773556324.php?page_id=73&#!prettyPhoto
Buy it from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Recasting-History-Television-Shaped-Canadas/dp/077355632X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=recasting+history&qid=1551370214&s=books&sr=1-1
Robert Teigrob, Four Days in Hitler’s Germany: Mackenzie King’s Mission to Avert a Second World War (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019)
In 1937, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King travelled to Nazi Germany in an attempt to prevent a war that, to many observers, seemed inevitable. The men King communed with, including Adolf Hitler, had assured him of the Nazi regime’s peaceful intentions, and King not only found their pledges sincere, but even hoped for personal friendships with many of the regime officials.
Four Days in Hitler’s Germany is a clearly written and engaging story that addresses how King truly believed that any threat to peace would come only from those individuals who intended to thwart the Nazi agenda, which as King saw it, was concerned primarily with justifiable German territorial and diplomatic readjustments.
Mackenzie King was certainly not alone in misreading the omens in the 1930s, but it would be difficult to find a democratic leader who missed the mark by a wider margin. This book seeks to explain the sources and outcomes of King’s misperceptions and diplomatic failures, and follows him as he returns to Germany to tour the appalling aftermath of the very war he had tried to prevent.
Available Formats: Hardcover, ePub
Publisher’s Link: https://utorontopress.com/ca/four-days-in-hitler-s-germany-1
David B. MacDonald, The Sleeping Giant Awakens: Genocide, Indian Residential Schools, and the Challenge of Conciliation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019)
Confronting the truths of Canada’s Indian residential school system has been likened to waking a sleeping giant. In The Sleeping Giant Awakens, David B. MacDonald uses genocide as an analytical tool to better understand Canada’s past and present relationships between settlers and Indigenous peoples. Starting with a discussion of how genocide is defined in domestic and international law, the book applies the concept to the forced transfer of Indigenous children to residential schools and the “Sixties Scoop,” in which Indigenous children were taken from their communities and placed in foster homes or adopted.
Based on archival research, extensive interviews with residential school Survivors, and officials at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, among others, The Sleeping Giant Awakens offers a unique and timely perspective on the prospects for conciliation after genocide, exploring the difficulties in moving forward in a context where many settlers know little of the residential schools and ongoing legacies of colonization and need to have a better conception of Indigenous rights. It provides a detailed analysis of how the TRC approached genocide in its deliberations and in its Final Report.
Crucially, MacDonald engages critics who argue that the term genocide impedes understanding of the IRS system and imperils prospects for conciliation. By contrast, this book sees genocide recognition as an important basis for meaningful discussions of how to engage Indigenous-settler relations in respectful and proactive ways.
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, ePub
Publisher’s Link: https://utorontopress.com/ca/the-sleeping-giant-awakens-4
July 18
W. Gillies Ross, Hunters on the Track: William Penny and the Search for Franklin (Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019)
Captains of whaling vessels were experienced navigators of northern waters, and William Penny was in the vanguard of the whaling fraternity. Leading the first maritime expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, he stood out not just for his skill as a sailor but for his curiosity about northern geography and his willingness to seek out Inuit testimony to map uncharted territory.
Hunters on the Track describes and analyzes the efforts made by the Scottish whaling master to locate Franklin’s missing expedition. Bookended by an account of Penny’s whaling career, including the rediscovery of Cumberland Sound, which would play a vital role in British whaling a decade later, W. Gillies Ross provides an in-depth history of the first Franklin searches. He reconstructs the brief but frenetic period when the English-speaking world was preoccupied with locating Franklin, but when the means of that search – the ships chosen, the route taken, the evidence of Franklin’s traces – were contested and uncertain. Ross details the particularities of each search at a time when no fewer than eight ships comprising four search expeditions were attempting to find Franklin’s tracks. Reconstructing events, relationships, and decisions, he focuses on the work of Penny as commander of HMS Lady Franklin and Sophia, while also outlining the events of other expeditions and interactions among the officers and crews.
William Penny is respected as one of the most influential and innovative figures in British Arctic whaling history, but his brief role in the Franklin expedition is less known. Using primary sources, notably private journals from each of the expeditions, Hunters on the Track places him at the forefront of a critical chapter of maritime history and the geographical exploration that began after Franklin disappeared.
Available Formats: Hardcover, ePub
Publisher’s Link: https://www.mqup.ca/hunters-on-the-track-products-9780773552838.php?page_id=73&#!prettyPhoto
Buy it from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Hunters-Track-William-Search-Franklin/dp/0773552839/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=hunters+on+the+track&qid=1551369858&s=books&sr=1-1
August 14
Jonathan Rose and Hugh Mellon, eds. A Man of Parliament: Selected Speeches from Joe Clark (Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019)
Joe Clark – statesman, businessman, writer, and politician – served as the sixteenth prime minister of Canada from 4 June 1979 to 3 March 1980. Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal politics, gaining a seat in the House of Commons in the 1972 election and winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party only four years later.
This volume collects a number of significant speeches from Joe Clark’s illustrious career in Parliament. It captures over forty years of his public service from when he was a rookie member of Parliament, to his time as the prime minister, a cabinet minister, and the senior statesman of the House of Commons. His speeches are arranged in thematic areas such as parliamentary accountability, foreign affairs, constitutional debates, and the economy.
Insightful and wide-ranging, A Man of Parliament demonstrates that Joe Clark’s influence on Parliament continues to shape contemporary policy debates.
Available Formats: Paperback, ePub
Publisher’s Link: https://www.mqup.ca/man-of-parliament–a-products-9781553395164.php?page_id=73&#!prettyPhoto
August 22
Nicholas Shrubsole, What Has No Place, Remains: The Challenges for Indigenous Religious Freedom in Canada Today (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019)
(no cover image)
The desire to erase the religions of Indigenous Peoples is an ideological fixture of the colonial project that marked the first century of Canada’s nationhood. While the ban on certain Indigenous religious practices was lifted after the Second World War, it was not until 1982 that Canada recognized Aboriginal rights, constitutionally protecting the diverse cultures of Indigenous Peoples. As former prime minister Stephen Harper stated in Canada’s apology for Indian residential schools, the desire to destroy Indigenous cultures, including religions, has no place in Canada today. And yet Indigenous religions continue to remain under threat.
Framed through a postcolonial lens, What Has No Place, Remains analyses state actions, responses, and decisions on matters of Indigenous religious freedom. The book is particularly concerned with legal cases, such as Ktunaxa Nation v. British Columbia (2017), but also draws on political negotiations, such as those at Voisey’s Bay, and standoffs, such as the one at Gustafsen Lake, to generate a more comprehensive picture of the challenges for Indigenous religious freedom beyond Canada’s courts. With particular attention to cosmologically significant space, this book provides the first comprehensive assessment of the conceptual, cultural, political, social, and legal reasons why religious freedom for Indigenous Peoples is currently an impossibility in Canada.
Available Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, ePub
Publisher’s Link: https://utorontopress.com/ca/what-has-no-place-remains-2
Buy it from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/What-Has-Place-Remains-Challenges/dp/1487523440/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=what+has+no+place+remains&qid=1561646852&s=books&sr=1-1
August 24
David McGrane, John Whyte, Roy Romanow, and Russell Isinger, eds. Back to Blakeney: The Revitalization of the Democratic State (Regina: University of Regina Press, 2019)
Allan Blakeney believed in government as a force for good. As premier of Saskatchewan, he promoted social justice through government intervention in the economy and the welfare state. He created legal and constitutional structures that guaranteed strong human rights, and he safeguarded the integrity of the voting system to support a robust democracy. Blakeney encouraged excellence in public administration to deliver the best possible services and used taxes to help secure equality of opportunity.
In Back to Blakeney, a diverse set of scholars reflects on Blakeney’s achievements, as well as his constitutional legacy—namely, the notwithstanding clause—and explores the challenges facing democracy today.
Available Formats: Paperback
Publisher’s Link: https://uofrpress.ca/Books/B/Back-to-Blakeney
Buy it from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Back-Blakeney-Revitalization-Democratic-State/dp/0889776415/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=BACK+TO+BLAKENEY+THE+REVITALIZATION+OF+THE+DEMOCRATIC+STATE&qid=1561646437&s=books&sr=1-1
Helen Knott, In my own Moccasins: a Memoir of Resilience (Regina: University of Regina Press, 2019)
Helen Knott, a highly accomplished Indigenous woman, seems to have it all. But in her memoir, she offers a different perspective. In My Own Moccasins is an unflinching account of addiction, intergenerational trauma, and the wounds brought on by sexual violence. It is also the story of sisterhood, the power of ceremony, the love of family, and the possibility of redemption.
With gripping moments of withdrawal, times of spiritual awareness, and historical insights going back to the signing of Treaty 8 by her great-great grandfather, Chief Bigfoot, her journey exposes the legacy of colonialism, while reclaiming her spirit.
Available Formats: Hardcover
Publisher’s Link: https://uofrpress.ca/Books/I/In-My-Own-Moccasins
Buy it from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/My-Own-Moccasins-Memoir-Resilience/dp/088977644X/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=IN+MY+OWN+MOCCASINS+A+MEMOIR+OF+RESILIENCE&qid=1561646492&s=books&sr=1-2
August 31
Leon Crane Bear, Larry Hannant, and Karissa Robyn Patton, eds. Bucking Conservatism:
Alternative Stories of Alberta from the 60s and 70s (Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2019)
With lively, informative contributions by both scholars and activists, Bucking Conservatism highlights the individuals and groups who challenged Alberta’s conservative status quo in the 1960s and 70s. Drawing on archival records, newspaper articles, police reports, and interviews, the contributors examine Alberta’s history through the eyes of Indigenous activists protesting discriminatory legislation and unfulfilled treaty obligations, women and lesbian and gay persons standing up to the heteropatriarchy, student activists seeking to forge a new democracy, and anti-capitalist environmentalists demanding social change.
This book uncovers the lasting influence of Alberta’s noncomformists—those who recognized the need for dissent in a province defined by wealth and right-wing politics—and poses thought-provoking questions for contemporary activists.
Available Formats: Paperback, PDF, ePub
Publisher’s Link: http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120286
John H. Brumley (with artifact photos by James Marshall), Lookout Cave: The Archaeology of Perishable Remains on the Northern Plains (Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2019)
In the mid-1960s as a young high school student John Brumley visited Lookout Cave for the first time and knew immediately that the site was exceptional. The cave, located in north central Montana, was initially discovered in 1920 but it wasn’t until 1969 that a field crew from the University of Montana excavated a large portion of the remote site. The materials recovered in that excavation resulted in a substantial collection of more than one thousand items of normally perishable wood, feathers, and sinew. The material was stored in cardboard boxes and paper field collection bags until the year 2000 when Brumley turned his attention to Lookout Cave once again to provides an analysis of the lithic, faunal, and organic material collected from this unique site.
In the absence of moisture and direct sunlight, the interior of the cave created excellent conditions for preservation. This fully illustrated volume features these artifacts and sheds new light on Plains culture and the centuries old use of this well-hidden space.
Available Formats: Paperback, PDF, ePub
Publisher’s Link: http://www.aupress.ca/index.php/books/120270
Buy it from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Lookout-Cave-Archaeology-Perishable-Northern/dp/1771991798/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Lookout+Cave:+The+Archaeology+of+Perishable+Remains+on+the+Northern+Plains&qid=1561644254&s=books&sr=1-1
Whew! Ok, that’s it for Summer 2019. We’ll be back in August to cover the exciting upcoming publications for the fall – I got a sneak peek at the fall catalogues, and there’s some exciting new releases that I’m really looking forward to! I hope you enjoyed this blog post. If you did, please consider sharing it on the social media platform of your choice! 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!
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