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History General

Historical Atlas of Canada

Volume III: Addressing the Twentieth Century

edited by Deryck W. Holdsworth & Donald Kerr

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Sep 1990
Category
General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802030054
    Publish Date
    Aug 1993
    List Price
    $318.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802034489
    Publish Date
    Sep 1990
    List Price
    $127.00

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Description

In 1891 the young nation of Canada stood on the brink of a great surge of growth and development. During the seven decades covered in this volume Canada would be transformed from a rural, agricultural society, almost exclusively British and French in background, to an urban, industrial nation with more cultural diversity. These developments are illustrated in the exceptionally vivid plates of the Historical Atlas of Canada, III: Addressing the Twentieth Century.

The first part of the volume, the Great Transformation, covers developments from 1891 to 1929, the year the stock market crashed. In this period of economic and social change are charted, among other aspects, land and resource development, the growth of financial institutions, prairie agriculture and the grain-handling system, industrial growth, and changes in education, religion, and social structures. Individual plates include detailed studies of the formation of the United Church of Canada in 1925; the evolution of suburban neighbourhoods in Edmonton; the wave of strikes in 1919; Ukrainian settlement in southern Manitoba in 1901; the interlocking business interests of Toronto financiers in 1913; the formation of the National Hockey League and the rise of spectator sport; and the development of Montreal as a great industrial city.

The second part of the volume. Crisis and Response, deals with the Depression, the Second World War, and the post-war boom. Here are charted shifts in the make-up and distribution of the population, a growing range of social services, and the emergence of a national economy. The plates in this section include graphic representations of drought on the Prairies in the 1930S; the routes of unemployed people riding the rails in search of work; the development of Ottawa as the nation's capital; the rise of retail trade; the strong growth in the uranium and petroleum industries; and the spread of television.

With unsurpassed clarity, the Atlas presents the forces that have shaped Canadian society today. Anyone who wishes to understand contemporary Canada will find this volume richly rewarding.

About the authors

Deryck Wililam Holdsworth is Profesor of Geography at Pennsylvania State University. He is co-editor of The Historical Atlas of Canada, Volume III.

Deryck W. Holdsworth's profile page

Donald Gordon Grady Kerr (1913-1976) was a professor of history at the University of Western Ontario, and formerly at Mount Allison University.

Donald Kerr's profile page

Editorial Reviews

'It startles us into realizing that man's relation to the land is ever-changing and cumulative.'

Canadian Geographic

'It must be in every library, and it should be in every home.'

Winnipeg Free Press

'A major publishing event, a cartographic milestone and a new chapter in the exploration of Canadian history and geography.'

Equinox

'[The reader] is likely to return again and again with wonder and gratitude to these gorgeous pages.'

Royce MacGillivray, Globe and Mail

'The text, the pictures, the diagrams and charts are welcome tools for teachers and should be part of every school library.'

Canadian Social Studies: The History and Science Teacher

'Students, teachers and researchers will find it to be an immensely valuable and refreshing work of reference.'

Saint John Telegraph-Journal

'An accessible up-to-date interpretation of our country's history through maps and graphs.'

Chatelaine

'A beautifully designed book, this atlas is an essential contribution to North American history.'

College & Research Libraries News

'A thing of beauty and a mine of information.'

Montreal Gazette

'The sheer complexity of the undertaking, range of topics, depth of scholarship, revelation of detail, and ingenuity of presentation all continue to impress.'

Canadian Historical Review

'What sets the book in a class of its own is the astonishingly diverse areas that it addresses.'

Maclean's Magazine

'An awesome achievement, a cartographic masterpiece in which one can easily get lost.'

Edmonton Journal