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History General

Making History in Twentieth-Century Quebec

by (author) Ronald Rudin

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 1997
Category
General, 20th Century
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442676916
    Publish Date
    Nov 1997
    List Price
    $91.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802008534
    Publish Date
    Dec 1997
    List Price
    $91.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802078384
    Publish Date
    Dec 1997
    List Price
    $45.95

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Description

This book is the first comprehensive examination of the way French-speaking Quebecers have written about their past in the twentieth century. Rudin begins his study with Lionel Groulx, a professional historian who dominated the field for the first half of the century, and concludes with figures such as Paul-André Linteau who occupy an important place in the discipline today.

Since historical writing reflects the society in which it was produced, Rudin's analysis offers new ways of thinking about Quebec society over the course of this century. He questions past interpretations of the careers of certain historians, dismissed for having been insufficiently professional to warrant serious attention. The dismissal of such historians has facilitated the belief, common in the profession, that historical writing in and about Quebec has constantly improved. Rudin challenges this received notion of continual progress by examining a group of historians who were remarkably similar, throughout the period, in their desire to abide by contemporary professional standards.

As a complementary volume to Carl Berger's The Writing of Canadian History, and as a new, critical reading of Quebec historiography, this book will stimulate considerable debate in the historical community.

About the author

Ronald Rudin is a professor in the Department of History and co-director of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University. His most recent book, Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie, received both the US National Council on Public History Book Award and the Public History Prize of the Canadian Historical Association.

Ronald Rudin's profile page