Donald Creighton was for many years one of Canada's foremost historians, a firm believer that history was closer to art than it was to science. Marked by beautiful, carefully crafted prose, The Road to Confederation reflects a style that perhaps no contemporary historian would dare: romantic, suspenseful, fearlessly narrative, and full of unapologetic opinions. If not politically correct and sanitized, it is a fascinating exploration of the personalities, the political logjams, even the debt problems that marked the period leading to Confederation.

The book was also, as Donald Wright's excellent introduction argues, haunted by doubt. Not only had Canada failed to live up to Creighton's vision, Creighton himself was writing from the perspective of a rapidly changing country. Quebec was moving towards a liberal, secular, and nationalist identity; English Canada was embracing bilingualism and diversity; debates about nuclear weapons were raging; and living next to the United States was becoming increasingly uneasy. The road was becoming ever less straightforward. In many respects, The Road to Confederation reveals as much about the 1960s as it does the 1860s.

Can echoes of Creighton's vision be seen even now, as Canada reinserts "Royal" into its military's name and remains entranced by William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and the future of the Royal Family?

The late Donald Creighton (1902-1979) was the outstanding narrative historian of Canada in his era. A long-time professor of history at the University of Toronto, his other books include The Empire of the St. Lawrence, The Road to Confederation, and Canada's First Century.

Donald Creighton's profile page

Donald Wright is an assistant professor in the Department of History and the Centre for Canadian Studies at Brock University.

Donald Wright's profile page

"A happy, nostalgic celebration of the people and the process that had made Canadian federal union; precisely detailed, wonderfully evocative." --Globe and Mail

"Professor Donald Creighton ... is Canada's most distinguished historian. He is not only an excellent historian who digs deep in original material and the archives for his information when he writes on Canada, but is a brilliant and graphic writer." --London Free Press

"An immense pieces of scholarship." --Winnipeg Tribune

"a real page-turner...a fantastic read"

--Canadian Book Review

"A model of historical writing. . . . The Road to Confederation, clear and well-written, blending wide general considerations with intimate personal studies and with detailed local knowledge, is an important contribution to the flow of new historical writing which the Centenary has provoked." --The Historical Journal

"A beautifully written book." --Canadian Historical Review

"The essentials emerge with new clarity. This is a handbook to Canada which will serve well the general reader who doesn't know as much of the story as he will find here. And that would include at least 99 per cent of us all." --Ottawa Journal

"It is a superb job of story-telling, compressing Canada's rather long record into one highly readable volume." --Vancouver Sun