Thinkers and Dreamers honours Carl C. Berger, professor of Canadian history at the University of Toronto for more than forty years and author of influential works on Canadian intellectual history. In this collection, Professor Berger's colleagues and former students explore the currents of intellectual life in North America since the mid-nineteenth century.

Broad in scope, the essays range in content from a commentary on works in intellectual history to analyses of the development of particular disciplines and distinctive cultural institutions. Several of the contributions provide sharp critiques of historical thought, including a discussion of professional scholarship and an analysis of the field of intellectual history. Others address issues that combine institutional and cultural history, such as an examination of Victorian Canada and a discussion of immigration and citizenship. These varied reflections aptly convey Berger's contributions to the study of Canadian history.

Gerald Friesen taught Canadian history at the University of Manitoba from 1970–2011. He has written several books, including The Canadian Prairies: A History and Citizens and Nation, and is co-author of Immigrants in Prairie Cities. Former president of the Canadian Historical Association, he was an advisor on CBC-Radio Canada’s television series Canada: A People’s History. He lives in Winnipeg.

Gerald Friesen's profile page

Doug Owram is Deputy Vice Chancellor and Principal at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan.

Doug Owram's profile page

‘Thinkers and Dreamers illustrate the vibrancy of intellectual history… The essays, considered as a whole, represent an important contribution to Canadian intellectual history, a subfield whose contours Berger and the contributors to this festschrift have done so much to shape.’

Dennis McKim; H-Net List for Canadian History‘ September 19, 2011