History from Quebec, 1981

RONALD RUDIN History fromQuebec, THEMAJOR WORKS in Quebechistorypublished in Frenchduring•98• represent several trendsevidentinthefieldoverthepastfewyears. Of the sevenworks• which will be considered in detail in this review, five dealsolely withthepost-Confederation periodandmostof these give thebulkof their attentionto thetwentiethcentury.There isbutone studyfocused onthehistoryof NewFrance,andnotasingle workthat concentrates on the period from the Conquestto Confederation. Moreover,within this interestin modern Quebechistory,there isa strongemphasis uponissues broadlydefinedasrelatedtoeconomic or socialhistory.Only one of the fiveworkswith a post-Confederation focus falls outside these areas of interest. These trendsare not difficult to understandand are probably familiarto manyreaders.In thepasttwodecades, asthepowerof the The editors requested Professors RonaldRudinandJean-Claude Robert toprepare review articles of majorbooks published, respectively, in Frenchandin English in •98•. Botharticles appearin thisissue of thecaR. In additiontotheseseven works,therewereothersworthyof some comment. RenEe Lescop's, Lepariqu•b•cois dug•ndral deGaulle (MontrEal, BorEal Express, :98:) attempts totracedeGaulle's relationship withQuebec fromWorldWarII to hisdeathin :97o. The studyneverreallyrises above thelevelof achronology of Quebec-France relations withlittleanalytical content.There werealsotwobooks based uponpersonal recollections thatwereof someinterest. NormandLafleur's Leschinois del'est (MontrEal,LemEac,•98:) uses interviews withtheauthor's relativesin theUnitedStates to discuss thehistoryof theFranco-Americans. More interesting was Jos-Phydime Michaud's, Kamouraska, dememoire (MontrEal, BorEal Express, •98:). Michaud, whoisnearlyeighty years old,discusses boththefirst halfofhislifespent asafarmeratKamouraska andthesecond halfspent largely as alabourerin Montreal.Finally,somenoteshould bemadeof theappearance of acollection of paperspresented ata conference dealingwithGuyFrEgault. See, PierreSavard,Ed.,GuyFr•gault,•9•8-•977 (MontrEal,Bellarmin,:98x). Canadian Historical Review, LXm, ooo8-3755/8•/O3OO-OO34 $O:.•5/O¸Universityof TorontoPress HISTORY FROM QUEBEC, 1981 35 churchhaslessened in Quebecsociety andthatof thestateandtrade unions has increased, historians have shifted their focus as well. An earlierfixationuponNew France,whichmayhavehelpedto explain theheroicbeginnings of thechurchandthecataclysm whichwasthe Conquest, hasbeenreplaced bya moremodernorientation thatseeks to understand classconflict, the statusof women, and the role of the state.This fascination with modernQuebechistoryamongnot only historians butalsothegeneralpublicwasevidentinthepopularsuccess in •979 of Paul-Andr• Linteau, Jean-Claude Robert, and Ren• Durocher,Histoire duQuebec contemporain. The success of Histoire duQuebec contemporain wasalso representative of anothertrend,theemergence of BorealExpress asa leaderin the publishing of worksin Quebechistory.Fourof thebooksto bediscussed in depth here are BorealExpressproducts.The distinctive characteristic of the booksfrom thispublishing houseistheir accessibility bothto a generalaudience andto specialists in thefield.This success hasbeenachieved to a greatdegreeby producing books with abundantillustrations thathelpto bringthesubject to life. Suchwas certainly thecase withHistoire duQuebec contemporain. Similarly, among thisyear'scrop, Paul-Andr• Linteau'sMaisonneuve ou comment des promoteurs fabriquent uneville, Jacques Rouillard's Histoire delaCSN,and Delapoble dfrire • la ligne de feubyGenevieve AugerandRaymonde Lamotheprofit from numerous maps,pictures, and othergraphics that reinforcethe argumentsof the authors.By contrast,G•rard Boismenu's LeDuplessisme published byLesPresses del'Universit•de Montrealconsists of 4oo pages of textunbrokenbyevena chart,let alonean illustration.Sucha studyis lessappealingto professional historians aswell as to the generalpublic.The exampleof Boreal Express isonethatcouldwellbefollowed bybothFrenchandEnglish publishers. The substance of thesesevenworkscan bestbe appreciatedby grouping themaccording tothesorts ofissues thattheyraise. The twin issues of economic changeand class structureemergein four of the books - in the studies by Linteau,Rouillard,and Boismenu already mentioned, andinJacques Mathieu's Lecommerce entre laNouvelle-France etles Antilles (Fides). Of thefour,themostsolidisLinteau's study of the Montreal industrial suburb of Maissonneuve. Linteau has reworked hisdoctoraldissertation intoan insightfulandhighlyreadablebook. Asitssubtitle, comment des promoteurs f abriquent uneville[howpromoters built a town],indicates, thiswork tracesthe activities of a group of primarilyfrancophoneland ownersin promotingthe growth of Maisonneuve from itsestablishment asa municipality in •883 to its annexation to Montrealin •9•8. Linteauseesthe activities of these 36 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW promoters asfallingintotwostages. First,theyactedmuchlikethe boostersthat have been describedelsewhereby Alan Artibiseand othersby providingfinancial incentives to drawindustryto Maisonneuve . • It was theirhopethattheirtownwouldbecome thePittsburgh of Canada,andindeedMaisonneuve wasoneof themajorindustrializedmunicipalities in Quebecat thetimeof itsloss of independence. The second phase consisted of thepromotion of several majorpublic works projects. In eachcase, however, thescheme was orchestrated by themunicipal government of Maisonneuve, whichwasdominated by theverypromoters whose landstoodtoincrease in value. Th{sstudy provides useful insights intwoareas. Linteau stresses the importance of recognizing landedcapital asanimportant forceinthe process ofeconomic change. Thispointiswelltaken, particularly inthe aftermath of thedebates overTom Naylor's History ofCanadian Business inwhichtheonlytwoformsofcapital appeared tobecommercial and industrial.In addition, Linteau has brought to our attentionthe emergence of a powerful groupofbusinessmen whogained muchof their powerthroughtheseland dealings. But whatis particularly interesting aboutthese businessmen isthattheywerefrancophones. In thisregard,Linteau's studyfitsintothegrowing literatureof thepast fewyears whichpointstothestrengths of francophone entrepreneurs withintheQuebec economy. In opposition...