Our Canada by Arthur G. Dorland (review)

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 75 Puritan zeal and evenlessof hisconspicuous ability. Sir Humphrey, the headof the family, wascontentto managehis estates,supportthe established order, and enjoy life, sometimesin ways that were not approved by the more austereof his contemporaries.He wasnot a heroicfigure,andneitherwerehistwo brothers,who supportedthe oppositesidein the great dispute,and who, in Mr. Ralph's words, "furnish examplesof unabashedand unscrupulousself-seekingwhich one would not care to surpass." But their history is worth relating, just becauseit is not heroic,because it is probablytypical of manymembers of their classduringthese yearsof crisis. D. J. McDOUGALL The University of Toronto. Our Canada. By ARTHURG. DORLAND. Editorial consultant,A.D. LOCKHART. Toronto: CoppClark Co. 1949. Pp. xii, 541. ($3.50) THE publishers of Our Canadarecommend it as "written for everyone who is interestedin Canadianhistory." Sinceit seeks to servesobroada constituency, it is not surprisingif Mr. Dorland's book at times seemsto fall amid severalstoolsat once. Nevertheless, asa generalpopularaccountof Canadianhistory,it reflects credit on the author's abilities as a writer and a scholar. Its treatment of Canadian historyisonthewholelucidandwellbalanced.In manydescriptive passages Mr. Dorlandachieves hisexpressed desire of permittinghisCanadian readers "tofeel the highadventurethat is experienced by all who furtherand strengthen their country'snationhood." The illustrations,a seriesof washdrawingsspecially prepared for thetext, furtheraddto theinterestof the book. Finally,believing that thepractical application ofdemocratic principles istheessence of citizenship, the authorhaspaidparticularattentionto thegrowthandfunctioning of political institutions in Canada. Theseare amongthe considerablemerits of Mr. Dorland's volume. On the other hand, there are the shortcomings, perhapsinevitablein a work of thissort. In appealing to thegeneral reader,thebookdoes notreallysumup more recent specializedresearchfor the academician,nor is it organizedon a sufficiently definitepatternto beof valueto himasa newinterpretative study. But to the publisher academicians area smallgroup. Beyondthis,however, the bookappearsto be rather too thinly spread,and evenwritten down, to meet the needs of the universityundergraduate's course.Yet it is somewhat longand full for thehighschool.Andwhat of the literaryman-in-the-street, thegeneral reader himself?Hereit mightseem that,despite thepublishers' knowledge ofsuch things, they havenot servedMr. Dorland'stext too well. The cold,shinypaperand monitorial sub-headings inblack, heavy-faced type,despite theillustrations, present the appearance of the old-lineschool book. Generalreaders, presumably, have goneto school, andmaynot havetoofriendlymemories of compulsory class-room texts. It maybe--although thisisbuta guess fromitsappearance--that anattempt to producea generalbookwith the schoolmarket still in mind hasweakenedOur Canada in both fields. Perhaps, indeed,no generalwork both of majorinterest andvaluecanbewrittenin Canadianhistoryuntil authorsandpublishers abandon caution andstoplooking to thehavenof theschool room,wherepupilsmustbuy, as a sureplaceof retreat. Or is this mereimpracticalidealismin Canada? 76 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW It is usuallyeasy,and not wholly fair, for a reviewerto pick out particular errorsin a generalbook. Mistakescreepin, anddestructive criticismcomes cheap. Yet for thesakeofcorrection in subsequent printings,let it benotedthat it wasthe Reformparty, not the Liberal Conservative "party," whichin 1857adoptedthe acquisition of the Northwestas part of its platform (p. 256). This is correctly stated,previously, on page241. Furthermore,Popeis reputedto havetold Sir JohnA. Macdonaldthat, "The day the CanadianPacificbusts,the Conservative party buststhe day after"--which givesit a little moretime than Mr. Dorland allows (p. 293). And finally, granting the great preponderance of American population,power,and resources over Canadian,are we not a little morethan "a pigmynationlivingbeside a giant" (p. 425)? But admittedlyandobviously,these are small thingsthat do not detract from the soundness and solidity of the text as a whole. J. M. S. CARELESS The University of Toronto. OurEnglishHeritage. By GERALD W. JOHNSON.(The Peoples of Americaseries, editedby Louis ADA•IC.) PhiladelphiaandNew York: J. B. LippincottCo. [Toronto: Longmans, Greenand Co.]. 1949. Pp. 253. ($5.00) THE authorof thisvolumemusthavebeenfacedwith special problems. Certainly the Englishhavehad a tremendous influenceon Americandevelopment, but can it be isolatedfor descriptionand analysisas can, say, the Swedish,Dutch, Irish, or German? Was the book'semphasis to be on the colonists andimmigrantswho cameto America,or on the moresubtleinfluences of the Englishtradition carried forwardby the language, andultimately stronglyaffectingall the otherethnicand nationalgroups?With thetruespiritof Englishcompromise, theauthorhastried to do somethingof both. The firstpart of thebook,dealingwith thepeople whocame,consists of rather slight and fragmentary excursionsinto colonial, largely seventeenth-century, history. The Southernupbringingof the author helpshim to recognizecertain phases of the "Englishheritage"that might havebeenignoredby a Northerner; still, it is hardlysoundto slightNew Englandin a studyon thissubiect. It is a matter forgreaterregretthat theauthorignores completely thepost-Revolutionary Englishimmigrationthat reached largenumbers...