Winnipeg: A Social History of Urban Growth, 1874–1914 by Alan F.J. Artibise (review)

REVIEWS 321 Winnipeg: A Social History of UrbanGrowth, •874-•9• 4. ALAN F.J.ARTIBISE. Montreal andLondon,McGill-Queen's UniversityPress,•975. PP.xiv,382,illus.$•8.oo. Between•874and •9•4 Winnipegwastransformedfromahamlettoametropolitan centre.The transIbrmationwassignificant because of itsimpacton nationalmetropolitansystems , onthecity'sPrairiehinterland,and,of course, ontheinternallife ofthecityitself;AlanArtibise's bookisessentially aboutthelast-mentioned aspect. In examiningtheinnerdynamics of thecity's development hehasfocused on itsmost obvious characteristic - itsdevotion to thegrowthethic.Inevitably,thisinteresthas led him to examineclosely the commercial61itethat generallypromotedthe boosterismand growthsoevidentin the city'sdevelopment.In hisview'Winnipegwas established by businessmen, for business purposes, and businessmen wereits first and natural leaders'(25). Measuringdevelopmentin essentially material terms, businessmen lookeduponthecityasbotha placetoliveandanorganizing medium withinwhichtoexploitthewealthof western Canada. The consequences of therestless, insatiable search for growthweremany:thecity wasawkwardlydividedinto separated, distinctcommunities by the railway;public healthfacilitieswerefor manyyearsinadequate;poor zoningregulationsand the absence of asatisfactory buildingcodeproducedinferiorhousing; insufficient provisions weremadefor thehundreds of thousands of immigrants whocametothecity; andthe prosperous wereallowedto ignorefor toolongtheproblemsof thecentral coreandtheNorth End.The expansion wasformidable;sotoowasthepriceinflicted uponthosewholivedin thecity'spoorerdistricts. Because of the emphasis on growthand the developmentof topicsaround that emphasis, thisbookdiffersfrom mostof theurbanbiographies producedsofar by Canadianhistorians. He has,for example,escaped the wandering,generalist approachof manyurbanbiographers and hasdemonstrated the subtlerelationships betweeneconomic developments, cityplanning,'class' divisions, ethnictensions, and socialpolicy.The significance of theserelationships isparticularlyevidentbecause Winnipegwasessentially a newcitywithan unstable social order,thecity's growth wasphenomenal,and the impactof the neweconomic and transportation systems was immense.It is little wonder that Artibise, looking back from the growthconscious •97os,hassingledout soforcefullythataspect of the city'sdevelopment from •874 to •9•4 . The bookalsomarksadepartureoverearliereffortsonCanadiancities byitsuseof several mapsand,admittedlyatan elementary level,somequantitative techniques. The useof theseapproaches shows notonlythenatureof thecity's growthbut also permits interesting profiles ofthecommercial 61ite, thecity's ethniccomposition, and its public health problemsover time. These profileswill doubtless be even more usefulwhentheycanbecompared withsimilardatafromotherCanadiancities. In additiontohavingusedsomenewtechniques, Artibisehasalsobeeninnovative in hisresearch. Hehaslooked atmany sources seldom examined before andhas generallyconstructed an understandable and plausible biographyof the city'sdevelopment .Undoubtedly,though,asothersretracesomeof thepathshehastravelled - and explorenewones- theywill alter somewhat hisanalyses. More detailed 322 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW studies of thecommercial diteswillappearandpossibly theywilltreatmorekindly the 'cityfathers';the involvement of suchminoritygroupsasFrench-Canadian businessmen willbeexplored;movements ofgroups withinthecitywillbeexamined usingmoresophisticated quantitative techniques; leadingfiguresactivein thecity between1874and 19•4 willreceive closer scrutiny; members of thedire willbeseen asbeingsomewhat morediverse intheiroutlook andmoreattractive whenviewed in theirprivatelives;andtheinternaldynamics of thevarious ethnicgroups willbe furtherexplained. Butallofthese refinements tocomesimply reflecttheimmensity of thetaskinvolved inunderstanding howadynamic citydeveloped overfortyyears; giventhe enormityof that undertaking, Alan Artibisehasproduceda valuable monograph thatwillserve asthereference pointforallfutureworkonWinnipeg and asamodelfor thestudyof otherCanadiancities aswell. IAN MACPHERSON University ofWinnipeg BRITAIN AND THE COMMONWEALTH TheCeltic Churches: AHistoL¾ A.D.200to;r 2oo. JOHN T.MCNEILL. Chicago andLondon, University ofChicago Press, •974.PP.xiii,29. $•o.oo. Professor McNeill, who isbest-known, perhaps,for hisHisto T of theCureofSouls' (•952) and(withH.M. Gamer)theinfluentialMedieval Handbooks ofPenance (•938), hasnowgivenusthefruitsof some fiftyyears' intermittent study ofGelticliterature and history.In manywaysthisworkis the firstgeneralstudyof its kind since Gougaud's Les chrdtientds celtiques (Paris•9• 1;English trans. London•932).It moves easily from thefirstcontacts of the paganCeltswithChristianity to the gradual incorporation oftheGeltic churches intothe'Western Hierarchical Church' in the twelfthcentury. TheSelected Bibliography gives noideaoftherange ofreading thatwentintothe making ofthisbook. Theextensive footnotes, however, suggest thattheauthor has notmissed muchthatisup-to-date andrelevant, thoughtoneissurprised tofindno reference inthechapters (8and• •) onIrishlearning toGoccia's lengthy attempt in Studi Medioevali (•97o)tolaybarethe'myth'of Irishscholarship. All in all, this is a thoroughlywelcomesurveyof the phenomenonof Geltic Christianity andGeltic learning in ayear(•974)which hasalso seen critical editions (bothfromToronto)of theegregious Hesperica Famina(uponwhichMcNeilldwells brieflyatpage•2) andoftheCommentary onDonatus bySedulius Scottus (whose versatility isnotedbyMcNeillatpages•83-4). LEONARD E. BOYLE University ofToronto I1Deofficiocollectoris in regnoAngliaediPietro GriffidiPisa(•469-• 5• 6). Editedby MICHELE MONACO. Roma,Edizionidi Storiae Letteratura, •973 (Uomini e Dottrine •9)- PP-448. PriceLit. •2.ooo. PietroGriffiof Pisa, whodiedasbishop of Forli(•5•2-•6),was thelastcollector of ...