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REVIEWS 441 stodgily unimpressive. Keenermessages comefrom theculturalsector: from artists likeJ.E.H. MacDonald,authorslike Hugh MacLennan,publicists like B.K. Sandwell. Irving Laytongivesimpassioned supportto Trudeau'shandlingoftheFLQ crisis. DonaldCreighton blasts Globe editors in •965whohave daredto condemna protestby universityacademics againstgrantingAdlai Stevenson aTorontodegree- asthenendorsing Americanpolicyin Vietnam: 'Theirmindsarelittlebetterthanrag-bags of thecommonplace, shop-soiled orthodoxies of theday.They areonlycomfortable with"received" ideas,and ever ready to crook the knee to "established" reputations,particularly Americanreputations.'And ProfessorW.J. Ecclesconvincingly tracesthe mini-skirttoeighteenth-century New France. Ofcourse, noonecansay whatthisselection mayalso haveleftout.ButI am inclined tojudgeit a prettyfair cross-section. It doescontainsome admirable choices, likeanevoctive pleafrom'Fidelis' toexile,nothang,Rielin •885,ora highly irreverent dissection ofobituary poetryforJohnA. Macdonald in •89•. It does show, too,thatthoughinevitably Toronto-focused, letter-writing tothe Globe ranged increasingly widely acrossCanada:a good thing for this self-styled 'national' paper.Overall,thejournal's correspondents wouldseem todeserve a BtoB+. Not bad,for a not-badcountry. J.M.S. CARELESS University ofToronto Histoire delaPresse, I: Lelivredupeuple, t 884- x9x6; •: Leplusgrandquotidien franfais,•9•6-•984 . CYR•LLE FELTEAU. Montreal:LesEditionsLa Presse •983, x984. Pp.4oo, The author,aformerjournalistwithLaPresse, haswrittenthesetwomemorial volumes to celebrate the hundredthanniversary of 'le plusgrandquotidien franqais d'Am•rique.'Hisloyalty tothejournalprecludes anycriticism onhis part. He isgenerous and evencharitableto itsowners,editors,and leading journalists. He believes thatthereisa goldenmeanbetweenl'intellectualisme and/a populisme and that La Presse hasrarelystrayedfrom thiscautious and estimable equilibrium. These volumes,given the author'sbias, have little to say about the development ofmass circulation dailies ingeneral andnotmuchanalysis ofthe rapid riseof La Presse to a dominantpositionin Quebec.There are some references totheperiodical literature andtothestudy oftheQuebec press by JeanHamelinandAndr6Beaulieu,butthisisnot,andisnotintendedtobe,a case studyof a newspaper. However, these volumes areamineof informationaboutpeopleassociated withLaPresse, andaboutthechequered administrative historyof thejournal. The authorhashadaccess to theTreffl• Berthiaumepapersandsoweget glimpses of thisextraordinary entrepreneur,withhisVictorianvalues, finicky concernfor detail,and paranoia.The papersapparentlyshedno light on 442 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Berthiaume's puzzlingsaleof La Pressejust beforethe electionof •9o4, but Felteau printssome ofthecorrespondence andtherelevant documents onthe transferof controlto Berthiaume's sons.He hashad to rely on newspaper accounts of the bitter infightingamongthe heirs,from •9•6 downto the founding ofLeNouveau Journal in •96•; theantics oftheBerthiaume children aresoabsurdastobealmostincredible,but Felteautellsthestorywith verve. The volumesare also an encyclopediaof information about almost forgotten journalists and of fleetingeventswhichoncedrewheadlines. The textisinterspersed withbiographical profiles,editorials, andarticles from La Presse, andwithcartoons, illustrations, andphotographs of peopleandevents onalmost everyotherpage.Anybody withanyinterest in French Canada will enjoybrowsing. The index,unfortunately, isrudimentaryandsotheinformationcannotbeeasilyretrieved . •I. BLAre SEA"CB¾ Carleton University NiagaraFalls,Icon of theAmerican Sublime. EL•ZA• MCK•tSW¾. London: Cambridge UniversityPress•985. Pp.xvi, 33•, illus.$34.5ø If thepromoters of Canadian Studies arestillsearching for a modelof what theirnewdiscipline mightonedayproduce, theyneedlooknofurtherthan thissplendid book.NiagaraFallsisa quintessential example of the kindof culturalhistory inspired bytheAmericanStudies movement of a generation agowhichstillburbles aroundtheedges ofhistory andliterature departments intheUnitedStates andisactively if ineffectually promoted bytheusxs abroad. NiagaraFallshasexcitedthe imaginationfrom the firstrumoursof its existence to thepresent day,drawingvisitors bythemillionstoexperience its roaringgrandeuratfirsthand.Duringthenineteenth centuryit wasthemost famous attraction inAmerica. Everyliterarytraveller paiditanobligatory visit; awestruck sightseers andhoneymooners feltcompelled toscribble downtheir impressions; everypainterof noteattempted topaintit. The popularity of Niagaramakes it anidealcase for thestudy of changing American literaryandartistic sensibility. The fallsthemselves havenotgreatly changedover time, but the way in whichthey havebeenperceivedhas. Elizabeth McKinsey ismoreinterested inthese representations ofthefallsthan thefallsthemselves, because, sheinsists, such changes reflectbroadershifts in attitudes towards nature,art, ideals,perceptions, andnational identity.(The search foranational identity has beenadefining characteristic oftheAmerican Studiesmovementaswell.) In onevasteclectic enterprise,McKinseygatheredup everything thathas beenwrittenaboutNiagaraFalls,everydrawingor representation of it, from Champlain's timeto Shredded Wheat.Casting her eyeoverthistorrentof images, shepoints outhowartists andtravellers atfirstgropedtofindaliterary andvisual vocabulary todescribe Niagara(muchlikeourattempts todescribe ...

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