Historical Dictionary of Canada by Barry M. Gough (review)

382 The Canadian Historical Review name, and this book will encourage the remembrance oftheir activities and careers. One hopes that in subsequent editions Bumsted would bring others into an expanded project, perhaps employing the resources ofthe Internet to enable an exchange leading to an even more inclusive collective biography for all groups in Manitoba society, past and present. LYLE DICK Parks Canada Historical Dictionary ofCanada. BARRY M. GOUGH. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press 2000. Pp. 304. $s5.oo The title of this book promises a useful reference work that could be valuable for scholars and general readers alike. Barry Gough, a wellknown and distinguished maritime historian, explains that his purpose is to provide 'a compendium of fundamentals' and 'a guide to a rich historical literature of a modem nation with a recent history of four centuries.' The reader may be forgiven for wondering if such an ambitious goal can be achieved in a slender volume of 271 pages, compiled by a single scholar. Anyone who would presume to provide a serious reference work and bibliography on all aspects ofCanadian history, politics, and culture is very brave indeed and probably ill-advised, no matter how distinguished a scholar. Regrettably, such scepticism quickly proves to be justified. Following an introduction that traces Canadian history in less than twenty-one pages, Gough offers 225 pages ofinformation organized alphabetically in dictionary format. But the reading is less fascinating than the searching, the omissions being as interesting as the articles. Nowhere does he explain his guidelines for determining what topics should or should not be included. Nor does he explain how he decided on the space to give each topic. As a result, one cannot help suspecting that, almost inevitably in such an ambitious undertaking, the author focused on topics that interested or seemed important to him. The result .is certainly not a balanced 'compendium offundamentals.' There is, for example, no entry on Acadia, although there is a ten-line history of the Acadians, whereas the BC ferries get a half-page. Jeffrey Amherst gets one sentence, while the Alaskan Boundary Dispute merits more than two pages. All provincial premiers appear to be omitted except Honore Mercier and Rene Levesque. The city of Vancouver merits almost two full pages, but Halifax, Fredericton, Saint John, and St John's, among others, are excluded. The determining factor here is not size, apparently, because Dawson is included. Esquimalt naval base is Book Reviews 383 included, but Halifax's naval base is· not. Adolphe Chapleau and Hector Langevin are omitted, though D'Arey McGee is included, while Charles Tupper merits only two sentences. As for culture, Hugh Maclennan rates only two sentences, mentioning two of his novels, while Ralph Connor, Mazo de la Roche, Carol Shields, Margaret Laurence, W.O. Mitchell, and Morley Callaghan, among others, are excluded. Cape Breton gets three sentences, one ofthem factually wrong when he states that Highland Scottish settlers arrived at Cape Breton on the Hector in 1773, although he contradicts himself and gets it right in the entry on Nova Scotia. As for historians, there is a general entry on historical writing, but C.P. Stacey and Harold Innis merit separate entries, while Donald Creighton and Frank Underhill do not. Athletes such as Maurice Richard are excluded, although the Bluenose schooner gets almost a full page. Many more examples could be given. The bibliography is somewhat better than the text of the book and provides a useful reference for students and general readers, although the sections on Atlantic Canada are noticeably weaker, omitting important recent publications, than those on Ontario and the West. Somewhat surprisingly, the bibliography on Quebec is stronger than the entries would lead one to expect. One hesitates to be critical because no one could seriously be expected to have the breadth and depth ofknowledge necessary to produce a book ofthis kind alone. Having decided that he wanted to produce a Canadian historical dictionary, it is regrettable that Gough did not assemble a team ofscholars to assist him in determining guidelines and in generating the entries. Jon Woronoff, the series editor - there is no indication ofwhat the series is - says in his foreword that the book was published because Canada 'is...