Description:
September 11th resurrected an historic sovereignty debate, one that burst into full flame when Canadians, led by Prime Minister Jean Chretien, made the unprecedented decision not to fight alongside their American allies in Iraq.
This book explores the relationship between modern Canadian nationalism, cultural policy, popular discourse and the lives of ordinary Canadians.
Dr. Robert Wright argues that Canadians' understanding of art, culture, unity, identity and sovereignty are formed by conflicting forces; out of conditions of contradiction, paradox and irony, Canadians have developed remarkably sophisticated cultural and political strategies for deriving pleasure, prosperity and peace of mind. Living with contradiction has always been a fact of Canadian life; paradox of tolerance has been the critical framework that has made this living not only possible but the envy of the world.
Dr. Robert Wright teaches History at Trent University in Peterborough, Canad. He is the author of Hip and Trivial: Youth Culture, Book Publishing, and the Greying of Canadian Nationalism and A World Mission: Canadian Protestantism and the Quest for a New World Order, 1918-1939.
Table Of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: The Making of a Mystique: Nationalism, Wilderness and the Origins of the Group of Seven
Chapter Two: Dream, Comfort, Memory, Despair: Canadian Musicians and the Dilemma of Nationalism
Chapter Three: Gimme Shelter: Cultural Protectionism and the Canadian Recording Industry
Chapter Four: Historical Underdosing: Pop Demography and the Crisis in Canadian History
Chapter Five: The Way We Were? History as Infotainment in the Age of History Television
Chapter Six: L'etat, C'est Molson? Youth and the Decline of Canadian Nationalism
Chapter Seven: Zero Tolerance: Canadian Youth in the Chretien Era
Chapter Eight: Time to Grow Up: "Anti-Americanism" in Canada after September 11th
Conclusion: The End of an Era?
Bibliography
Index
