As in their earlier work, the highly acclaimed Canada since 1945, the authors focus on the political context of events.

Through war, depression, and social upheaval, the first half of the twentieth century was a period of unprecedented turbulence in Canada. In this lively and contentious survey, Robert Bothwell, lan Drummond, and John English explore the political and economic forces that shaped this era of change. As in their earlier work, the highly acclaimed Canada since 1945, the authors focus on the political context of events. Beginning at the turn of the century, they consider the status of Canada in the empire and the world, the burgeoning growth of its economy, and the development of social and labour problems, up to the eruption of 1914. They discuss the political currents running through Canada during two wars, the interwar economic boom and depression, and the plans for post-war reconstruction, and assess the impact of these and other events on Canada's political, economic, social, and cultural institutions. Electronic Format Disclaimer: Images removed at the request of the rights holder.

War, depression, secularization, urbanization, and the rise of industry – between 1900 and 1945 Canada struggled with all these developments, and from them was born the modern welfare state. New services were created, along with new taxes to pay for them and expanded bureaucracies to administer them. Government activity grew enormously; so did government expenditures. The role of the state in a modern industrialized society became the focus of a lively and continuing debate for two generations of intellectual reformers. Doug Owram looks back at that debate and the academics, civil servants, and political activists who engaged in it. Adam Short, W.L. Grant, Frank Underhill, W.C. Clark, Harold Innis, and many others exchanged ideas – sometimes cautiously, sometimes passionately – about the wisdom of planning and reform, and on practical schemes for their realization. Owram explores the reforming impulse and its political dimension: the impact of warm and depression on attitudes to the state, the League of Social Reconstruction and its relations with the CCF, R.B. Bennett’s New Deal, and the various changes of heart experienced over forty years by Mackenzie King. The Canada that emerged from the Second World War was very different from the one that had existed at the turn of the century relations between the individual and the state had altered drastically and irrevocably. The people examined in this book and the social and political movements in which they believed helped shape Canada’s response to powerful forces that were changing its way of life forever.

Reviews Canada's post-war history and recounts how Canadians strove for prosperity, international respectability, and a more vigorous national culture

Patricia E. Roy is the winner of the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award, Canadian Historical Association. Canada's early participation in the Asia-Pacific region was hindered by "contradictory impulses" shaping its approach. For over half a century, racist restrictions curtailed immigration from Japan, even as Canadians manoeuvred for access to the fabled wealth of the Orient. Canada's relations with Japan have changed profoundly since then. In Contradictory Impulses, leading scholars draw upon the most recent archival research to examine an important bilateral relationship that has matured in fits and starts over the past century. As they makes clear, the two countries' political, economic, and diplomatic interests are now more closely aligned than ever before and wrapped up in a web of reinforcing cultural and social ties. Contradictory Impulses is a comprehensive study of the social, political, and economic interactions between Canada and Japan from the late nineteenth century until today.

This book upturns many established ideas regarding the economic and social history of Quebec, the Canadian province that is home to the majority of its French population. It places the case of Quebec into the wider question of convergence in economic history and whether proactive governments delay or halt convergence. The period from 1945 to 1960, infamously labelled the Great Gloom (Grande Noirceur), was in fact a breaking point where the previous decades of relative decline were overturned – Geloso argues that this era should be considered the Great Convergence (Grand Rattrapage). In opposition, the Quiet Revolution that followed after 1960 did not accelerate these trends. In fact, there are signs of slowing down and relative decline that appear after the 1970s. The author posits that the Quiet Revolution sowed the seeds for a growth slowdown by crowding-out social capital and inciting rent-seeking behaviour on the part of interest groups.

Creeping Conformity, the first history of suburbanization in Canada, provides a geographical perspective - both physical and social - on Canada's suburban past. Shaped by internal and external migration, decentralization of employment, and increased use of the streetcar and then the automobile, the rise of the suburb held great social promise, reflecting the aspirations of Canadian families for more domestic space and home ownership. After 1945 however, the suburbs became stereotyped as generic, physically standardized, and socially conformist places. By 1960, they had grown further away - physically and culturally - from their respective parent cities, and brought unanticipated social and environmental consequences. Government intervention also played a key role, encouraging mortgage indebtedness, amortization, and building and subdivision regulations to become the suburban norm. Suburban homes became less affordable and more standardized, and for the first time, Canadian commentators began to speak disdainfully of 'the suburbs, ' or simply 'suburbia.' Creeping Conformity traces how these perceptions emerged to reflect a new suburban reality.