Since the 1970s and 1980s, the study of immigration and ethnicity has grown to become an essential aspect of North American history. In Gathering a Heritage, Thomas M. Prymak uses the essays and articles he has written over the past thirty years as a historian of Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian history to reflect on the evolution of ethnic studies in Canada and the United States. The essays included in this book explore the history of Ukrainian and Slavonic immigration to North America and the literature through which these communities and their historians have sought to recapture their past. Each previously published essay is revised and expanded and several more appear here for the first time – including the fascinating story of French Canadian writer Gabrielle Roy’s connections with Ukrainian Canadians and her tumultuous affair with a Ukrainian Canadian nationalist in pre-war London.

The Canadian Social History Series is devoted to in-depth studies of major themes in our history, exploring neglected areas in the day-to-day existence of Canadians. The emphasis of this innovative series is on increasing the general appreciation of our past and opening up new areas of study for students and scholars. The editor of the series is Gregory S. Kealey, Provost, Professor of History and Vice-President (Research), University of New Brunswick. A leading historian of the Canadian working class, Dr Kealey was the founding editor of Labour/Le Travail. Ukrainian immigrants to Canada have often been portrayed in history as sturdy pioneer farmers cultivating the virgin land of the Canadian west. The essays in this collection challenge this stereotype by examining the varied experiences of Ukrainian Canadians in their day-to-day roles as writers, intellectuals, national organizers, working-class wage earners, and inhabitants of cities and towns. Throughout, the contributors remain dedicated to promoting the study of ethnic, hyphenated histories as major currents in mainstream Canadian history. Topics explored include Ukrainian-Canadian radicalism, the consequences of the Cold War for Ukrainians both at home and abroad, the creation and maintenance of ethnic memories, and community discord embodied by pro-Nazis, Communists, and criminals. Re-Imagining Ukrainian Canadians uses new sources and non-traditional methods of analysis to answer unstudied and often controversial questions within the field. Collectively, the essays challenge the older, essentialist definition of what it means to be Ukrainian Canadian. Rhonda L. Hinther is the Western Canadian History curator at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Jim Mochoruk is a professor in the Department of History at the University of North Dakota.

Over 250 photographs from several museums and archives adorn a chronicle of Ukrainians in North America. Begins with a survey of the political and economic conditions in the homeland; describes the three different waves of immigration over the past century; and concludes with a comparison between settlers in Canada and the US. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The history of Ukrainian immigration, settlement, and community-building in Canada.