Detailed chapters on modern Quebec evaluate the political turmoil of recent years, from constitutional wrangles, to the Oka crisis, to sovereignty discussions, and the debate about cultural accommodation. Quebec remains a "curious and fascinating political space," a beacon of French-language culture in North America, and an extraordinary nation within a nation.

Peter Gossage and Jack Little recount the history of Quebec from the earliest days to the present in this fascinating and richly illustrated history. The Iroquois of the St Lawrence Valley were making pottery and cultivating crops, with evidence of trade as far as the Gulf of Mexico, around 1000 BCE. But European contact would change this world forever. Early French settlements became a militarized colony; Wolfe defeated Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham; and control of the colony's commerce slipped into the hands of English-speaking merchants, setting the stage for political conflict in the early nineteenth century. The Industrial Revolution brought increased tension between tradition and modernity-two forces that even today can be difficult to reconcile. Quebec, in its often uneasy union with the rest of Canada (not to mention its own Aboriginal peoples), continues to evolve as its population becomes ever more diverse. Detailed chapters on modern Quebec evaluate the political turmoil of recent years, from constitutional wrangles, to the Oka crisis, to sovereignty discussions and the debate about cultural accommodation. Quebec remains a "curious and fascinating political space," a beacon of French-language culture in North America, and an extraordinary nation within a nation. Rarely seen illustrations are accompanied by in-depth captions, opening a world of visual narrative to the history of this complex society.

More than ever, The Illustrated History of Canada is a must-have reference guide for all Canadians interested in the history - and the future - of our country."--pub. desc.

An authoritative one-volume chronicle of Canada from its earliest times. First published in 1987, the 4th edition is fully updated and includes contemporary material on the rise of small government, Native land claims and Canada's post-Cold War role.

Revealing a little-known part of North American history, this lively guide tells the fascinating tale of the settlement of the St. Lawrence Valley. It also tells of the Montreal and Quebec-based explorers and traders who traveled, mapped, and inhabited a very large part of North America, and "embrothered the peoples" they met, as Jack Kerouac wrote.Connecting everyday life to the events that emerged as historical turning points in the life of a people, this book sheds new light on Quebec's 450-year history--and on the historical forces that lie behind its two recent efforts to gain independence.