Canadian History for Dummies

by Will Ferguson

More than 250 Web sites included! Bone up on the essentials of Canada's history Full of great Canadian quotes and quips, this book takes you on a tour of dates, events, leaders, and themes that together tell Canada's story. From the Seven Years' War to the Quiet Revolution, this is your complete guide to Canada's rollicking past. Hang on — it's a wild ride! The Dummies Way Get Smart! @ www.dummies.com

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Canada, Politics, Travel, Education, Reference

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Will Ferguson is an award-winning travel writer and novelist. His last work of fiction, 419, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. He has won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour a record-tying three times and has been nominated for both the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. His new novel, The Shoe on the Roof, will be released October 17, 2017. Visit him at WillFerguson.ca

Ferguson studied film production and screenwriting at York University in Toronto, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1990. He joined the Japan Exchange Teachers Programme (JET) soon after and spent five years in Asia. He married his wife Terumi in Kumamoto, Japan, in 1995. They now live in Calgary with their two sons. After coming back from Japan he experienced a reverse culture shock, which became the basis for his first book Why I Hate Canadians. With his brother, Ian Ferguson, he wrote the bestselling sequel How to be a Canadian. Ferguson details his experiences hitchhiking across Japan in Hokkaido Highway Blues (later retitled Hitching Rides with Buddha), his travels across Canada in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, and a journey through central Africa in Road Trip Rwanda. His debut novel, Happiness, was sold into 23 languages around the world. He has written for The New York Times, Esquire UK, and Canadian Geographic magazine.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Consider me an American who loves anything having to do with Canada. This is a great starter book for anyone (American, Canadian, or whatever) interested in learning a bit about Canadian history. Much of what's in here is very eye-opening. It definitely helped answer some other previously-unanswered questions I had about why Canada is the way that it is today.

[Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This enormously entertaining (and just enormous) softback in the "For Dummies" series was a real Hoot!! It was my first of that series and, heck, if that's the way all these things are written, then sign me up for a half-dozen or so more! And if the sly humor of Ferguson is to blame (grin) then I'll gladly read anything he's written too. His beautifully anarchic sensibilities coincide nicely with my own.

While most of my grandparents came to Boston from Canada in the late 1890s and early 1900s, my education while a fairly good one, never covered much of The Basics re. Canada, kwim? Thankfully this wonderful tome addresses that gap. Filled with extremely accessible short bits and interesting paragraphs packed full of information that isn't dull or stultifying, pretty much everything is presented in an off-hand manner, with a lot of humo(u)r and/or satirical tone. I loved it. YMMV.

There is even a beautifully synopsized version of the Table of Contents, with everything right at a glance, a feature of formating that most of this volume seems to follow; it's all very practical, lots of fun, and never boring. The short-verson of the TOC is called Contents at a Glance:

Introduction
Part I: When worlds collide
Part II: The Rise of New France 1608-17016
Part III: The Fall of New France 1701-1766
Part IV: Canada: The Failed Republic? 1766-1838
Part V: The Roads to Confederation 1838-1891
Part VI: The End of "English" Canada 1891-1929
Part VII: Dark Days 1929-1959
Part VII: Noisy Evolution 1960-1993
Part IX: Toward a One-Party Rule 1993-2005
Part X: The Part of Tens
note: this section is a bunch of crib sheets, each listing ten facts of Things You Ought to Know, especially helpful for cramming before tests. Includes:
Great Canadian Quotations
Five Important English and French Pairs
Ten Important Aboriginal Leaders
Ten Political Firsts for Canadian Women
The Ten Prime Ministers You Need to Know

and there's a thorough (as of 2005) Apendix of Online Resources at the end as well.

Oh, and Ferguson thoughtfully includes, right at the front of the book, a Cheat Sheet (that's what HE calls it) entitled
"A Timeline of Important Events in Canadian History" so, should you not even want to read the book itself, you could likely get by just with that. But I'd encourage you to give the book itself a try because it's truly a lot of fun. And it is, definitely, as Ferguson (or maybe The Dummies folks) indicated on the cover, "A Reference for the Rest of Us!".

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a bit of a Will Ferguson completist; I find his books both funny and insightful. This one is no exception... Except that I was reading a 2005 edition, so there are definitely some outdated parts, especially of then-recent events, that sound rather silly or wrong-headed in hindsight. I was pleased that the coverage of First Nations perspectives was relatively thorough, though.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the special emphasis on Indigenous issues, freedom from Britain, and the relationship with the US, along with the historical events, timeline, author narratives, PM insights, etc. I just moved to Canada and this was the read I was looking for for general history. I’ll now dive into specific history and biographies.

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich and insightful
Easy to read
Well written
Brings a vast array of perspectives on lots of topics
Resourceful

I loved it!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an American Canadian junkie, and a Will Fergusson junkie, this book was top knotch. Fun, quick-witted, and a quick read to boot! If you have ever wondered about the Canadian side of North American history, this book has a fabulous side-by-side comparison with the U.S. of A. Warning: we are total jerks!

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! I savored it. Mr Ferguson writes with humor and rare perception. He brings the history of an amazingly diverse nation together and makes it all so very interesting. I found this book by happenstance in the library and as I was planning an extended trip through the west of Canada, I decided to read some history. It may be my favorite book of the year.

[Brian Trueblood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview. Fun to read

[Michael Dorosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fails from the perspective of emphasizing the importance of military history. Written in a style conducive to imparting information to newcomers to the field, it unfortunately concentrates far too much emphasis on the wrong areas. I'm speaking specifically of the Second World War chapter; Canada played a vital role in three major operations in NW Europe - Normandy, the Scheldt and the Rhineland. Normandy is mentioned in passing and the latter two are not mentioned at all.

The focus of the chapter is on Dieppe - two entire pages. While Dieppe is of course a focus of national attention, it was not the only chapter in military history and the book is very misleading by suggesting that it was. Canada had five divisions in the field by 1944, fighting for 22 months in Italy and 11 months in NW Europe. Why a 9 hour battle would get two pages and some 33 months of fighting get only a brief paragraph describing the casualty rates in Italy is beyond comprehension.

A page is also devoted to Conscription - and the information presented is accurate and again, well written - but again highlights failed policy rather than successful military operations. Another two pages are devoted to the Internment camps and the Holocaust. Important subjects, but again done at the expense of our positive military achievements.

The Battle of Normandy destroyed the German Army in France beyond recovery. The Battle of the Scheldt cleared the waterways to Antwerp and allowed desperately needed supplies onto the continent at a location much closer to the front. The Battle of the Rhineland paved the way for the final crossing of the last major obstacle to a general Allied advance into Germany itself. These were dramatic battles in which Canadians paid a grave cost and yet acquitted itself very well. None of this is mentioned in the book, and those truly ignorant of history - the people this book is aimed at - would have no clue what the Canadian military achieved and instead walk away with the understanding that Canada's Second World War effort was largely a litany of failed political decisions, interspersed with the occasional massacre of our own men.

Disappointing, especially since other areas are covered in better detail by the same author. Perhaps the fault lies with the editor, but either way, I recommend caution in purchasing this book, especially if interested in military history.

[Alexandre le Petit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am used to the series for Dummies which never disappointed me, and this book is not an exception. Will Ferguson a writer and novelist is not an historian surprisingly, which in my opinion is maybe an asset. The reason is simple, the book is not only is resourceful for Canadian history, but it is also very well written.

For the knowledge, it is a perfect introduction to the Canadian history before the arrival of the Europeans meaning you will read about First Nations until around 2000. You find everything, the rich and specific cultures of the First Nations, the European colonization where you will understand that France collapse was bad for autochthones because they were more respectful and less conquerors than Great Britain. This is maybe why France was defeated in North America…

A big emphasis is made on their rivalry and once France gave up the colonies, the British tried to assimilate and dissolve the French population without succeeding. Then, the long path to independence which took almost 200 years compared to the US and in a diplomatic way no through war. The US which tried to invade Canada and wanted to make it part of their nation, were seen as Canada’s best enemy. This is one of the reasons Ottawa is the capital, more secured from US border.

I must confess after WWII, I was a little bit annoyed by the book mostly because it is politics, campaigns and promises, which I don’t find it exiting even though great advanced were made ; Canadian flag, Charter of Rights and Freedoms or NAFTA.

Nevertheless, beside the knowledge I really enjoyed how was written the book. Easy, straight to the point and well organized you will read the book and regret because you go too fast. I also enjoyed the author’s experiences he shares with us. At the end, you have mini biographies of great Canadians.

But as nothing is perfect, it is too bad we don’t have a real bibliography at the end, just online resources which are by the way very useful. The other thing is that they are not enough maps and illustrations, maybe it is because it is a Kindle version and the paper version might have more ? As a picture worth sometimes 100 words, a good map gives us a visual understanding of the situation.

[Mark Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good little overview and refresher of Canadian history and written in a colloquial way that is relatable (although sometimes maybe a little too snarky). The book ends before the Harper era - still an incredible sweep of history from the earliest days of Canada. If course I don’t appreciate all of his more progressive perspectives, but I found that his analysis was often very good on key turning points in our history.

I found the early chapters on Canada’s growth pre-confederation were illuminating, and also the post-war (WW2) era in the 50s and 60s. I appreciated how much time he gave to issues that still concern us - particularly relating to indigenous issues, provincial vs. federal mandates (including notably Quebec), and Canada/US relations.

[Zachary Jacobi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I read this book, I thought Canadian history was a boring topic and lamented the dullness of our past.

I've been forced to eat those words. This book provides a comprehensive overview of Canadian history. Unlike the textbooks I suffered through in school, this book is written accessibly and doesn't presuppose Canadian history being dull. The author's enthusiasm was contagious and found myself having trouble putting this down.

I also like the coverage of Aboriginal Rights throughout this book. Will Ferguson manages to avoid the noble savage trope, while also pulling no punches in his condemnation of past crimes against Canada's first peoples.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good coverage of pre-1914, but after that point the author's political leanings begin to color his interpretation of events and their ramifications. I get it, you don't like the Liberals or the Conservatives. That's fine, but don't call Paul Martin's power-grab a coup d'etat--that gives the reader the impression that either Canada is a banana republic (which it is not) or that Martin is some kind of political mastermind (which he was not).

[Diogo Jesus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved to get to know the history of Canada in a light way. Myths, alternatives, hypothesis, connections - nice

[Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this book is a great way to brush up on Canadian History, and the author's sense of humor makes for a few laughs along the way as well. Starting with the prehistorical crossing of the Asia-Alaska Land bridge, the author covers Canada's history up to 2005. The sections are not strictly split into 17th century, 18th century, etc. It is more cleverly divided into important eras of Canadian History, such as "Roads to Confederation (1838-1891)" which details history from the aftermath of the 1837 rebellions until the end of the MacDonald era. The earlier sections of the book focus on particular events and places, such as the '7 Years War' or 'Acadia'. The last section focuses mainly on the 20th century prime ministers and their causes and effects on Canadian History.

The book is mostly sequential, although the author doesn't stop in the middle of one story to talk about another for the sake of having everything in chronological order. The author emphasizes the three main themes of Canadian History: Relationship with First Nations, Separatism, and the economic influence of the US. The book is largely focused on events in Quebec and Ontario. True, this is where the influence has historically stemmed from in Canada, but I would've liked to see a bit more attention on what was happening in other parts of the country, and a bit more information on some of the major treaties.

It was a great read, and I will definitely be looking for more works by this author.

[Jim Gallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Canadian History for Dummies” follows the usual “Dummies” format of dividing its subjects into chapters, in this case chronologically. Multiple topics are included in each chapter. The Second Chapter, “First Contact” (between First Nations and Europeans), for example, has a few paragraphs on the Northwest Passage, the voyages of Martin Frobisher, the explorations of Jacques Cartier and the settlements of Samuel de Champlain and the fate of Henry Hudson.

I read this as part of my preparation for a one night continuing education history of Canada class and am very pleased with it. The writing style is leavened by humor and flows smoothly enough to hold the reader’s interest. There is plenty of information that is thematically so as to facilitate understanding of the major concepts of Canadian history while providing supporting facts. Although the second edition is dated, It the most valuable resource I found while conducting my research.

[Harley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for university Introduction to Canadian History class.

Good introduction to Canadian history, however Ferguson does like to talk about himself at times in the middle of chapters in attempts to discuss his own personal anecdotes about historical events. This would have been fine had this been a biography or a book of his own beliefs on Canadian history, however it is not. This is a textbook of Canadian history. One or two personal opinions or stories about himself would have been fine, however Ferguson included multiple; sometimes two or three times in a single chapter. It got tiresome. His bias was also clear in his writing, which again, would have been fine if this weren't a textbook meant to be taught in history class.

Overall good writing and in an easy to understand format that was somewhat overshadowed by the frequent personal opinions, stories, and biases that were not relevant to the topics being discussed.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this quite confusing. What possessed the author not to include maps? It is about the history of a country so how do you convey that without maps? Some of the history sunk in but I’m going to need a better one to really feel like I have some Canadian history in my head. While normally I like the “For Dummies” series, this one just didn’t work. I suspect it was more the author than the series. As a history major I resented how opinionated the author was, particularly as we approached current history. You cannot write history without some opinion, unless you just present a dull timeline but especially in a beginning textbook, there should be a distinction between the facts and opinion. He really dislikes several prime ministers. Is this his opinion or a general consensus among historians? It is out of date too (2005) but that didn’t bother me nearly as much.

[Enzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book does exactly what it says, Canadian History for dummies. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a book to explain Canada's history in a simple easy understanding why I still have a few problems with this book. The 2 main problems with this book are the gap in Ferguson's knowledge and his bias. In terms of his bias, he has a weird fascination with Quebec treating it almost like some weird alien civilisation. He also has a clear bias toward the Liberals which can make it hard at times to understand what's happing later in the book as Ferguson doesn't do the best job explaining the full picture in the later half of the book.

[Meaningless · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book to learn about the history of my country because my education system was more interested in the history of the US than our own. This certainly did a thorough job!
The writing wasn't too shabby.

I've never been a fan of For Dummies books. Something about them make reading and learning from them much more boring than other nonfiction books. I can't explain why.
This book was no different. At parts I was fascinated and engaged, but overall this was a 'meh' experience. If I had more knowledge of my history this score may have been a 3, but since most of this was fresh, I enjoyed it more.

[Ross Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being have Canadian, and educated in the Texas (a nation practically unto itself), I am sadly lacking in education and knowledge about my Roots. I knew a bit about Montreal - from having lived there, and the stories told to me by Mom and from reading, but the rest of the country- nope, not familiar at all.

Which is why this book was a GREAT stepping stone into learning more about the Great White North. (Sort of like a History 101/ 102 class - you learn the broad picture, and gives you insight into the more specific details, if you want to explore more).

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!! Don't look down your nose at this book. All the information is easy and clear with helpful editorial comments to help understand the nuances and differing opinions. I can now go back to reading more widely about Canadian History with a sound understanding of the timelines and a handy reference. I couldn't recommend it more. Next, I'm going to see if there is a Russian History of Dummies, and I'm betting there is. How many wonderful books did I put down because I did not have an adequate reference for Russian History? I praise the day I set my inner Dummy free!!

[Kara Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had a surprising amount of information and presented in bite-sized pieces. It probably needs to be updated. It stopped before the election of the current PM. I liked the emphasis on First Nation issues, and inclusion of how America played into some of the history. There was almost too much information - impossible to remember it all, but, it's a great reference book. I like Ferguson's style of writing, it's conversational and informative. He also was careful not to present bias when discussing politics. Altogether, well-done for anyone wanted to learn more about Canadian history.

[Simon Winquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome overview of Canadian history. I enjoy the icons he used for different recurring issues such as Canadian independence from Britain, French and English relations, native rights and American influence.

The author writes in a fun and engaging manner. He’s got cool stories, quotes and statistics to support the history of Canada. He isn’t afraid to share his opinion on different issues that have occurred in Canadas past.

Overall, this was an awesome book covering Canadian history. Trust me, Canadian history isn’t boring. Give this book a try

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book moved slowly for me. I did not like the author's injection of his own story, even if it wasn't much. I did like that the moments of opinion were highlighted with "Disagree" icons. Most history books include opinion moments like they were facts. This series and the "The Complete Idiot's Guides" do help a person out by highlighting patterns and on-going issues. Plus, the summary card is really helpful. I'll keep the summary card and toss the rest of the book.

[Dave White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed it, almost as much as Boneheads and Bastards.
There are several facts that I was unaware of and the organization of the book made it easy to read.
The links provided in the last chapter should prove useful.
If you want detail there are many excellent books available but for a relatively quick read of the basics it doesn't leave you wanting.

[James Midkiff · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it’s showing its age, this book was quite useful for the old history of Canada: it did a decent job of recognizing the unique histories of the First Nations, US meddling, French Canada, and Canada’s independence from Great Britain. The book began to fall flat with WWII, however, when it fell into unnecessary patriotism, detail, and the “Great Men” theory of history

[Neil Steinwand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of a Canadian history. I wish there was more documentation for some of his quotes and anecdotes, seeing I had a military friend refute some of his comments on Afghanistan and the use of the Sea Kings.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just what you'd expect from a Dummies/Ferguson collaboration. I thought before delving into denser works it would help to have a high school history refresher course, and this did the trick.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing organizational style.