What do you think?
Rate this book
About Canada: "My God, this is a great country."
About Canada offers a kaleidoscopic overview of Canada and its history, including quotations, a compendium of facts and figures, Canadian achievements and inventions, an historical chronology cast as history headlines, and narratives of arresting episodes.
The lead narrative explodes the legend that the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham cast the destiny of North America and cost France its New World colony that spanned the continent from the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. It was, instead, a pair of naval battles on the far side of the Atlantic that briefly entrenched the British throughout North America, opened the way for the revolution that gave birth to the United States, the evolution of Canada as self-governing British colonies, and finally, Confederation.
Other episodes include the first European settlement in North America, 500 years before the arrival of Columbus… The tragic deaths of 30,000 destitute Irish in two tides of immigration, bringing the first cholera to North America, followed by 100,000 refugees from the Great Irish potato famine... Canada’s pioneer booze epidemic, when children drank whisky for breakfast… The first Canada Day, when a father of Confederation was burned in effigy with a live rat… Canada’s evolution from the rule of aristocracy to arguably the world’s most successful democracy… How Canadian diversity became the multicultural model for a troubled world… How Canada established the International Criminal Court in the face of opposition from the United States… And half a dozen more fascinating stories.
“Amazing stuff about Canada,” writes popular historian Christopher Moore.
.
The lead narrative explodes the legend that the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham cast the destiny of North America and cost France its New World colony that spanned the continent from the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. It was, instead, a pair of naval battles on the far side of the Atlantic that briefly entrenched the British throughout North America, opened the way for the revolution that gave birth to the United States, the evolution of Canada as self-governing British colonies, and finally, Confederation.
Other episodes include the first European settlement in North America, 500 years before the arrival of Columbus… The tragic deaths of 30,000 destitute Irish in two tides of immigration, bringing the first cholera to North America, followed by 100,000 refugees from the Great Irish potato famine... Canada’s pioneer booze epidemic, when children drank whisky for breakfast… The first Canada Day, when a father of Confederation was burned in effigy with a live rat… Canada’s evolution from the rule of aristocracy to arguably the world’s most successful democracy… How Canadian diversity became the multicultural model for a troubled world… How Canada established the International Criminal Court in the face of opposition from the United States… And half a dozen more fascinating stories.
“Amazing stuff about Canada,” writes popular historian Christopher Moore.
.
168 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2012
206 people want to read
About the author
Earle Gray
11 books9 followersI began writing during my high school years in a village on the west coast of British Columbia, for the local weekly newspaper and as a stringer for the Vancouver Sun. After high school I followed a common enough path at a time when newspaper reporters liked to think that five years on the job provided a better education than university and a bachelor’s degree, and a journalist was said to be a reporter without a job. I worked as a reporter on a weekly newspaper in West Vancouver, on the Vancouver Sun, and the Albertan, one of two daily newspapers in Calgary, Alberta. These were the early years of the Canadian oil boom. For a time I spent my days writing about oil for the Albertan, and my evenings as a sports writer. Then I joined an oil industry publication as writer and sub-editor.
I changed my career from writer to publisher, launching a small-town weekly newspaper in Invermere, in central British Columbia. It took a year to go broke, in a manner once described in a Hemmingway novel: first slowly, then all of a sudden.
Returning to Calgary, I was editor of Oilweek magazine, one of Canada’s premier trade publications, from 1956 to 1971. This was when I wrote my first two published books, one a layman’s guide on how the petroleum industry functions, and its economic impact; the other, a history of the Canadian petroleum industry.
From mid-1971 to the Fall of 1977 I was stationed in Toronto as director of Public Affairs for Canadian Arctic Gas, a consortium of major U.S and Canadian firms that spent about $200 million on engineering and environmental studies, and regulatory hearings in both countries, for a proposed multi-billion dollar pipeline to transport natural gas from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska and the Mackenzie River Delta in Canada, to cities across both countries. A competitive proposal won government approvals, but the pipeline has never been built; this despite the assurances of a U.S. President and a Canadian Prime Minister that it would be. It was, at the time, thought urgently needed. Prudhoe Bay is the largest oil field ever found in North America, but also one of the largest natural gas fields. Most of the Prudhoe Bay oil has now been produced, but all the natural gas is still there, frozen in the Arctic, as it were.
Since 1977 I have worked independently as an editorial consultant, speechwriter, publisher (two small periodicals), and author of eight more non-fiction books. My awards include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Petroleum History Society (Canada) and the Samuel T. Pees Keeper of the Flame Award from the Petroleum History Institute (U.S.), one of just two Canadians to receive the latter award.
I am just starting work on my most ambitious, and possibly my last book. The working title is Fossil Fire: The impact of prehistoric fuels in the era of global warming, a history of coal, oil, and natural gas from the start of the Industrial Revolution. It will focus on the social, environmental, and economic impacts, good and bad. Fossil fuels have done more than any other resource in the last 300 years to advance human welfare, but now pose the greatest threat to human life in the form of global warming.
On a personal note, my interests include hiking, cooking, photography, and, of course, reading. I am also a bit of an exercise fanatic and a healthy eating zealot, both stemming from a cardiac arrest that almost took my life at age 58. Joan, my wife, drove me to the hospital as I felt, for the first and only time, the searing pain of angina. A cardiologist suggested I stay overnight for “observation.” During the night I was hit by two major cardiac arrests, and would not have survived but for defibrillation within a very few minutes.
After that, I determined to exercise more consistently, building up slowly, and follow a rigidly healthy diet. At age 78, I was one of thousands to climb the 1,776 steps to the top of one the world’s tallest building, Toronto’s CN Tower, in an an
I changed my career from writer to publisher, launching a small-town weekly newspaper in Invermere, in central British Columbia. It took a year to go broke, in a manner once described in a Hemmingway novel: first slowly, then all of a sudden.
Returning to Calgary, I was editor of Oilweek magazine, one of Canada’s premier trade publications, from 1956 to 1971. This was when I wrote my first two published books, one a layman’s guide on how the petroleum industry functions, and its economic impact; the other, a history of the Canadian petroleum industry.
From mid-1971 to the Fall of 1977 I was stationed in Toronto as director of Public Affairs for Canadian Arctic Gas, a consortium of major U.S and Canadian firms that spent about $200 million on engineering and environmental studies, and regulatory hearings in both countries, for a proposed multi-billion dollar pipeline to transport natural gas from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska and the Mackenzie River Delta in Canada, to cities across both countries. A competitive proposal won government approvals, but the pipeline has never been built; this despite the assurances of a U.S. President and a Canadian Prime Minister that it would be. It was, at the time, thought urgently needed. Prudhoe Bay is the largest oil field ever found in North America, but also one of the largest natural gas fields. Most of the Prudhoe Bay oil has now been produced, but all the natural gas is still there, frozen in the Arctic, as it were.
Since 1977 I have worked independently as an editorial consultant, speechwriter, publisher (two small periodicals), and author of eight more non-fiction books. My awards include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Petroleum History Society (Canada) and the Samuel T. Pees Keeper of the Flame Award from the Petroleum History Institute (U.S.), one of just two Canadians to receive the latter award.
I am just starting work on my most ambitious, and possibly my last book. The working title is Fossil Fire: The impact of prehistoric fuels in the era of global warming, a history of coal, oil, and natural gas from the start of the Industrial Revolution. It will focus on the social, environmental, and economic impacts, good and bad. Fossil fuels have done more than any other resource in the last 300 years to advance human welfare, but now pose the greatest threat to human life in the form of global warming.
On a personal note, my interests include hiking, cooking, photography, and, of course, reading. I am also a bit of an exercise fanatic and a healthy eating zealot, both stemming from a cardiac arrest that almost took my life at age 58. Joan, my wife, drove me to the hospital as I felt, for the first and only time, the searing pain of angina. A cardiologist suggested I stay overnight for “observation.” During the night I was hit by two major cardiac arrests, and would not have survived but for defibrillation within a very few minutes.
After that, I determined to exercise more consistently, building up slowly, and follow a rigidly healthy diet. At age 78, I was one of thousands to climb the 1,776 steps to the top of one the world’s tallest building, Toronto’s CN Tower, in an an
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 14, 2013
“Oh, no! Not another author reviewing his own book!” Actually, no.
This is not a review. It’s a description. It seems only fair to at least warn prospective readers about the various elements and content of such a multifaceted book. It’s like a table of contents, sort of.
About Canada is a kaleidoscopic view of Canada and its history. It includes quotes about Canada or by Canadians (“You call your leaders favourite sons. We go all the way and say what they’re sons of.”); facts; figures; a chronology of Canadian history; and selected episodes.
Some of the episodes include the following:
•How a naval battle on the far side of the Atlantic cost France its North American colony, which stretched from the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico; paved the way for the revolution that established the United States; led to the evolution of five self-governing colonies in British North America, and their Confederation that created present-day Canada.
•The tragic deaths of 30,000 Irish refugees, the first of whom brought the first cholera to North America through the port of Quebec, followed soon after by a larger tide of refugees from the Great Irish potato famine.
•The first European settlement in North America, 500 years before the arrival of Columbus.
•Canada’s pioneer booze epidemic, when children drank whisky for breakfast.
•Canadian multiculturalism hailed as a model for the world.
•The first Canada Day, when a Father of Confederation was burned in effigy, together with a live rat.
•How Canada created the International Criminal Court, which now seeks to indict those charged with crimes against humanity in the civil war in Syria.
•And more.
The best way I could find to publish this version of a table of contents is to publish it under the category of a review, even if it isn’t. That meant I also had to give it a rating. Being modest, I gave it two stars. I hope some reviewers might be a bit more generous.
This is not a review. It’s a description. It seems only fair to at least warn prospective readers about the various elements and content of such a multifaceted book. It’s like a table of contents, sort of.
About Canada is a kaleidoscopic view of Canada and its history. It includes quotes about Canada or by Canadians (“You call your leaders favourite sons. We go all the way and say what they’re sons of.”); facts; figures; a chronology of Canadian history; and selected episodes.
Some of the episodes include the following:
•How a naval battle on the far side of the Atlantic cost France its North American colony, which stretched from the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico; paved the way for the revolution that established the United States; led to the evolution of five self-governing colonies in British North America, and their Confederation that created present-day Canada.
•The tragic deaths of 30,000 Irish refugees, the first of whom brought the first cholera to North America through the port of Quebec, followed soon after by a larger tide of refugees from the Great Irish potato famine.
•The first European settlement in North America, 500 years before the arrival of Columbus.
•Canada’s pioneer booze epidemic, when children drank whisky for breakfast.
•Canadian multiculturalism hailed as a model for the world.
•The first Canada Day, when a Father of Confederation was burned in effigy, together with a live rat.
•How Canada created the International Criminal Court, which now seeks to indict those charged with crimes against humanity in the civil war in Syria.
•And more.
The best way I could find to publish this version of a table of contents is to publish it under the category of a review, even if it isn’t. That meant I also had to give it a rating. Being modest, I gave it two stars. I hope some reviewers might be a bit more generous.
March 23, 2013
The subtitle says it all. "My God, this is a great country!"
Gray has captured the unique aspects of Canada and of Canadian history, in a series of quotes, facts (some of which will surprise you) and stories. History headlines, from 40,000 BC to 2012, is an eye-opener, as are the chapters on Vikings in Newfoundland and the myth of the Plains of Abraham. You'll also meet some unsung Canadian heroes - names that ought to be familiar to every Canadian, but that are almost universally unrecognized.
If I were a betting person, I'd make a mint by challenging well known 'facts' about Canada, and refuting them with Gray's book.
About Canada is fascinating reading - and an entertaining look at Canada's history.
Gray has captured the unique aspects of Canada and of Canadian history, in a series of quotes, facts (some of which will surprise you) and stories. History headlines, from 40,000 BC to 2012, is an eye-opener, as are the chapters on Vikings in Newfoundland and the myth of the Plains of Abraham. You'll also meet some unsung Canadian heroes - names that ought to be familiar to every Canadian, but that are almost universally unrecognized.
If I were a betting person, I'd make a mint by challenging well known 'facts' about Canada, and refuting them with Gray's book.
About Canada is fascinating reading - and an entertaining look at Canada's history.
May 20, 2013
This modest volume of Canadian historical facts arrived promptly in the mail as a Goodreads Giveaway. Dealing primarily with social, economic and political topics, it highlights many of Canada’s remarkable accomplishments, and explores a fair measure of its imperfections and shameful moments. The tone is engaging and humble, praising this nation’s diversity and endurance while looking forward to a future with confident optimism. About Canada, is a delightful tonic for those of us who groaned and rolled our eyes in boredom throughout the compulsory Canadian history section of high school.
June 3, 2013
I received this book via the Goodreads First Reads program.
As someone who has wanted to visit Canada for years (and someone who almost always cheers for Canada in pairs figure skating), I was really excited when I received this book. I was not disappointed!
This book goes in depth about certain events in Canada's history, and even talks about the condition of Canada's jails. It has a nice timeline that showcases Canada's history year by year.
This is probably the best book I have received through Goodreads First Reads program.
As someone who has wanted to visit Canada for years (and someone who almost always cheers for Canada in pairs figure skating), I was really excited when I received this book. I was not disappointed!
This book goes in depth about certain events in Canada's history, and even talks about the condition of Canada's jails. It has a nice timeline that showcases Canada's history year by year.
This is probably the best book I have received through Goodreads First Reads program.
May 9, 2013
I got this book yesterday in the mail and I've finished it already! It was amazing. So many facts and stories that I didn't know. I especially liked the facts about our land, Canada's Buffalo, Trans Canada highway, lakes/rivers and so on...very informative and interesting. I'm proud to be Canadian!
May 14, 2013
Yeah! I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway! I finished it 2 days after I got it. What a facinating and entertaining look at our neighbors to the north! Highly recommend!
May 24, 2013
I won this gook through a Goodreads giveaway. What an enjoyable book! A humorous and informative look at Canada. I really enjoyed it!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews