Elbows Up!: Canadian Voices of Resilience and Resistance

by Elamin Abdelmahmoud (Editor), Various

A blazing collection of responses to the ongoing Canada v. America trade war and ensuing swell of national unity, from a remarkable array of some of our sharpest and most influential Canadian minds.

It feels disorienting, and at times existential, to watch a trade war escalate and to hear an American president vow to make Canada the “51st state.” But amid the disorientation, there is an urgent how do we meet the moment?

The fact that treaties can be broken, that resources can be stolen, and that the consequences of land theft include loss of culture, ritual, and identity is not new to the Indigenous and refugee peoples living in this country. But to many other Canadians, this kind of threat is new. As a result, there appears to be a new sense of a “we” emerging. People are angry and standing together with renewed shared purpose. The swell of Canadian pride is undeniable and important to acknowledge. This is a pivotal moment in history to take stock of how we got here, to learn from our past and walk tenaciously together into an uncertain future.

Inspired by the 1968 collection The New Candid Canadian Opinions of the US, this new anthology will be edited by bestselling author and CBC host Elamin Abdelmahmoud, and will feature responses from Margaret Atwood, Omar El Akkad, Jesse Wente, Atom Egoyan, Canisia Lubrin, Tom Power, Niigaan Sinclair, Jay Baruchel, and many more, speaking candidly on America, and Canada, and the malleable contours of a national narrative still taking hold.

Genres: Nonfiction, Canada, Politics, History, Anthologies, Audiobook, Essays

312 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of late I've become more aware of the events taking place south of Canada and it's effect on our relationship with the US and Canadians feelings about it. I saw Elbows Up!: Canadian Voices of Resilience and Resistance, a book of essays edited by Elamin Abdelmahmoud at my local book store and because the expression has become a rallying cry in Canada, I thought it might be worth checking out.

I started reading it right away (yes, even neglecting the many other books I've got on the go) and it was a relatively easy read; short essays by a variety of writers, making it easy to put down after each chapter. This book was put together by Leslie Hurtig, who runs the Vancouver Writers Festival and Stephanie Sinclair, a McClelland & Stewart publisher. Back in 1965, Leslie's father, Mel Hurtig and Canadian poet Al Purdy, put together a similar book The New Romans, to counteract / discuss the effects of the US on Canadian life, culture and economy.

The original book concept was sent out to a variety of Canadians asking, 'What some well known Canadians really think of Americans and the US.' Four of the contributions to this original book; by Margaret Atwood, Mordecai Richler, Margaret Laurence and Farley Mowat are included in Elbows Up as well.

In this book, we have essays, stories, poetry from 29 Canadians (including the 4 from the previous book). They include indigenous authors, immigrants, Quebecers, men / women, people from the arts, sports, politics, etc. The book takes a look at Canada, its imperfections (mistreatment of its indigenous peoples, its racism towards immigrants, its kowtowing to American business), its possibilities and just its history and its future. The varied voices offer different writing styles, different emotional content, differing ideas, all told thoughtfully and making interesting reading.

I thought it would be a book about Canada's anger at what is happening down South; Trump's trade war with Canada, his steady declarations that we should be the 51st state. And that is an aspect of the book, to be fair. But it's so much more than that. I think the main point is whether we can make Canada the place that we think it is, kinder, generous to all of its citizens, but also strong enough to stand on its own and making it a place worth defending. (I've probably simplified that much too much)

Anyway, I'm glad I read it. It's made me think some more about my country and the people that make it up. Definitely worth reading. (4.0 stars)

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trump's threats to make Canada the "51st state" horrified me, so when I saw this book I took the opportunity to learn what Canadians are thinking. I wish it was talked about more in the US so I could rest assured that Americans would never stand for it. As an American of French Canadian descent I have absolute respect for Canada's sovereignty. I hope the voices such as the writers in this book will reach the ears of American powers that be.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting this book to be dry, but it’s anything but. The 30 writers are representative of Canada itself—LGBTQ, Indigenous, people of colour, disabled folks, and more—and the writing is accessible and includes essays, short stories and—my favourite—a cartoon. I’d definitely recommend.

[Kim Mullin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the essays in this collection are brilliant, but a few of them are absolutely tiresome.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book and I enjoyed reading the various essays and letters from a wide range of Canadian writers, actors, musicians and hockey players., among others..white, indiginous, immigrant and LGBTQ. Most essays are current, written in 2025, and address the current political and rather upsetting situation going on with the U.S., but some were taken from Al Purdy's The New Romans (published in 1968!!!) most notably Farley Mowatt and Mordechai Richler. The content of each essay is personal to each author and the essays are all completely different. Of course some authors are more successful than others in describing how and why the hegemon to the south has upset Canadians and created this new Canadian nationalism. Elbows up, Canada!

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book earlier this month and then while attending the Vancouver Writers Fest this year I met Elamin Abdelmahmoud and got to tell him how I was loving reading this timely book! I also got to meet contributors Leslie Hurtig and Canisia Lubrin at the festival! This book also features several of my favourite authors Margaret Atwood and David A. Robertson. I found David A. Robertson’s piece quite moving and I especially loved the piece by Jeanne Beker. It was so interesting to read from such varied perspectives of such notable Canadians.

Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for the eARC and via Libro.fm for the ALC!

[Enid Wray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this way more than I did... because of the title - and subject matter - and because of Elamin.

Sadly this collection was just way too uneven. Some moments of brilliance, but far too many of mediocrity (or worse).

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved reading this and appreciated the essays from others I hadn’t read before.

[Carol Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing array of prominent Canadians with small essays. Each one reflecting on our national
Identity, but from so many perspectives- Indigenous, Francophone, LGBTQ+, expats in California, writers, singers, fashionistas, etc etc. And yet all responding to our present existential crisis with a swell of national pride.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with a range of stories and perspectives from diverse authors, written in many different styles. I love how it weaves together Canada’s past and ongoing struggle with who we are. It left me with some hope for all Canada can be in a changing world.

[Farid Medleg · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

This book is a series of essays by various authors in response to Trump's "51st state" comments earlier this year. The rapidity of its publication, high technical skill of its writing, and tone, is rather impressive. And yet, I'm struggling to rate it. How do you rate something where some of its essays are excellent and others are rather poor?

I discovered this book after attending a panel of its authors at the Toronto International Festival of Authors in the Fall. The discussion on the panel, the questions from the audience, and (now that I've read it) the content of the book really focus on what Canadian identity should be.

Here's what struck me the most: all the white people in the room were expressing various ideas of hope , Canadian strength, and all the ways Canada was "not like" the U.S.

Everyone else, not so much.

Several comments, from individuals who had immigrated to Canada, or children of immigrants, stated that many elements of "Canadian identity" didn't seem to include them, and that they didn't feel welcome in traditionally Canadian spaces. Jesse Wente, panelist and Genaabaajing Anishinaabek First Nation writer, made the point that Canada has a dark colonial and genocidal past, just like the US; finding a Canadian identity is impossible without reconciliation. Overall, each of these speakers was asking the room not to ignore Canada's present and historical skeletons while searching for what being Canadian really meant.

This dichotomy is also present in the book. Several of the essays are piercing, incisive, illuminating, passionate, sober assessments of Canada, its troubled history, and what is necessary to build Canada stronger.

Unfortunately, many are tone deaf, hollow, vague pieces of writing extolling how excellent Canada is. I'm not sure what the point of those pieces is; they are not inspiring; they feel out of touch; there are no tangible calls to action. All of them are written by white cishet men and women.

Should you read this book? Yes; large parts of it are truly excellent. Just know what to expect from the rest.

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

For many like me who grew up in border states, Canada always seemed like a sister country, and Trump's efforts to break our relationship with it one of the most disheartening of all his many breakages. We learned to sing O Canada in elementary school. We cheered on our Original Six teams. It was a country we vacationed in frequently, needing no passport. It had accepted our runaway slaves, our Vietnam dodgers, and now, our Trump escapees. We didn't really stop to think how we were viewed, going the other direction. Maybe we didn't need a passport for some other reason Didn't need one for Mexico either. Did it mean friendliness? Or ownership? Have we been Borg, adding their cultural distinctiveness to our own? Carol Off's piece describes "sucking up to Reagan". And here I thought Trump invented sucking up. Her piece later describes some great broadcasting history I never knew. Basically that sums up this book. The view from the other side, with lots of incredible detail of Canadian social and cultural history. Like all Canadian writing, the essays are word candy; I've come to think any average Canadian can write better than our better American writers. I loved Catherine Leroux's "word people" (I do think her essay should have been presented in the original). I howled at Ann-Marie Macdonald's observation that the US chose a national anthem "that commemorates a battle from a war they lost - to Canada." She later comments "whatever our failings as a country, we're not as bad as the States" which made me laugh because certain people in Georgia, faced with dismal health and education statistics, always are glad for Mississippi or Alabama. The anthology provides a good array of Canada's different voices from the provinces and territories with First Nations and immigrant voices mixed in. If there was any lack, it might have been from the Maritimes, though probably my favorite piece was that of Newfoundlander Tom Power. It describes such a compelling voyage of discovery. As Mordechai Richler writes in 1968 "we are nicer. And suddenly that's important." Trump and his Brownshirts are things to be opposed, and not only for Canada's sake.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the diversity of this book, I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of indigenous voices highlighted here, as they have been through this before, and I do truely believe the only way to work through this is by listening to them.

The only gripe I had was the complete erasure of the people of l'Acadie. Many writers agreed that one major thing distinguishing us from the US is French, and "French Canadians" were mentioned throughout the book. However, I realized very quickly that they meant the Québécois. While it is true that Québécois have retained their culture and language, so has l'Acadie. As an anglophone second-gen Canadian living in New Brunswick (the only officially bilingual province in the country!), I get to experience the persistence and beauty of a culture that is threatened by the domination of English. As I grew up learning French in school, hearing it in public, learning that it was the mother tongue of many of my closest friends, and learning that Canada has two official languages, I assumed that every Canadian had a least a general comprehension of both languages. After beginning my studies of French in university with students from all over the country, I was shocked to learn that French-language classes are seen as jokes in their part of the country. Despite coming from a 100% Anglo family, this angered me. Funnily enough, I also hated the French immersion classes growing up, but decided to major in it in university, where my love for the language blossomed, and so did my pride as a bilingual Canadian. I guess my point is that, in a time where the question of what i means to be Canadian is once again thrust into the zeitgeist, look no further than the humble province of New Brunswick. Here, we have majority French and English communities, with Moncton bridging both communities seamlessly. The people of Acadie fought for this for well over a century, and deserve to have their voices heard.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was at a Canadian Studies conference in Seattle in November, and everyone spent the whole conference obsessing over the US/Canada relationship and whether it would ever be the same (answer - maybe not?). So I wandered up to the Elliot Bay Book Company and this kind of jumped out to me. Seemed very apropos.
Some of the essays are more interesting than others, but the whole thing is pretty good. One thing that came off as kind of odd, though, was that the book is explicitly presented as inspired by a different, but similar collection, called "The New Romans", which was published in the late 60s, during Vietnam. Some of the essays from that one are reprinted here, and there's a Margaret Atwood essay where they reprint her poem from the "New Romans" and she reflects on it. So part of the point is to say, hey, we've kind of been here before. But then some of the essays in "Elbows Up" seem very much focused on this being unprecedented and we actually haven't been here before. It was just kind of whiplashy. Some people writing that things can never be the same, and some people writing that things were actually bad before and then they got better and now they are bad again. And then they would throw in a reprint from the New Romans book and I would get confused because I would think I was still reading a new essay and it was really from 60 years ago.
But anyway. Most of these essays are good. I'm sorry the US is behaving this way, Canadians. It is not very neighborly.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I approached this read with caution and perhaps a dash of cynicism at first, having never been particularly patriotic my entire life. A collection of essays about Canadian Resistance and Resilience? We’ll see. A direct response to the US/Canada strife as of late, I expected a lot of « rah rahs » honeyed platitudes and not much else. But then almost immediately I was surprised at how touched I was reading these essays. Prominent Canadian voices - writers, directors, journalists, personalities that all share the same nationality but have uniquely different interpretations on what it means to be Canadian. This seems obvious of course, we are not a monolith and the reference to « melting pot » was not uttered once! But what these essays gave me was a surging sense of pride, some crucial history, and more more more questions. How we as Canadians could be very aware of our past - both the good and the ugly - and also be empowered by our future. Some of my favorite essays were by Dave Bidini, Jen Sookfong Lee and Farley Mowat (Farleys being completely scathing - and I was completely obsessed). Every Canadian should read this!!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cool collection of voices, written in the immediate shadow of Trump's annexation threat. I think it's a valuable capture of a particular moment for the country, regardless of what happens in the next few years or decades. Three essays were also included from the 1968 The New Romans collection, which was a fascinating contrast in how thinkers were discussing Canadian culture fifty years ago.

Overall, I think the editor (Elamin Abdelmahmoud, a great writer and the reason I picked this up) did a good job of balancing different perspectives and approaches, while avoiding both the self-pitying/self-hating cynicism so popular in Canadian analysis AND avoiding uncritical nationalism. In one essay, Tom Power talked about travelling the country as a folk musician and having conversations with a wide variety of Canadians, hearing perspectives and stories from different corners of the country. In a small way I think this book reflects that. And it inspires me to pay more attention to Canadian films and music, in addition to literature!

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audiobook, appreciating the use of multiple readers given the range of voices and opinions expressed in the book. I'm not from Canada and do not like what the turn in U.S. policy has done to Canada's economy and our two nation's relationship. Elbow's Up! was my introduction to Farley Mowat's classic and horribly prescient "Letter to my son."

I'll likely revisit this page to see if more reviews show up from Canadians. The intent, I believe, of the authors is to start a conversation across the country now that there has been such an existential threat made to its nationhood. I'll be curious to learn more about how Canadian readers on goodreads respond at least.

I'm very glad I purchased it and plan to relisten to it again. There's a lot packed in here.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh... the essays by Peter Mansbridge, Jay Baruchel and Jeanne Beker were the standouts, and maybe that's due in part to their immediate name recognition. The choice not to include a little introductory blurb for each author was an odd one, because unless you're firmly embedded in the twitterverse, I don't think half of the names featured in this collection will mean anything to you.

For the writing itself — the whole collection could have used more variety. History, music, institutions, key people ... instead there was a big focus on Canada's identity crisis ("we're not America, we're not the UK, but a different third thing", etc.) and the importance of the arts.

Mike Myers' "Canada" was better at stirring the loins of national pride. (Plus a lot less dour.)

[AnnMarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this book 3 1/2 stars.

I learned about a book called The New Romans a call out to writers in 1967.
Some of the essays were included in this book.

The current essay I loved the most was written by Ann-Marie MacDonald. It should have been the last, but instead it was Ken Dryden.
Her essay would be a wonderful learning and talking point for the young folks going to school in Canada today. Perhaps they will be our saviours?

I was looking for hope, and I have more questions than answers. I need to ask myself: what does being Canadian mean?

I was sad to read the authors from 1967 seem to say it’s inevitable our country will be taken over by the U.S.

[Wayne Woodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is portrayed as a Canadian national voice of resilience and resistance but really it should be considered a World voice. Yes the authors are Canadian but most of their writings could be from anywhere and certainly it would make sense for "Americans" to read this. The writers cover the gamut from fiction authors to non-fiction, business, Indigenous, artists, sports and just about every genre you can name. The common themes throughout are colonialism, repression, capitalism, resilience and resistance.
These help to broaden our world perspective, encourage us to be positive and hopeful while at the same time remind us we need to be vigilant of our freedoms.

[Sharen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very eclectic look at different perspectives on our relationship with the US. Quite enjoyed the essays analyzing the situation as opposed to those who just told us how wonderful they were. Felt like those writers weren't reading the room.


'I admit it. As a trans person right here, right now, on this day in this political moment, on this planet and at this juncture, I am having a difficult time forgiving anyone who I know voted for the fascists adjacent, homophobic, trans hating, anti-abortion dog whistling, white supremist party of Canada. I will try to forgive.'

[Lindasp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating wide-ranging collection of Canadian authors, musicians, hockey players, TV commentators, comedians, etc. who have written articles to express their feelings about Canada-its strengths and history, and what we can do to keep Canada strong in these turbulent times! If I had begun underling sentences, ideas, feelings or folding down the corner of a page that impressed me, my book would have been so marked up! Very inspiring!

[Michele Waite · Rating 3 out of 5]

I Enjoyed the diversity in the voices represented in this collection of stories in response to Donald Trump's threats to annex Canada. Some of the ideas were repetitive of course. I particularly enjoyed hearing the voices of our First Nations and Indigenous peoples and their reminders of the Colonization of Canada, the devastation to these communities, and the similarities to the US threats of becoming the 51 st state. Though provoking.

[Gea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This compilation of essays, stories, etc. by various noteworthy Canadian names is just what this country needs! Some of the essays date back to 1982, at which time this country was considering what it means to be Canadian in light of the new Free Trade Agreement. Many inspirational and meaningful words that help us understand the current situation.

[Margo · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those interested in how Canadians feel about the US threat of annexation, this collection of essays provides varied perspectives from leading Canadian thinkers and writers, including late Montreal Canadiens goaltender Ken Dryden. An informative read for Americans seeking perspective on their neighbours to the north, as well as Canadians wondering about the future of their country.

[Annie’s Daddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inoffensive collection of short stories, essays, and think pieces relating to Canada's relationship to the USA.

A few of the works appeared in the collection 'The New Romans'. The highlight of the collection is the piece by Farley Mowatt otherwise nothing particularly special but nothing awful or cringe.

[KendraLee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now, more than ever, it’s so important to know who we are, what we stand for and surround ourselves with our stories. Reading this collection of essays, I felt more connected and rooted in our shared Canadian culture and history, the proud and the unacceptable moments. We can and should learn from both which is our strength.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The high quality and variety of contributions is astounding, considering how fast this project must have had to come together. Beauty, eh? I hope this moment makes us appreciate each other more and makes us stronger.

[Alannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Uneven, as any collection such as this is bound to be, but overall affirming. Stand outs are the essays from Ann-Marie MacDonald, David Moscrop, and Ivan Coyote, as well as a beautiful short story from Iain Reid.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of essays about the state of Canada’s relationship with our neighbours to the south. The idea came from a similar book “The New Roman’s” from 1968. Some of the essays are from that original book and are eerily similar to what is being said and written currently.