Upper Canada: The Formative Years, 1784-1841

by Gerald M. Craig

Date not stated

Genres: Canada, History

336 pages

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Gerald M. Craig (1916-1988) was a professor of history at the University of Toronto. He studied at the University of Toronto and the University of Minnesota, where he earned his Ph.D. after serving in the Second World War.

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book quite good. Having grown up in Niagara and having read a lot on the War of 1812, it nicely filled in for me the activity around that time. I faintly recall discussing the Family Compact and the Durham report in high school and I found that this gives good background and discussion of that topic. It nicely tied in a lot of stuff I didn't know such as the Crown reserves and the Clergy reserves in the townships and how the management of that lead to some of the friction between those of the tory vs reform. I had not heard of the Centenary Series and most of it is probably out of print but I now have a new series to search for when visiting a used book store.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the best of the Centenary Series books, and its recent reprinting by Oxford UP is welcome. When I first went to read it 20 years ago, I found it rather dry and narrowly focused. On rereading recently, however, I find the detail Craig provides of great value. I value Craig's take on the family compact: as not just an oligarchy of self-interested men, but a less coherent group that nonetheless had a real vision for the colony.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just no. Too jumpy, political and hard to follow