A Guide to Canadian Economic History

David Robinson is an economics professor at Laurentian University.

Get this book if you teach Canadian economic history at any level. Make
your students get the book. Most importantly, get the book if you are
starting to teach the subject. It is intended to serve as a handbook for
anyone interested in surveying the field, and it succeeds.

The volume, which comes in a “letter-size” format, complements
existing textbooks and collections. For each of the 42 topics, Rae
provides a brief overview followed by a list of references. The American
Revolution gets eight pages of text and nine of references. Two and a
half pages on foreign ownership introduce five and a half pages of
references. Since any one of his “topics” could expand to fill a
book, Rae sometimes varies the structure to suit the material. Topic 33,
the primary industries since World War II, is further divided into four
subtopics: agriculture, mining, forestry, and energy (the last of which
has three sections—petroleum, hydro, and nuclear). Topics are grouped
into nine “Parts,” followed by a four-page chronology, and by author
and subject indexes.

The writing, though dense, is clear and informative. I wish I’d had
this book when I was teaching the subject.