Canada with Love

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This impressive collection of landscape photos has been assembled by
Canada’s best-known still-photo editor. Monk’s reputation was built
at the National Film Board and solidified by her earlier successes,
Between Friends and Canada: A Year of the Land.

The coffee-table book consists of 50 magnificent color photos from 35
photographers, many of them amateurs. The photos are complemented by
brief quotes from well-known Canadians, plus an introduction and
epilogue that set the context for the photos. Dozens of famous Canadians
have contributed to the work. If big names sell books, this one has the
bases covered. Joined together with “ordinary Canadians” (the
amateur photographers) in this ode to Canada is an array of celebrities
including Harold Town, Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, John de Visser,
John Robert Colombo, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and Chief Dan George, among
others.

The photos are a tribute—a salute—to the vastness and grandeur of
Canada’s geography. Prairies, mountains, forests, lakes, and skies
impress us with their majestic proportions and beauty. The overall
impression is stillness: tranquillity on a giant scale. This is
patriotism so beautifully captured it sends a shiver down the spine.

As well as being a politically correct gift book (bilingual; all
provinces represented), it is also a pleasure to study.