Imagining Ourselves: Classics of Canadian Non-Fiction

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of education at the University of
Prince Edward Island.

Spanning some three centuries, this anthology presents selections from
the published work of 32 Canadian writers of non-fiction. Francis
prefaces each excerpt with a short biography and concludes the book with
useful reading lists.

Non-fiction is a notoriously catholic genre, and history, geography,
politics, theology, literary criticism, ethnicity, and sport all find a
place here. While the term non-fiction might suggest “a plain,
unvarnished tale,” personal prejudices, feelings, and attitudes are an
integral part of this anthology. What holds its disparate selections
together is the sustained vibrancy of their prose.