Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island for Dummies. 3rd ed.

Randall White is the author of Voice of Region: On the Long Journey to
Senate Reform in Canada, Too Good to Be True: Toronto in the 1920s, and
Global Spin: Probing the Globalization Debate.

This is the third edition of a work the author acknowledges is patterned after the well-established international travel publication Frommer’s. As such, the first 90 pages of this 325-page work are filled with practical information on how to reach the Maritimes, the conventional sites to see, and how visitors can avoid some basic pitfalls and potential delays. I sense the main target is the American tourist, especially since it stresses the U.S. access points. Indeed, the New Brunswick section, the area I am most familiar with, makes no mention of the entire northwestern section bordering on Quebec and refers very briefly to the Acadian area of the northeast. Anyone looking for offbeat destinations like Mount Carleton, New Brunswick’s highest elevation, or the quaint Bay of Fundy hamlet of St. Martin’s will be disappointed. On the other hand, Nova Scotia’s top tourist attractions, especially Cape Breton and Halifax, get full treatment, as does tiny Prince Edward Island, which receives a glowing 45 pages compared to 63 for the much larger and more varied New Brunswick. Nova Scotia merits 85. Admittedly, by noting this pagination weighting, I reflect a typical Maritimer’s sense of regional rivalry; perhaps other Canadians have the same fixations.

Despite the abundance of practical pointers for first-time visitors (who may take exception, as does this reviewer, to the term “dummies”), there is one other aspect I would have added. Even though this region appears tiny on most maps, leaving a possible impression that a visitor could scoot around the whole area in a couple of days, the distances and travel times are deceiving. For example, to go from my home in St. Andrews in the southwest corner of New Brunswick to the Quebec border takes me nearly four hours of non-stop driving, and five hours to make Bathurst in the northeast. A few months ago, I drove from Halifax to much-touted Katie’s Cove, a drive that took well over an hour through very dull rural scenery.

In summary, an ideal guide, especially for those travelling in bus tours and other guided groups, but less inspiring for others wishing to take the roads less travelled.