The Illustrated History of Canada. 3rd ed.

Olaf Uwe Janzen is an associate professor of history at Sir Wilfred
Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

First published in 1986, this readable single-volume survey history of
Canada has now gone through two revisions and is therefore quite current
(the closing chapter includes coverage of the 1995 Quebec referendum).
Each of the book’s six chapters is written by a notable Canadian
historian.

Arthur Ray opens the book with a comprehensive history of Canada’s
Native peoples from before their contact with Europeans until the early
19th century. Christopher Moore examines New France and its rivals from
1600 to the Conquest. A chapter by Graeme Wynn covers developments in
the “diverse and fractured realm” of British North America between
1760 and 1840, while another, by Peter Waite, focuses on the period
between 1840 and 1900, including Con-federation. Ramsay Cook carries the
narrative forward to the end of World War II, while Desmond Morton
covers the last five decades in the concluding chapter.

Inevitably, there is an overlapping of material, while some themes are
overlooked (it seems curious in this age of NAFTA that there is no
discussion of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854). A few errors of fact also
managed to escape the critical eye of the authors and the editor. A more
serious ground for criticism is the index, which at times is nearly
useless. The Inuit receive 15 entries (presumably to atone for past
neglect), but the student seeking direction on “the Irish” or on
“immigration” will find none in this index. The illustrations often
fail in their purpose of providing “a parallel commentary.” Most are
too small, and none are in color, so that details are frequently lost.
In the final analysis, though, what matters most are not the
illustrations, but the power and effectiveness of the narrative.