The Remarkable Years: Canadians Remember the 20th Century

R. Douglas Francis is a professor of history at the University of
Calgary and co-author of Destinies: Canadian History Since
Confederation.

The Remarkable Years is a collection of contemporary accounts or
reminiscences for each decade of the 20th century. In her introduction,
Mallory attempts to capture the dramatic events and changes of the past
century by reminding the reader what life was like in 1900 and what it
is like a century later in 2000 as a result of such inventions as the
car, farm machinery, photography, radio, and wireless messages.
“Change is what this book is about,” she says. “I set out to
capture what the sweeping changes of these last 100 remarkable years did
to Canadians caught up in the shifting currents or stuck in the back
eddies.”

The book follows a standard format. Each decade begins with a one-page
introduction, highlighting some of the changes and events of the decade,
followed by about 30 pages of anecdotal accounts or recollections about
some new experience, an invention and its impact, or life in by-gone
days.

For a historian, this collection is of limited value. The excerpts are
too brief and often appear to be chosen for personal reasons as opposed
to their intrinsic value. As well, the book tends to be sentimental and
romantic rather than dealing with the century’s harsh realities;
afterall, the 20th century was the most destructive century of all
times. While this may not be as true for Canada as it is for the rest of
the world, Canada did lose her innocence on the battlefields of Europe
in two world wars and in the pain and suffering of the Depression. It
may be inventions that mark the changes of the century, but it is the
struggles and pain that etch the century’s identity for Canada as a
whole. Still, those who enjoy going down memory lane will find The
Remarkable Years a pleasant read.