Turn of the Century: Canada 100 Years Ago

Cynthia R. Comacchio is an associate professor of history at Wilfrid
Laurier University and the author of Nations Are Built of Babies: Saving
Ontario’s Mothers and Children.

University of Regina journalism professor James E. McKenzie was inspired
to write this book chronicling the closing moments of the 19th century
and the opening year of what Sir Wilfrid Laurier confidently proclaimed
“Canada’s Century” because our recent historic turn made him
wonder what preparations were made a hundred years earlier. Finding
little in the “dull as dish water” historical studies that he
consulted, he turned to newspapers and magazines of the time to uncover
what ordinary Canadians were experiencing in that auspicious moment.
Though it is difficult to dispute his contention that “Canadian
historians, by and large, have been a tedious lot,” one can’t help
but wonder why his research led him to studies that were single-mindedly
dedicated to political, economic, and constitutional analysis, but not
to the myriad books by social and cultural historians of Canada that
have been published over the past several decades.

Although Turn of the Century is not precisely the “benchmark” study
that it is proclaimed to be, it is written in a lively style and
presents a carefully selected range of stories that illustrate some
aspects of the daily lives of ordinary people. There are seven short
chapters, each subdivided into a series of stand-alone vignettes
sporting their own catchy “headlines.” McKenzie’s chapter topics
are impressively wide-ranging and inclusive. He begins by discussing
“How We Welcomed the 20th Century” and imperialism in the Canadian
context, and then moves on to examinations of newsworthy happenings in
the West (and also the broadly defined East), racism, and the role and
position of women. He closes the book with a fascinating chapter titled
“How Everyday Life Was Lived.”

The author’s style is anecdotal rather than analytical, making for a
worthwhile popular history. Doubtless much of the material will liven up
the dreary lectures of dullard historians, but the absence of any kind
of source citations will limit the book’s use in the classroom, which
is a shame given the intrinsic interest of the stories it features.