Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women's History. 4th ed.

Margaret Conrad is Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Studies at
the University of New Brunswick. She is the author of Atlantic Canada: A
Region in the Making, and coauthor of Intimate Relations: Family and
Community in Planter Nova Scotia, 1759–1

The appearance of the fourth edition of this reader in Canadian
women’s history, first published in 1986, is a testimony to the
prodigious output in the field. As in previous editions, the editors
have chosen readings that are accessible to undergraduates. To this end,
they have abridged many of the articles, provided brief introductions to
accompany each reading, and added questions for critical reading. The
resulting book is one that should appeal not only to students but also
to the general reader interested in women’s history.

Of the 26 readings in this volume, 16 are new and the other 10 have all
been published since 1990. The focus here has shifted more dramatically
from the experiences of women in the two “founding” European
cultures to First Nations women, women of color, and immigrant women.
There are also more contributions from scholars in disciplines other
than history—literature, political science, sociology, women’s
studies—reflecting the field’s growing interdisciplinarity and
complexity. Among the new topics explored in this volume are “Mohawk
saint” Kateri Tekakwitha (Nancy Shoemaker), representations of Native
women in the writings of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill
(Carole Gerson), and women’s organizational response to NAFTA
(Christina Gabriel and Laura Macdonald). Articles on such topics as
gender, language, and politics in the Lower Canadian rebellion (Allan
Greer), Black women community builders in 19th-century Ontario (Shirley
J. Yee), and Japanese picture brides (Michiko Midge Ayukawa) survive
from the previous edition, but readers will be obliged to consult the
first and second editions of Rethinking Canada to access the early
classics of Canadian women’s history.

While the editors have made an attempt to balance time and place, 20 of
the articles focus on the post–Confederation period of Canadian
history and only three articles treat topics relating to the Atlantic
Provinces and the North. This breakdown suggests areas of Canadian
women’s history that warrant attention before the 5th edition makes
its appearance.