Helbich, Wolfgang

English

Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)

Histoire sociale – Social History, vol. XXXIX, no 77 (mai-May 2006)Comptes rendus / Book Reviews 293A number of careless mistakes detract from the book. For example, Poutrincourt’sfamily surely fought against Henri IV only until 1593 rather than 1693 (p. 7). If “LouisXIV had much of the pragmatic common sense of his grandfather”, what does thereader do with the same sentence’s assertion, “but the grandson was much less prag-matic” (p. 102)? Also, Griffiths may not be willing to tackle the murky origins of theAcadians in France’s centre-west, but Loudunais should be spelled correctly (p. 183).Historians have indeed emphasized “the actions of greater powers upon Acadiansociety, rather than the experiences of the Acadians themselves” (p. 283). Griffithscould have described more of their experience as migrants, specifically how thisbroad collection of individuals so quickly formed a deep sense of community (pp. 63–68). The terms “border” and “border people” also need to be defined and more care-fully applied to give them a specific Acadian meaning. Would any French peasanthave acted differently given the circumstances Griffiths describes? After all, otherearly modern peasant communities existing in borderlands exhibited similar pragma-tism when caught between rivals, with similar conceptions of their obligations andthose of their titular rulers, and a similar aversion to becoming involved in back-and-forth elite conflicts. This represents an important avenue for development and com-parison, because pragmatism is a rather general basis upon which to claim distinctionin the early modern French world.Lastly, local and regional contexts and contrasts within Acadia remain largely unex-plored in this account. Griffiths blithely states that the population was too small for astatistical analysis to “yield meaningful results” (p. 173) and engages in little analysisof social hierarchy and family relations. She does note the economic specializationeach Acadian community developed — which must have had an impact on relationswith imperial officials and the Mi’kmaq (p. 285). How did the dynamics of localpower affect the overall decisions the Acadians seemed to make in their negotiationswith imperial agents? The uniformity of the Acadian position, identity, and experiencethat Griffiths presents is striking in comparison with other French communities in boththe New and Old Worlds — and, as such, borders on the unbelievable.Gregory M. W. KennedyYork UniversityHALLOWELL, Gerald (ed.) — The Oxford Companion to Canadian History. DonMills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2004. Pp. 748.It seems that Canadian history has joined the sprawling family of Oxford Compan-ions. The progenitor, English literature (1932), was followed by dozens of volumesincluding American literature (1941) and much later American history (1966), to besuperseded by United States history (2001). Canada made its appearance as Siamesetwins, Canadian history and literature (1967), separated in several operations: Cana-dian literature became independent first (1983), followed by Canadian theatre(1988), and finally Canadian history (2004). The latter was preceded by Irish (1998),Scottish (2001), and Australian history (2001). Was it worth waiting for?294 Histoire sociale / Social HistoryHistoire sociale – Social History, vol. XXXIX, no 77 (mai-May 2006)It is always convenient for a reviewer if the author or editor explains for whom thework is intended and what purpose it is to serve. In the introduction to the OxfordCompanion to Canadian History and Literature, editor Norah Story provided suchinformation with admirable brevity and clarity: “This Companion is intended to pro-vide a single source in which anyone reading a Canadian book in English or Frenchcan find an explanation of references that would otherwise be obscure.” In the 2004volume, no such explicit help is given. In the preface, the editor states that the volume attempts to provide “the basicdetails of the main events, institutions, places and people in Canada’s past”. The keyideas seem to be maintaining “a balance among the different areas of life”; expansionof the coverage to all the various sub-disciplines of history; inclusion of recent trendsin historiography, of prominent people who made contributions to Canadian historyand plain ones who are representative or “simply interesting” as well as all peoplesand all time periods (p. vi). This is an accurate description of what this Companionoffers. While it does not help to identify a target audience, the following quotationsmay do so: “Readers who wish more information than can be presented in this singlevolume might consult [Canadian Encyclopedia, Dictionary of Canadian Biography,Historical Atlas of Canada].” “[T]he general reader would find especially attractivethat fine publication The Beaver, Canada’s History Magazine....”(p. ix).Thus this book does not seem to be intended primarily for historians. Yet thisreader, though a historian acquainted with North America, was humbled by his igno-rance of ever so many entries. Canadian-born and Canadian-trained colleagueswould score much higher, but even for them the work would be helpful for quick ref-erence outside their specialties, legitimized by the uniformly high scholarly standardof the articles (though no bibliographic references are given), the clear and matter-of-fact language, the 40-page index, and not least the complete lists of all kings relevantto Canada, governors general, prime ministers, and premiers as well as ten fineblack-and-white historical maps.In this, as in any other encyclopaedic work, one can quibble about details, such aswhy there is no entry for “Bill 101” or for “Jesuits’ Estates Act”, but there is for“Equal Rights Association”. Why are five noted as dead in the 1918 Quebec riotsunder “conscription” and four under “home front”? According to the entry on LordDurham, his notorious report “demanded that the French be raised to the standards ofthe English”, but his call for linguistic and cultural assimilation is not spelled out, letalone his harsh term “extinction of a nationality”. Finally, with all respect for theauthor of “French-English relations”, the claim that “[t]his approach [i.e. the educa-tional system] isolated French-Canadians, mainly in rural communities, from anycontact with English Protestants” is not tenable in this absolute form. At least in theEastern Townships, there were contacts and cooperation at various levels — politi-cal, economic, even cultural and social, as well as in sports. The list could be contin-ued, but such inevitable minor errors do not detract from the sterling value of thiswork.Another factor might do so, at least for some people. In Europe, one has taken noteof multiculturalism in Canada, but the image of a bilingual, bicultural country whereboth founding nations enjoy equal rights and recognition is still very much alive. ItHistoire sociale – Social History, vol. XXXIX, no 77 (mai-May 2006)Comptes rendus / Book Reviews 295may therefore come as a surprise that the impression given by this volume is so pre-dominantly British, or rather decidedly Anglo-Canadian. By my very rough count,and admittedly going by names only, no more than 10 per cent of the 527 contribu-tors are French-Canadian, and they authored equally about 10 per cent of the 1,654entries. Francophones have written only on matters directly related to French Canada(no more than 15 exceptions to this rule could be identified), whereas anglophonesprepared dozens of entries on French Canada (including Bombardier, George-Éti-enne Cartier, Huguenots, Riel, Séminaire de Montréal, and Société St-Jean-Baptiste)plus all items relating to the rest of Canada and the country as a whole (with theexceptions noted above). One might add that all six members of the editorial advi-sory board seem to be anglophones.Given the French-Canadian scepticism toward imperial wars, the extensive andsometimes meticulous treatment of Canada’s twentieth-century warlike exploits con-tributes to the Anglo-Canadian tinge of the work. Thus there are sizeable entries forAmiens, Canadian Corps, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Overseas Military Force,Passchendaele, Ross rifle, Somme, trench warfare, Vimy Ridge, and Ypres — anincomplete list for World War I — and the article on the South African war records,among numerous other details, that at Liliefontein the Canadian forces lost two deadand eleven wounded, but gained three Victoria Crosses. Yet neither here nor in theentries “conscription” or “Bourassa” does the reader learn precisely what were thereasons for French-Canadian disenchantment with the British wars.A few technical hints might be in order. The entries range in length from twelvelines on a two-column page to two pages, averaging about two-fifths of a page. Thecross-referencing by asterisk is helpful, and there is no reason for frustration if a termcannot be found in the main part; the comprehensive and reliable index contains atleast 7,000 key words and may well guide the reader to the desired information. It alladds up to a solid and also quite handsome volume to be highly recommended. Dis-illusioned or not, the foreign scholars and readers whom Norah Story must have hadin mind besides Canadians will also find it a most useful tool. Even though this Com-panion would have been welcome at a much earlier date, it has been well worth thewait.Wolfgang HelbichRuhr-Universität BochumGermanyLAINEY, Jonathan C. — La « Monnaie des Sauvages ». Les colliers de wampumd’hier à aujourd’hui, Québec, Septentrion, 2004, 283 p.L’utilisation de devises comme moyen d’échange n’est pas, on s’en doute, uneinvention récente. Les groupes humains ont rapidement constaté l’utilité de mettre encirculation des objets investis d’une valeur économique et symbolique afin de facil-iter les échanges et de thésauriser les richesses, aussi les systèmes de valeurs sont-ilsattestés pour des périodes fort anciennes de l’histoire humaine. L’utilisation denuméraire a laissé de nombreuses traces, qu’il s’agisse des objets eux-mêmes,

Hallowell, Gerald (ed.) — The Oxford Companion to Canadian History

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Hallowell, Gerald (ed.) — The Oxford Companion to Canadian History

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Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)