Robert Bothwell Knihy

A Traveller's History of Canada gives a comprehensive survey of the country's past from the earliest times right through to the present. It begins with the first immigrants to arrive well over 15,000 years ago who traveled across a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska. These native cultures saw a succession of Westerners from the early, mainly unsuccessful Viking settlements, to the British and French in later centuries attempting to make life possible on what could be an inhospitable landscape. The European powers brought with them not only a thirst for land but also their own quarrels, which resulted in battles and skirmishes with each other, and with America after its independence. The battles continued into the twentieth century - but only on the cultural and language front between the French and English. The impact of the two world wars and its relationship with its brash neighbor, the U.S., are thoroughly discussed. The book is brought fully up to date with a profile of modern Canada, its successes, present difficulties and a prognosis for the new millennium.

Canada is in many ways a country of limits, a paradox for a place that enjoys virtually unlimited space. Most of that space is uninhabited, and much of it is uninhabitable. It is a country with a huge north but with most of its population in the south, hugging the U.S. border. An uneasy and difficult country, Canada has nevertheless defied the odds: it remains, in the 21st century, a haven of peace and a beacon of prosperity. Erudite yet accessible and marked by narrative flair, The Penguin History of Canada paints an expansive portrait of a dynamic and complex country.