Canadian History For Dummies

This is my first purchase from the popular "Dummies" series and, well, I'm impressed. I've always wanted a comprehensive history of Canada for my library. I've found that this space seems to be full of either textbooks or dry-as-dust histories written by British historians. This book is a wonderful solution.I'm from the United States. Our exposure to Canadian history is minimal or, essentially, nonexistent - limited to a few thoughts about Loyalists, the War of 1812, and MAYBE a bit about the fur trade and the Pacific Northwest. I've always known there's more to Canada, and I want more than Wikipedia.Here's a book that is exhaustive but concise and oh-so-easy. True, it's not intended to stand up to scholarly scrutiny, but it's rigorous enough to be useful and a blast to read. It's also a beautiful blend of political, economic, social and cultural topics. Native Americans get their appropriate consideration too. I really like to book's using symbols to indicate special topics such as "Americans" and "Relations" and "Disagree" where the author wants to draw our attention to an important point. Good stuff.I would recommend this book to anyone - especially Americans - looking for a substantial history of Canada that is more serious than its title suggests.

Was a good read

This is a good primer for those who don’t know a lot about Canadian history. As an American living in Canada for a while I really enjoyed learning many of these things. I just didn’t realize how much Canadians dislike Americans, at least if the author is correct in his presentation. In school in the United States I was always taught that Canada was our friend.

Granted, it touches most of the bases from a Canadian viewpoint. Canadian nationalism still seeps thru in a lot of areas, so that the non-Canadian (i.e., U.S) reader has to almost laugh at the characterizations of those of us who live South of the Border. Unfortunately, while spending a great deal of time on the period from 1632-1799, the modern era 1947-2004 goes by rather quickly. If you want to feel "on par" with the knowledge of post-Revolutionary War up to Canadian Confederacy, and learn a few analogous heroes and heroines of Canadian lore, it's a good intro for that.The discussion of the contributions of Canadian soldiers in World War I will break your heart, as will World War II.I only rate it a "four" because I thought the impact of FTA 87 and NAFTA 1994 wasn't covered in great enough detail.

This is a great book. A while ago I decided to try to find out a bit more about Canada, in preparation for a long vacation. So I bought several books on Amazon and this turned out to be the best by far. Easy to read. Entertaining... almost as gripping as a novel. No fluff, just the good stuff. Easy to dip into. If you want to buy a single book to be your introduction to Canadian history, then this should be it. It also won an award from a Canadian history society, and was a best-seller in Canada, so a lot of other people think it is pretty good, too.

Very interesting book and fun to read. Even for those of us who learned our Canadian history in school and university there is much additional information that wasn't taught or was forgotten.The book would be most useful for Americans to read since it would give them an understanding of Canada that they generally lack. Even my American born wife is starting to read the book now.The only problem with the book is its physical layout. A small problem but a bit annoying at least for me.

This easy-to-read book is well organized. Not only does it provide information, but it helps by categorizing sections which highlight Anglo-French relations, Canadian-American relations, and First Nations (indigenous people's) rights. Its principal weakness is a lack of maps. While inconvenient, the reader should consult other resources to supplement the text.

Have not received this book yet. Hopefully it will be in the mail soon. Was ordered quite a while ago. However, I have used this book before and it is great for teachers. Has great information, easy to follow and find different periods in the history of Canada. Love the write-ups on the people who made history in Canada. Used all this information to help be better understand the history of Canada. Added interesting facts to share with my class.

I thought I knew about Canada but reading Dummies Canadian History reveals that I knew very little and much of what I knew is wrong. I knew that they don't want to be compared with the the country south of the border - begins with a U. The Canadians do their own thing and are totally different from the country that starts with a U. They probably ARE different. They have two big official languages - I knew that. They also have dozens of little ones - how official they are I still have to find out. I mean aboriginal languages. It is interesting that the climate is so extreme, considering that Ottawa for instance is on the same latitude as Bordeaux, France and Florence, Italy. The weather is much milder in those European latitudes. The huge North American continent does that. - This is just the beginning. I have just started to read the book. I'm glad I bought the book. I hope to avoid many embarrassing moments with Canadians after having studied it cover to cover.

Excellent intro, would recommend to anyone that needs a simple introduction and basic intro. Serves the purpose, easy to read, and nicely structured.

This was purchased to assist me in teaching my son about the history of his country. It covers a diverse amount of topics and is particular interest the early opening of a great nation.HOWEVER; I am dreadfully disappointed in this book. It is far from fact and fiction correction. This is laced with editorialized, author pontification, unsubstantiated drivel. I cannot allow my impressionable son to read this unassisted. The title of the book is a complete mismatch to its actual content.I cannot recommend this book unless it is for a reader who wants to be inundated with current politically correct social issue commentary from one (and only one viewpoint).

took on holiday to Canada to read alongside the guide books; some fascinating stuff in there.

If you want to find out everything there is to know about the great country of Canada, then this is the book. With more than 500 pages of History, not bad for a country that was discoverd by europeans merely 500 years ago, it really offers more than you would ever dream of knowing. Ideal for anyone with an interest of Canada.