Texts of old

For one of my education classes, we were required to compare two texts, one that was published before 1950, and another contemporary text for our subject areas. I chose a Canadian History text from 1946. Although there were the obvious differences of content and perspective, I found some interesting differences in writing styles. One section in particular made me laugh out loud, which I felt like I had to share... the text is called The Romance of Canada and was utilized in Canadian History classes 5-6 decades ago...

"The United States was growing like a young giant, striding across the continent. If the lost coloies could thus become a great nation, why could not the remaining colonies unite and build another? If they did not seek strength in union, could they avoid, in the end, being drawn under the expanding Stars and Stripes?"

Young giant striding across the continent?? That's just too good for words.

Another aside... one thing that people use as evidence that Canadians want to be American: a massive portion of the Canadian population lives within 150kms of the U.S. border. However, as Will Ferguson (author of Why I Hate Canadians, How To Be A Canadian, and Beauty Tips From Moose Jaw) would say, it was the combined threat of frostbite and manifest destiny that forced Canadians to reside within a small distance of the border. For any of you interested in looking at a hilarious tale of modern Canadian history and identity formation, look at Ferguson's books. He also wrote Canadian History For Dummies. Good material people... good material!

- T