In my library there are some books that sit, neglected, for no good reason other than a boring title, a should be read example, or just down the list. A good example is From Sea Unto Sea, The Road to Nationhood 1850-1910, written by W.G. Hardy. It was published by Doubleday in 1959 and republished in 60 and 70 clearly for schools. On the flyleaf is a stamped library record that says Arbutus Junior Secondary School. It was clearly brought home by an offspring of mine in the 70's and has sat, wasting away. I say wasting since it has never been cracked open, characteristic of one of the children as well as me and the glue has dried over the years so it has fallen apart as I am reading it now. It is the most exciting and readable book I have ever read as a history of that period of time and clearly has been written by a historian who relishes literacy, racy opinion and scholarly accuracy. If you love your country and want to see its triumphs and warts it will fill your appetite. The period of course is the amalgamation of the federation as we know it except Newfoundland. It is the Canadian experience par excellence. I was so enthused that we have ordered three new books from Amazon for the fifty odd year old offspring that clearly never read it before. We need to look at the long view to counteract the sometime dismal space we are told we occupy today. We can really sing O Canada!
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