"If only this were the textbook we had in high school, Canadian history might have been more interesting." -National Post, praise for the previous edition

On a blustery night in December 1775, a snowstorm saved Canada from American invasion, the attackers unprepared for Quebec's northern climate. Throughout his concise history, award-winning author H.V. Nelles reminds us of such fateful events, whether strategic or happenstance, that have shaped Canada as we know it today.

Beginning with the earliest human occupation of North America, nearly 14,000 years ago, Nelles takes us on a whirlwind tour of the land and its inhabitants to the present day. Canada's enduring theme, he argues, is transformation. The country has undergone several fundamental changes - from Aboriginal occupation, to French and British colonization, to the rise of an independent nation and distinct society - and it is doing so yet again.

Fully revised throughout, this updated edition incorporates the latest research that helps us understand the course of history. A new concluding chapter unpacks the challenges that the country has faced in the twenty-first century: Canada-US relations post 9/11, the country's place within the global economy, a continuous influx of immigration, and the geographical consequences of global warming. Lively and opinionated, this is the ever-evolving story of a nation.

H.V. Nelles is the L.R. Wilson Professor of Canadian History at McMaster University and Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at York University. Both have written and published extensively on Canadian history and are widely recognized as two of the foremost scholars in the field.

H.V. Nelles' profile page