The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the city of Toronto is an appropriate occasion to reflect on the history of one of Canada's major cities. In this collection of essays, published to mark the sesquicentennial, a number of historians, geographers, and political scientists analyse the history of the relationship between the corporation of the city of Toronto and the city that it administers.

What emerges from these studies of various periods and institutions is a fascinating pattern: the bitter factional disputes of the first half-century eventually gave way to a comprehensive consensus on the nature of civic government. And it was this common understanding that permitted the well-planned experiments of civic administration that produced the eminently liveable North American metropolis we see today.

Politics -- civic, provincial, and federal -- form a major focus of the book as the various authors consider the role of the Orange order, the evolution of the non-partisan police force, the development of the downtown core, the events leading up to the establishment of the board of control, and the emergence of the whole range of public utilities that make the city work so well. Colourful personalities -- Tories, radicals, statesmen, and scoundrels -- abound in this wide-ranging study of the history of a great city.

VICTOR L. RUSSELL is Manager of the City of Toronto Archives.

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