Biography & Autobiography Political
The Hand of God
Claude Ryan and the Fate of Canadian Liberalism, 1925-1971
- Publisher
- McGill-Queen's University Press
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2017
- Category
- Political, General, Post-Confederation (1867-)
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780773551299
- Publish Date
- Oct 2017
- List Price
- $50.00
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9780773551879
- Publish Date
- Oct 2017
- List Price
- $50.00
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Description
Set against a background of intense religious and cultural change and tensions over the meanings of nationalism and federalism in both Quebec and Canada, Michael Gauvreau's The Hand of God traces the emergence of Claude Ryan as a public intellectual. This is the first comprehensive biography of Ryan based on his personal papers and extensive writings as a social commentator, editorialist, and director of the newspaper Le Devoir. At a time of Catholic religious fervour and new currents of social analysis, Ryan spoke for a postwar generation of young Quebecers, assuring his surprising ascension as one of the most influential voices in Canadian liberalism and federalism in the 1960s. In rich detail, Gauvreau describes Ryan’s ideas on religion, politics, and society, which assured his importance both as a major figure seeking the transformation of Roman Catholicism in the 1950s and 1960s and as an advocate of a type of liberalism that was often at odds with Pierre Elliott Trudeau's. He presents compelling new material on the breakdown of social and cultural consensus, a detailed analysis of Ryan’s personal and intellectual dealings with both Trudeau and René Lévesque, and a strikingly new interpretation of the motives of the key players in the October Crisis of 1970. A significant rethinking of the relationship between liberalism, nationalism, and federalism in Quebec in the twentieth century, The Hand of God uses biography as a lens to explore and shed new light on questions central to postwar Quebec and Canadian cultural, political, and intellectual history.
About the author
Michael Gauvreau, professor of history at McMaster University, is the author and editor of numerous works, including Mapping the Margins: Families and Social Disciplines in Canada, 1700-1970 and Cultures of Citizenship in Postwar Canada, 1940-1955.
Editorial Reviews
"Artfully crafted, profoundly insightful, based on extensive scholarly and archival sources, The Hand of God not only offers a vivid and illuminating understanding of a key French-Canadian figure but also opens up a new perspective on Quebec that has not hitherto been accounted for in the historiography." Jean-Philippe Warren, Concordia University and author of Un supplément d’âme : Les intentions primordiales de Fernand Dumont
Other titles by
History of Canada, Volume 1
Transatlantic Peoplings, 1663-1885
History of Canada, Volume 2
Making Citizens Modern, 1885-1982
The Sixties and Beyond
Dechristianization in North America and Western Europe, 1945-2000
Christian Churches and Their Peoples, 1840-1965
A Social History of Religion in Canada
Christian Churches and Their Peoples, 1840-1965
A Social History of Religion in Canada
The Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution, 1931-1970
The Churches and Social Order in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Canada
Churches and Social Order in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Canada
Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution, 1931-1970
Mapping the Margins
The Family and Social Discipline in Canada, 1700-1975