The force of culture : Vincent Massey and Canadian sovereignty / Karen A. Finlay.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Force of Culture shows that Massey was, in certain respects, a democratizer and even a populist, who believed that difference need not divide.

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CHOICE Review

Finlay (art, Univ. of Victoria) has made an important contribution to our understanding of both Vincent Massey and his impact on Canada throughout the 20th century. She convincingly argues in this well-written, well-researched book that Massey believed that only through the assiduous promotion of culture could Canada overcome its vast geography and sectionalism to triumph over the forces of colonialism and establish a sovereign Canada with a distinctive national character. Finlay recognizes that Massey was a complex individual--and, in some ways, a person that would be difficult to like these days--but one committed to the role of a liberal education in the creation of a national character that would resist the forces of US cultural imperialism. Education and culture, Massey maintained, were vital to the construction of a national community, without which there would be little sovereignty and perhaps not even a nation. This book also challenges the accepted view of Massey, arguing that he was a firm believer in the strength of diversity, and an early and influential person who helped to shape the multicultural and diverse nation that Canada has subsequently become. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. R. B. Blake University of Regina