Most Popular Books by Ramsay Cook

In exploring the nature of social criticism and its complex ties to the religious thinking of the day, Cook analyses the thought of an extraordinary cast of characters who presented a bewildering array of nostrums and beliefs.

John W. Dafoe was a dominant figure in western Canadian political history during the first half of the twentieth century. As editor of the Winnipeg Free Press from 1901 to 1944, he gained an international reputation for his perceptive analysis of the issues facing Canada and the world. He was at the centre of almost every major political development of his time: he advised prime ministers, was deeply involved in organizing the Progressive party, and was a member of the crucial Rowell-Sirois Commission on federal-provincial relations. His influence was enormous, and at the time of his death he was widely regarded as the nation''s most distinguished editor. This book is a study at close quarters of Dafoe, the man of politics. It focuses on the Dafoe who read and studied and the Dafoe who observed men and events; on Dafoe in his centre of operation and at the Free Press and Dafoe moving watchfully about the country and abroad when critical decisions were in the making; on the ideas confided in letters to friends and the ideas delivered in public speeches; on contributions made to conferences and commissions and advice given to political figures. The book is not intended as a complete biography of Dafoe in all his aspects, but it is even less an abstract treatise in the field of political theory. It is the biography of a political mind. The impression is of a mind recalled to its full vigour, for no prejudgments have been made about it and no restraints upon it. Ramsay Cook treats his subject with candour, but also with understanding and a sense of humour. He has ordered his material with extraordinary skill, so that his book is enjoyable reading as well as a valuable source of information about a distinguished Canadian and a momentous period in Canadian history.

A crisis of faith confronted many Canadian Protestants in the late nineteenth century. With their religious beliefs challenged by the new biological sciences and historical criticism of the Bible, they turned from personal salvation to the dire social problems of the industrial age. The Regenerators explores the nature of social criticism in this era and its complex ties to the religious thinking of the day, showing how the path blazed by nineteenth-century religious liberals led not to the Kingdom of God on earth, but, ironically, to the secular city. The winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction when it was first published in 1985, The Regenerators became an instant classic for its fascinating portraits of evolutionists, rationalists, spiritualists, socialists, and free thinkers before the turn of the century. This new edition features an introduction by historian and biographer Donald Wright.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Ramsay Cook were friends for nearly four decades. A passion for the intellectual life drew them together but their friendship focused more on politics once Trudeau became prime minister. In The Teeth of Time Cook reflects on his relationship with Trudeau and the tensions created when one friend achieves political power and the other struggles to find the balance among his roles as detached scholar and teacher, involved citizen, and personal friend.

THE VOYAGES of JACQUES CARTIER Ramsay Cook Jacques Cartier''s voyages of 1534, 1535, and 1541constitute the first record of European impressions of the St Lawrence region of northeastern North American and its peoples. The Voyages are rich in details about almost every aspect of the region''s environment and the people who inhabited it. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

Volume XIV of the Canadian Centenary Series Now available as e-books for the first time, the Canadian Centenary Series is a comprehensive nineteen-volume history of the peoples and lands which form Canada. Although the series is designed as a unified whole so that no part of the story is left untold, each volume is complete in itself. The age of Laurier and Borden in Canada spanned a quarter of a century of dramatic growth, during which the burgeoning dominion altered radically in size and quality. A population increase of over three million, the creation of two western provinces, the opening of the north and the northwest, new levels of foreign trade and foreign investment -- these advances constituted the tangible aspects of the transformation. But the Canada that burst forth during this period was new as well in spirit and outlook. Immigration, world war, linguistic and religious differences, and the waning of Canada’s agrarian character caused fundamental and striking shifts in the nation’s DNA -- both physical and cultural. The transformation occurred against a backdrop of global changes, worldwide urban industrial growth, and new balances of power creating an international climate that affected Canada more profoundly than she could affect it. In surveying this period of history, professors Brown and Cook have examined the relevant writing and research, including the exciting work of a new generation of historians. First published in 1974, Canada, 1896-1921, an incisive and mature work of scholarship on a crucial phase in the history of Canada, is available here as an e-book for the first time.

Evolving from a passionate desire to simply survive as a distinctive culture in the nineteenth and early twentieth century to a more confident and expansive ideology since the Second World War, nationalism in Quebec has provoked intense debates within the province and in the rest of Canada over language, provincial powers, and the very meaning of the term nation in the contemporary world. Watching Quebec examines the ideas of francophone individuals and groups, looks at their institutions and movements, and clarifies the complex relationship between French- and English-speaking Canadians.

These fifteen essays, all inspired by the work of Ramsay Cook, focus on cultural and intellectual history, the impact of race, indiginous peoples'' history, and women''s history. Topics include radio in Canada, the Native vote in Saskatchewa, the writings of Harold Innis, Canadian missionaries in Korea, and the role of women in the textile industry and their attitudes toward unions. The book provides a rich cross section of the work of contemporary historians in Canada.

"Abondamment illustré, ce livre offre une vision équilibrée de l''histoire du Canada. Les auteurs permettent d''établir clairement les liens essentiels entre le territoire, le peuplement, le développement économique et la vie politique, sociale et culturelle". Six chapitres : les peuples autochtones; la Nouvelle-France; le peuplement d''origine britannique; le régime de l''Union des deux Canada et la Confédération; l''ère moderne; de 1945 à aujourd''hui. [SDM].