Description

Quebec's political struggle for autonomy, independence, and the protection of its language, culture, and heritage is shrouded in ambiguity. Let us shed some light on the subject for you.

Why have the province's linguistic and cultural tensions dragged on for nearly four hundred years? In what ways does it differ from the rest of Canada? Did indigenous peoples play a key role in shaping the province's identity and culture? For what reasons did Quebec's two sovereigntist referendums fail? And what was the Quiet Revolution?

The historic rivalry between Britain and France was an intense, long-standing geopolitical struggle. Relations between the empires cooled at the dawn of the modern age. Today, the nations are close allies, but the embers of Franco-Anglo strife still burn at the core of Quebec society. While Francophone nationalists stress the importance of enacting linguistic and cultural protection laws, Quebecois Anglophones and other non-Francophones claim to be increasingly marginalized by the laws and ideologies of a society ravaged by mass cultural anxiety.

So, what is the truth? This book seeks to untangle the storied history and complexities of Canada's rebel province. It attempts to make sense of how a province of one of the world's most progressive countries continues to ignite conflict between its French- and English-speaking communities.

Some of what this book examines includes the following:

• The early indigenous civilizations and their rapid transformations after establishing European contact;
• The rise of the cod and fur trade and the eventual integration of the Americas into European trade networks;
• Early French settlements and what roles the church played in education, health care, territorial expansion, and trade with European markets;
• The British conquest of New France and how it impacted the lives of the French-speaking habitants;
• Shifts in Quebecois society as the Industrial Revolution crept through North America;
• The rapid expansion of capitalist industrial society in Quebec and the distinctive features that separated Anglophone society from Francophone society;
• The elements that contributed to the Grande Noirceur and the consequential Quiet Revolution;
• And much more