Thinkers and Dreamers honours Carl C. Berger, professor of Canadian history at the University of Toronto for more than forty years and author of influential works on Canadian intellectual history. In this collection, Professor Berger's colleagues and former students explore the currents of intellectual life in North America since the mid-nineteenth century. Broad in scope, the essays range in content from a commentary on works in intellectual history to analyses of the development of particular disciplines and distinctive cultural institutions. Several of the contributions provide sharp critiques of historical thought, including a discussion of professional scholarship and an analysis of the field of intellectual history. Others address issues that combine institutional and cultural history, such as an examination of Victorian Canada and a discussion of immigration and citizenship. These varied reflections aptly convey Berger's contributions to the study of Canadian history.
Prior to the publication of The Sense of Power most studies of the Canadian movement for imperial unity focused on commercial policy and military and naval cooperation. This influential book demonstrated that the movement which held that Canada could only become a great nation within the British Empire was significantly influenced by its leading advocates' belief in nationalism. Carl Berger explores the emotional appeal and intellectual context of this belief, arguing that these advocates' support of imperial unity can be grasped only in terms of their commitment to certain conservative values and in relation to their conception of Canada. The Sense of Power was commended by the Toronto Star when it was first published as entertaining as well as brilliant, and in 2011 Ramsay Cook noted that few first books, or for that matter few books, have made as marked an impact on the interpretation of a major theme in Canadian history. This second edition brings to life the work's incisive analysis and its important contribution to Canadian intellectual history.
Originally published in 1961, author Carl Berger has “attempted to encompass the story of propaganda and subversion in the American Revolutionary War. The archives and literature of the Revolution contain many intriguing references to “secret arts and machinations,” some relating to incidents familiar to us, others touching on events long forgotten. This book for the first time brings them together in a single narrative, examining their role and importance.”
Professor Berger aims in this book to ‘explore the rise, expression, and relative decline of the idea of natural history’ in Canada, during the age of Victoria. Science, particularly natural science, was then accessible to the general public in a way scarcely imaginable today. Natural history societies were set up in a number of cities and provided a focus for the descriptive and collecting activities of amateurs and incipient professionals. These societies acted as social clubs and vehicles for self-improvement as well as providing excellent training for the amateur scientist. The Baconian assumptions that inspired the Victorian collectors and scientists were one of the major victims of the Darwinian revolution, and their demise brought about the gradual decline of the natural history societies. Professor Berger considers also the sense of wonder and reverence with which Victorian Canadians, like their British contemporaries, looked at the varieties and delights of nature. The British tradition of natural theology had a great impact on the pursuit of science in Victorian Canada, leading naturalists and poets alike to seek in the uncharted flora and fauna of their new land the handiwork of a benevolent God. The author examines the impact of the discoveries of Darwin on this tradition and on the relations between science and religion, as the creator and the act of creation became more and more distant in time and more tenuously connected to the world of nature around us. His study provides many rich insights into the practice and theory of natural history in an age when even a veteran politician could look back and recall, with understanding and in detail, the world of nature in the countryside of his youth.
Beginning with a brief account of the troubled historical past of this small country that had long known invasion and the threat of invasion, Carl Berger sets the stage for Korea's catastrophic hour resulting from World War II—the division of a once-united nation into two separate countries. It is this division, he maintains, that holds the key to the Korean tragedy. The book ranges from the Cairo Pledge to the present, examining the shifts in international diplomacy, Russia's change in attitude after Yalta and the death of Roosevelt, the intransigence of the Communist occupiers of northern Korea after the defeat of Japan. Berger also vividly describes the Communist invasion of South Korea and the conviction of President Truman that led ot the united Nations action to meet the challenge under the leadership of the United States. The bitter warfare of the "police action," the worldwide shock at the Chinese "volunteer" army's sudden entry into North Korea, the recall of General MacArthur, the struggles to work out an armistice, President' Rhee's despairing attempts to force the unification of his country and his final downfall—the entire dramatic story is unfolded in sequence. Carefully documented, The Korea Knot is an objective and detailed study that makes an important contribution to our understanding of the dilemmas—of war and peace, of freedom and repression—that still face a divided world.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.