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DREAMS OF EMPIRE: CANADA BEFORE 1700

Victorin Chabat, André Desrosiers and André Vachon.

Ottawa, Public Archives, c1982.
Distributed by Supply and Services Canada #SA2-129/1-1982E (cloth), SA2-129/1-1982-1E (paper).
387pp, paper, $24.95 (cloth), $14.95 (paper).
ISBN 0-660-10977-8 (cloth), 0-660-11074-1 (paper).


Grades 5 and up.
Reviewed by Ronald G. Rennie.

Volume 11 Number 2.
1983 March.


This is a beautiful book and obviously heavily subsidized by us taxpayers to be available for $14.95.

The author and his collaborators have searched the archives in Canada and out for maps, documents, portraits, drawings, medals, etc., and grouped them all under headings to give the reader a feeling of growth and development. The entire book is printed on glossy paper so the original colour of much of the material adds to the delight and interest.

Each of the eight chapters, "Wars," "Religion," "Government," etc., is briefly introduced giving the main points. Then each reproduction is linked to them by a short commentary or translation.

The book is usable at any level past grade 5. It offers support to any teacher trying to get students to do a little original analysis. Few, of course, will be able to read the original script, in French or Latin, of some of the documents, but the reproductions could not be clearer. Much of the material has been reproduced in the many past history texts, but nowhere is so much gathered together and so beautifully reproduced.

The binding (on the paperback copy examined) is very good. The index and the table of contents with sub-headings give good access to the information presented.


Ronald G. Rennie, Daniel McIntyre C. I., Winnipeg, MB.
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