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The story he tells has no end of crazy and bizarre characters: sleazy politicians, robber baron-style railroad tycoons, corrupt newspaper publishers, many of them considered the political and economic founders of Canada. Somehow, in a few short years, this band of misfits managed to build the world's longest railway across a vast, unforgiving land, much of which was unknown to non-Natives. The project left a mixed legacy. Opposition politicians denounced it as "insane" and "reckless," accurately predicting that the massive spending would lead to a flood of corruption. It almost bankrupted the country and provoked the displacement of the Native peoples of the Prairies from their ancestral lands. The railroad became the spine of an empire, an imperial highway linking Britain with Asia, conveniently paid for by the Canadian public. On the other hand, the railway dream is also credited with binding together a fledgling nation with a steel ribbon. "The dream," wrote Berton, "would be the filling up of the empty spaces and the dawn of a new Canada." --Alex Roslin
Review
—Montreal Star
Its political opponents pretended to believe that the Macdonald government had gone mad. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic history of Canada's teething days,
By
This review is from: The National Dream: The Great Railway, 1871-1881 (Paperback)
Pierre Berton is Canada's favourite historian and this book remains the definitive history of the railroad that ensured Canada would grow all the way to the Pacific coast. The National Dream is the first of two chronicles. It recounts the preparations to the actual construction work, which is covered in the second volume "The Last Spike". We read of the political negotiations with British Columbia, which at first only wanted a wagon trail. We witness the fighting between the surveyors of different routes through the Rockies. I was surprised to discover that the greatest political difficulty was getting the railroad to go through Ontario, over the desolate granit of the Canadian shield, so that it avoid going south of the lakes, through the US. The Pacific railway had to be an all-Canadian venture. Still in politics, Berton describes the money politics of 1870's and ends by putting us in the House of Commons during the CPR debates of December 1880. Canada today is a country stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, capping the lower 48 of the United States. At Confederation in 1867, Canada ended at the Great Lakes; west of there but not part of Canada was the Hudson's Bay Company's land, the Red River colony (today Manitoba) and British Columbia. Canadian visionaries correctly saw the railway as the only way to ensure Canada survived American expansion. The CPR was a ridiculous undertaking. Imagine a country the size of New Zealand deciding that survival meant a space program and you get the picture. The CPR was an instance of a particularly Canadian National Policy whose purpose is to keep Canada whole. The price we had to pay then was that expensive all Canadian route. Interestingly, we still live with the legacy and expensive transportation is still a Canadian "feature". While travel between cities is cheap within the US, flights between any two large Canadian city are expensive as the money is used to subsidize transport to Canada's more remote areas. Is it worth it? Ask any Canadian, and you'll always get a mumble and grumble finally ending in a painful "yes, yes it is".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic history of Canada's teething days,
By Vincent Poirier - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The National Dream: The Great Railway, 1871-1881 (Paperback)
Pierre Berton is Canada's favourite historian and this book remains the definitive history of the railroad that ensured Canada would grow all the way to the Pacific coast. The National Dream is the first of two chronicles. It recounts the preparations to the actual construction work, which is covered in the second volume "The Last Spike".We read of the political negotiations with British Columbia, which at first only wanted a wagon trail. We witness the fighting between the surveyors of different routes through the Rockies. I was surprised to discover that the greatest political difficulty was getting the railroad to go through Ontario, over the desolate granit of the Canadian shield, so that it avoid going south of the lakes, through the US. The Pacific railway had to be an all-Canadian venture. Still in politics, Berton describes the money politics of 1870's and ends by putting us in the House of Commons during the CPR debates of December 1880. Canada today is a country stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, capping the lower 48 of the United States. At Confederation in 1867, Canada ended at the Great Lakes; west of there but not part of Canada was the Hudson's Bay Company's land, the Red River colony (today Manitoba) and British Columbia. Canadian visionaries correctly saw the railway as the only way to ensure Canada survived American expansion. The CPR was a ridiculous undertaking. Imagine a country the size of New Zealand deciding that survival meant a space program and you get the picture. The CPR was an instance of a particularly Canadian National Policy whose purpose is to keep Canada whole. The price we had to pay then was that expensive all Canadian route. Interestingly, we still live with the legacy and expensive transportation is still a Canadian "feature". While travel between cities is cheap within the US, flights between any two large Canadian city are expensive as the money is used to subsidize transport to Canada's more remote areas. Is it worth it? Ask any Canadian, and you'll often get a mumble and grumble finally ending in a painful "yes, yes it is". 1 of 6 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Politics,
By Lee - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The National Dream: The Great Railway, 1871-1881 (Paperback)
Was looking for a book that would deal with the actual construction of the RR., and the men that were out in the wilderness.This book did not reach my expectations. Politics, politics, and politics. Would say that only about 20% dealt with the actual work. The book delt with all the characters that were behind the RR; what they could gain. |
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