How Different It Was: Canadians at the Time of Confederation

An enthralling exploration of the lifestyles, ideas, habits, organizations, customs, fears, and aspirations of Canadians in the age of Confederation.

Too often we think of Victorian Canada as dull. We imagine our ancestors as sepia-tinged, dour, excruciatingly respectable figures sitting stiffly in over-decorated parlours. In How Different It Was, Michael J. Goodspeed changes all that, bringing to life the tumult and enthusiasm of ordinary and unconventional Canadians — from across the country and every walk of life — in an extraordinary time.

The political manoeuvring and power struggles of the decades when Canada was emerging as a nation are well known, but we are less familiar with the lives and circumstances of everyday Canadians in the Confederation era. How Different It Was vividly brings to life the lifestyles, attitudes, habits, and mindset of a colourful generation of Canadians who were, in so many ways, so different from our own.

Table of Contents:

• Chapter One Background to a New Nation
• Chapter Two The Victorian Outlook
• Chapter Three Turmoil in the Rest of the World
• Chapter Four The Regions and First Peoples: Quebec
  
• Chapter Five The Regions and First Peoples: Ontario
• Chapter Six The Regions and First Peoples: The Atlantic Provinces
• Chapter Seven The Regions and First Peoples: The West and the North
  
• Chapter Eight The Immigrant Peoples: The Irish
  
• Chapter Nine The Immigrant Peoples: The Scots
  
• Chapter Ten The Immigrant Peoples: The French
  
• Chapter Eleven The Immigrant Peoples: The English
  
• Chapter Tweleve The Immigrant Peoples: The Era’s New Minorities
  
• Chapter Thirteen Rural Life
  
• Chapter Fourteen Urban Life
  
• Chapter Fifteen Domestic Life
  
• Chapter Sixteen Attitudes and Beliefs
  
• Chapter Seventeen Institutional Life
  
• Chapter Eighteen Education, Media, and the Popular Arts
  
• Chapter Nineteen Characteristics and Identity