By Aaron Boyes and Sean Graham Each year, websites and magazines come out with year in review articles that attempt to summarize the year and highlight the major events of the previous 12 months. While these can be entertaining, they are fraught with peril as it is difficult to determine what, moving forward, will prove to be influential. If you… Read more »
By Jay Young I put up my family’s Christmas tree yesterday. Although some have described me as a bit of a scrooge, the truth is, I really do enjoy many holiday traditions, especially as I get older. And as a historian, I realize that these traditions have a past, both within wider society and within my own life. Take that… Read more »
https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Squires-Ottawa-Historical-Association-lecture.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Jessica Squires In addition to this article, ActiveHistory.ca is happy to present a recording of Jessica Squires’s talk as part of the Ottawa Historical Association lecture series. The talk was given on October 8 and was titled “Building Sanctuary: The Movement to Support Vietnam War Resisters in Canada, 1965-1973.” Anyone who I talk… Read more »
By Stacy Nation-Knapper, Andrew Watson, and Sean Kheraj Last year, Nature’s Past, the Canadian environmental history podcast, published a special series called, “Histories of Canadian Environmental Issues”. Each episode focused on a different contemporary environmental issue and featured interviews and discussions with historians whose research explains the context and background. Following up on that project, we are publishing six articles… Read more »
https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Don-Cummer.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham I can understand if there are people who scoff at the thought of another book on the War of 1812. Given the onslaught of commemoration of the war over the past two years, I’ve definitely sensed some fatigue on the part of some historians. From the television commercials to museum exhibitions… Read more »
By Caroline Lieffers Last week a colleague showed me something that I found extraordinary: a round medallion, about the size of a milk cap, hanging from a long necklace chain. Set under the medallion’s plastic cover was a fragile square of loose-weave cotton, once white but now more of a cream colour, printed with a bright blue and yellow flower…. Read more »
By Daniel Ross Every Torontonian has a story about Yonge Street. For nearly a century it was the city’s unquestioned commercial and entertainment hub, the place to go for everything from window-shopping and people-watching to a Saturday night out on the town. Even in today’s diverse, dispersed Toronto it remains our most iconic street. Love it or hate it, like… Read more »
By Sean Carleton Illustrate! Educate! Organize! The Graphic History Collective (GHC) is pleased to announce the launch of their new comic book about the Knights of Labor in Canada called Dreaming of What Might Be: The Knights of Labor in Canada 1880-1900. The comic book is now available for free on the GHC Website. Dreaming of What Might Be examines… Read more »
Heroes and Villains: Rethinking Good and Evil in History 2013-2014 Lecture Series Presented by the Department of History at SFU It can be tempting to look at historical figures as either wholly good or wholly evil; as heroes or as villains. Mahatma Gandhi: high-minded hero. Rodrigo Borgia: scheming villain. This perspective contains elements of truth, but also ignores the more… Read more »
By Greg Kennedy I have recently made a habit of asking this question at opportune moments in classes and public lectures. Hilarious bewilderment usually ensues. Younger people shrug, while older people often get angry because of corrupt senators. I am increasingly convinced that this has become an esoteric question in our modern society. Political scientists for example, would probably answer… Read more »
