Review: Dispersed Relations

DISPERSED RELATIONS Americans and Canadians in North Reginald C. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. 404PP, U S $60.00 cloth (ISBN 978-0801887857)The events of 9/11, war in Afghanistan, and American invasion of Iraq resulted in a deterioration of Canadian-American relations to a level not seen in decades. Editorials in Canadian press blamed American foreign policy for terrorist attacks, a sentiment echoed by Prime Minister Jean Chretien on first anniversary of attacks. In Afghanistan in April 2002, an American plane mistakenly killed four Canadian troops in a tragic friendly-fire incident Following American invasion of Iraq in March 2003, regular protest marches in Montreal ended at American consulate, and Americans visiting Canada with their ubiquitous post-9/11 flag decals did so at their own risk. Meanwhile, official Ottawa-Washington relationship cooled to a frosty level not seen since Kennedy-Diefenbaker estrangement.In Dispersed Relations: Americans and Canadians in North America, Reginald Stuart, professor of history and political and Canadian studies at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, offers a timely reminder to policymakers on both sides of border of wealth of commonalities shared by two countries. Stuart, well-known to historians of Canadian-American relations for his award-winning book United States Expansionism and North America, 1775-1871, attempts to summarize shared Canadian and American and interests in cultural, society, economic, and political realms. A thematic division such as this means some repetition, since such a topic as tourism and travel is neither purely economic nor sociaL Yet offers a comprehensive overview of almost everything North American, from split-run magazines and NAFTA to open skies and Peter Jennings.For students of North American borderlands or transnationaT history, much of ground covers will seem familiar, and Dispersed Relations offers little new research. Instead it seems more like a primer for those unfamiliar with past 25 years of work that treats 49th parallel as a mere political construct - of which Stuart s previous book is an excellent example. Even general readers will probably not be very surprised to learn that Americans and (mainly) English-Canadians, sharing a language, history, and one of longest borders in world, actually have much in common. In conclusion to his section on the social realm, observes, The border has proven permeable to mores and attitudes that produced parallel and similar social reforms through time. Shared democratic and human rights, faith in rule of law, individualism flowing from constitutional provisions, balanced individual and community outlooks, and broad tolerance have produced two remarkably similar societies where themes and issues have transnational characteristics (140-41). This conclusion summarizes much of book, and has been noted by writers on both sides of border for over 100 years.Some awkward prose and terminology make Dispersed Relations a difficult read. very title is perplexing. If dispersed means scattered, how can Canadian- American relations be scattered? Upper North America is not a well-known term, and fails to define it clearly. Is term meant to discount Mexico, American states acquired from Mexico, or American deep south? …

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