John J. Friesen. Building Communities: The Changing Face of Manitoba Mennonites

John J. Friesen. Building Communities: The Changing Face of Manitoba Mennonites. Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2007. 230 pp. Illustrations. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $32.50 sc. In this large format book John J. Friesen, a historian who many years taught at Mennonite colleges in Winnipeg, presents a general survey of Mennonite history, society and culture in Manitoba written for the interested, non-professional reader in Mennonite communities and people beyond (xiii). Although aimed primarily at Mennonites and at a general readership, it is written by a professional historian with all the scholarly apparatus of references and appendixes. Manitoba Mennonites have featured prominently in earlier academic analyses of Western Canadian ethnic groups. They appear in C. A. Dawson's Group Settlement: Ethnic Communities in Western Canada (1936) and in a pioneering study In Search of Utopia (1955) by the sociologist E. K. Francis, who also made important early contributions to the theory of ethnicity. The work of Mennonite academics such as the geographer John H. Warkentin, the sociologist Leo Driedger and the historian Roy Loewen, have presented new insights combining insider perspectives with scholarly analysis. Friesen's book is divided into three parts, the first dealing with the period 1870-1920 (Pursuing a Vision), the second with 1920-1950 (Engaging Society) and finally 1950-2000 (Expanding Horizons). This division partially matches historical sequences of significance to all Western Canadian groups with the two world wars of the twentieth century heralding major changes in society. The wars, however, were of particular significance to the development of the Mennonite population of Manitoba. The First World War led to the emigration to Mexico and Paraguay of many of the descendants of the first Mennonite settlers disaffected by their treatment by the dominant society during the War. At the same time, a large number of Mennonite refugees from the Soviet Union emigrated to Canada following Russia's defeat, the Revolution, and the Civil War. The Second World War saw a similar pattern with a loss through emigration of more conservative groups southward and the arrival of a new wave of Mennonites from the Soviet Union, who had been displaced by the War. Friesen's division, however, hides a more subtle mixing and movement of Mennonites with substantial emigration before the First World War from Russia and the United States, and continued movement from Manitoba to other provinces and peoples moving back and forth from South America. Friesen divides each historical part into sub-sets devoted to particular themes, often repeated in various ways. These include Immigration, Community Life, Education, Churches, Agriculture and Economic Life, Service and Politics, and Urbanism. While this division leads to a consistent presentation of information on the Mennonites, in other ways it limits the formulation of an integrated narrative and analysis. …

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