John Irvine Little – författare

The Eastern Townships region of southwestern Quebec is an area of unique culture and history. Surrounded by a French-speaking majority, yet predominantly settled by Americans and British emigrants, the area has historically been distinguished by its anglo-protestant character. In The Other Quebec, J.I. Little – one of the foremost scholars on the Eastern Townships and on rural society in Canada – assembles seven of his essays and one by Marguerite Van Die on this unique region into one volume. The collection examines the role and influence of religion in the Eastern Townships. Little uses a microhistorical method, focusing on individuals who left behind informative and revealing diaries or personal letters, including those of a religious ecstatic, an Anglican clergyman, a genteel Englishwoman, and an entrepreneur. Through intimate glimpses into the lives of ordinary people, The Other Quebec explores some of the complex ways that religious institutions and beliefs affected the rural societies in which the majority of Canadians still lived in the nineteenth century. Little provides an intimate look at both a time and a place of singular importance and unique character in Canadian history.

Despite their strategic location on the American border, the townships of Lower Canada have been largely ignored in studies of the War of 1812 and the Rebellions of 1837-38. Originally settled by Loyalists from New York, and followed by much larger numbers of land seekers from New England, this was a potentially volatile borderland during British-American conflicts. J.I. Little's Loyalties in Conflict examines how the allegiance to British authority of the American-origin population within the borders of Lower Canada was tested by the War of 1812 and the Rebellions of 1837-1838.Little argues that while loyalties were highly localized, American border raids during the war caused a defensive reaction north of the 45th parallel. The resulting sense of distinction from neighbouring Vermont, with its radical religious and political culture, did not prevent a strong regional reform movement from emerging in the eastern townships during the 1820s and 1830s. This movement undermines the argument of Quebec's nationalist historians that the political contest in Lower Canada was essentially a French-English one, but the dual threat of French-Canadian and American nationalism did ensure the border townships's loyalty to the government during the rebellions. The following years would witness the development of an increasingly conservative and distinctly Canadian cultural identity in the region.A rigorous study of a pivotal period in North American history, Loyalties in Conflict is a fascinating account of conflicting forces in one region that, like the rest of Canada, has been largely shaped by the interaction of American and British influences, as well as French-language and English-language ones.

Patrician Liberal examines the life and career of a neglected figure in Canadian history, Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de LotbiniÈre. This book provides a detailed account of Joly’s political career as Quebec premier, Cabinet minister in the Laurier government, and lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, as well as his public role as a French-speaking Protestant promoter of national unity, a leading spokesperson for the Canadian forest conservation movement, a Quebec seigneur, and father to a large and devoted family.Joly’s life serves as a prism through which author J.I. Little elucidates important themes in Quebec and Canadian society, economy, politics, and culture during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. As Little reveals, Joly’s story is particularly fascinating for how closely the conflicting forces in his life – religious, cultural, and social – mirrored those of a Canadian society straining to forge a cohesive and distinctive national identity.

The Eastern Townships region of southwestern Quebec is an area of unique culture and history. Surrounded by a French-speaking majority, yet predominantly settled by Americans and British emigrants, the area has historically been distinguished by its anglo-protestant character. In The Other Quebec, J.I. Little – one of the foremost scholars on the Eastern Townships and on rural society in Canada – assembles seven of his essays and one by Marguerite Van Die on this unique region into one volume. The collection examines the role and influence of religion in the Eastern Townships. Little uses a microhistorical method, focusing on individuals who left behind informative and revealing diaries or personal letters, including those of a religious ecstatic, an Anglican clergyman, a genteel Englishwoman, and an entrepreneur. Through intimate glimpses into the lives of ordinary people, The Other Quebec explores some of the complex ways that religious institutions and beliefs affected the rural societies in which the majority of Canadians still lived in the nineteenth century. Little provides an intimate look at both a time and a place of singular importance and unique character in Canadian history.

The Eastern Townships region of southwestern Quebec is an area of unique culture and history. Surrounded by a French-speaking majority, yet predominantly settled by Americans and British emigrants, the area has historically been distinguished by its anglo-protestant character. In The Other Quebec, J.I. Little – one of the foremost scholars on the Eastern Townships and on rural society in Canada – assembles seven of his essays and one by Marguerite Van Die on this unique region into one volume. The collection examines the role and influence of religion in the Eastern Townships. Little uses a microhistorical method, focusing on individuals who left behind informative and revealing diaries or personal letters, including those of a religious ecstatic, an Anglican clergyman, a genteel Englishwoman, and an entrepreneur. Through intimate glimpses into the lives of ordinary people, The Other Quebec explores some of the complex ways that religious institutions and beliefs affected the rural societies in which the majority of Canadians still lived in the nineteenth century. Little provides an intimate look at both a time and a place of singular importance and unique character in Canadian history.

Patrician Liberal examines the life and career of a neglected figure in Canadian history, Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de LotbiniÈre. This book provides a detailed account of Joly’s political career as Quebec premier, Cabinet minister in the Laurier government, and lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, as well as his public role as a French-speaking Protestant promoter of national unity, a leading spokesperson for the Canadian forest conservation movement, a Quebec seigneur, and father to a large and devoted family.Joly’s life serves as a prism through which author J.I. Little elucidates important themes in Quebec and Canadian society, economy, politics, and culture during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. As Little reveals, Joly’s story is particularly fascinating for how closely the conflicting forces in his life – religious, cultural, and social – mirrored those of a Canadian society straining to forge a cohesive and distinctive national identity.

Patrician Liberal examines the life and career of a neglected figure in Canadian history, Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de LotbiniÈre. This book provides a detailed account of Joly’s political career as Quebec premier, Cabinet minister in the Laurier government, and lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, as well as his public role as a French-speaking Protestant promoter of national unity, a leading spokesperson for the Canadian forest conservation movement, a Quebec seigneur, and father to a large and devoted family.Joly’s life serves as a prism through which author J.I. Little elucidates important themes in Quebec and Canadian society, economy, politics, and culture during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. As Little reveals, Joly’s story is particularly fascinating for how closely the conflicting forces in his life – religious, cultural, and social – mirrored those of a Canadian society straining to forge a cohesive and distinctive national identity.

Since colonization, Canadians and Americans have viewed religious matters differently. While this is not surprising given contemporary Canadians' reluctance to embrace U.S.-style social conservativism, the roots of the phenomenon are seldom examined. J.I. Little seeks to correct this oversight with Borderland Religion.Focusing on the settlement period of the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, Little addresses the role played by religion in forging a distinctive national identity for English-Canadians. While radical evangelical churches and sects developed in the hill country of New England, they failed to gain a strong foothold in the neighbouring Eastern Townships despite the majority of the population there being of American origin. Rather, the British-based Church of England and Wesleyan Methodist Society became much the largest denominations in this border region.Borderland Religion is effectively a borderlands study in reverse. Rather than examining the dynamics of contact between two distinct cultures in a common geographical space, or middle ground, it explores how a common culture became differentiated on either side of an international boundary line. In the process, it also illuminates the woefully neglected history of Protestantism in Quebec.

Despite their strategic location on the American border, the townships of Lower Canada have been largely ignored in studies of the War of 1812 and the Rebellions of 1837-38. Originally settled by Loyalists from New York, and followed by much larger numbers of land seekers from New England, this was a potentially volatile borderland during British-American conflicts. J.I. Little's Loyalties in Conflict examines how the allegiance to British authority of the American-origin population within the borders of Lower Canada was tested by the War of 1812 and the Rebellions of 1837-1838.Little argues that while loyalties were highly localized, American border raids during the war caused a defensive reaction north of the 45th parallel. The resulting sense of distinction from neighbouring Vermont, with its radical religious and political culture, did not prevent a strong regional reform movement from emerging in the eastern townships during the 1820s and 1830s. This movement undermines the argument of Quebec's nationalist historians that the political contest in Lower Canada was essentially a French-English one, but the dual threat of French-Canadian and American nationalism did ensure the border townships's loyalty to the government during the rebellions. The following years would witness the development of an increasingly conservative and distinctly Canadian cultural identity in the region.A rigorous study of a pivotal period in North American history, Loyalties in Conflict is a fascinating account of conflicting forces in one region that, like the rest of Canada, has been largely shaped by the interaction of American and British influences, as well as French-language and English-language ones.

Despite their strategic location on the American border, the townships of Lower Canada have been largely ignored in studies of the War of 1812 and the Rebellions of 1837-38. Originally settled by Loyalists from New York, and followed by much larger numbers of land seekers from New England, this was a potentially volatile borderland during British-American conflicts. J.I. Little's Loyalties in Conflict examines how the allegiance to British authority of the American-origin population within the borders of Lower Canada was tested by the War of 1812 and the Rebellions of 1837-1838.Little argues that while loyalties were highly localized, American border raids during the war caused a defensive reaction north of the 45th parallel. The resulting sense of distinction from neighbouring Vermont, with its radical religious and political culture, did not prevent a strong regional reform movement from emerging in the eastern townships during the 1820s and 1830s. This movement undermines the argument of Quebec's nationalist historians that the political contest in Lower Canada was essentially a French-English one, but the dual threat of French-Canadian and American nationalism did ensure the border townships's loyalty to the government during the rebellions. The following years would witness the development of an increasingly conservative and distinctly Canadian cultural identity in the region.A rigorous study of a pivotal period in North American history, Loyalties in Conflict is a fascinating account of conflicting forces in one region that, like the rest of Canada, has been largely shaped by the interaction of American and British influences, as well as French-language and English-language ones.

Interpretations of Canada's emerging identity have been largely based on a relatively small corpus of literary writing and landscape paintings, overlooking the influence of the British and American travel writers who published hundreds of books and articles that did much to fix the image of Canada in the popular imagination.In Fashioning the Canadian Landscape, J.I. Little examines how Canada, much like the United States, came to be identified with its natural landscape. Little argues that in contrast to the American identification with the wilderness sublime, however, Canada’s image was strongly influenced by the picturesque convention favoured by British travel writers. This amply illustrated volume includes chapters ranging from Labrador to British Columbia, some of which focus on such notable British authors as Rupert Brooke and Rudyard Kipling, and others on talented American writers such as Charles Dudley Warner. Based not only on the views of the landscape but on the racist descriptions of the Indigenous peoples and the romanticization of the Canadian ‘folk’, Little argues that the national image that emerged was colonialist as well as colonial in nature.