Roberto Perin – författare

In the three decades after Confederation, an aggressive Anglo-Saxon nationalism struggled to imprint its cultural model on the emerging Canadian state. It was countered by a defensive French-Canadian nationalism chiefly articulated by a majority within the Roman Catholic clergy. In this study Roberto Perin explores the role of the Vatican in this struggle, and in the political, religious, and cultural life of Canada during this period.

In the recent campaign led by the National Congress of Italian Canadians to gain redress for compatriots interned during the Second World War, leaders claimed that the Canadian state had waged a 'war against ethnicity.' Their version of history, argue the editors, drew on selective evidence and glossed over the fascist past of some Italian Canadians.The editors have assembled scholars who, while having diverse views, seek to stimulate informed debate. Enemies Within is the first study of its kind to examine not only the formulation and uneven implementation of internment policy, but the social and gender history of internment. It brings together national and international perspectives. The book offers differing interpretations of Italian internment in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. It invites comparisons between Italian Canadians and Canada's other internees, including Communists, German Canadians, Ukrainian Canadians and Jewish refugees. Contemporary redress campaigns are examined. Masculinity, female internees, Communist women's release politics, and memory culture are some of the little-studied subjects that also receive attention.This book contains photographs never before seen. A general introduction and four section introductions provide valuable background to the issues being discussed.

Places of worship are the true building blocks of communities where people of various genders, age, and class interact with each other on a regular basis. These places are also rallying points for immigrants, helping them make the transition to a new, and often hostile environment.The Many Rooms of this House is a story about the rise and decline of religion in Toronto over the past 160 years. Unlike other studies that concentrate on specific denominations, or ecclesiastical politics, Roberto Perin’s ecumenical approach focuses on the physical places of worship and the local clergy and congregants that gather there. Perin’s timely and nuanced analysis reveals how the growing wealth of the city stimulated congregations to compete with one another over the size, style, materials, and decoration of their places of worship. However, the rise of individualism has negatively affected these same congregations leading to multiple church closings, communal breakdown, and redevelopments. Perin’s fascinating work is a lens to understanding how this once overwhelmingly Protestant city became a symbol of diversity.