Ronald Rudin – författare

While the caisses, begun by Alphonse Desjardins in 1900, are usually seen as committed exclusively to noble ideas such as the betterment of the poor, Ronald Rudin takes a more realistic approach by examining the interests of those involved in its affairs. The petite bourgeoisie who founded the movement were sincere about helping the poor but, as Rudin reveals, they had their own concerns as well. They believed that the decentralized organization and local influence of the caisses would help them to re-establish the power they had wielded in an earlier age. Members of a rising middle class, however, wanted to centralize the movement and did not accept its founders'' views on such matters as the role of the caisses as agents of Catholicism and nationalism. These ideological conflicts, which resulted in a major schism within the caisses populaires in 1945, foreshadowed the debates leading up to the Quiet Revolution. In Whose Interest? is not a narrowly focused institutional history. Rather, the history of the caisses is seen in the context of the evolving social structure of Quebec and clarifies our understanding of the social and economic history of the province over a period of nearly fifty years.

For four centuries, dykes held back the largest tides in the world, in the Bay of Fundy region of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. These dykes turned salt marsh into arable land and made farming possible, but by the 1940s they had fallen into disrepair. Against the Tides is the never-before-told story of the Maritime Marshland Rehabilitation Administration (MMRA), a federal agency created in 1948 to reshape the landscape. Although agency engineers often borrowed from long-standing dykeland practices, they were so convinced of their own expertise that they sometimes disregarded local conditions, marginalizing farmers in the process. The engineers' hubris resulted in tidal dams that compromised some of the region's rivers, leaving behind environmental damage. This book is a vivid, richly detailed account of a distinctive landscape and its occupants, revealing the push–pull of local and expert knowledge and the role of the state in the postwar era.

This book is the first comprehensive examination of the way French-speaking Quebecers have written about their past in the twentieth century. Rudin begins his study with Lionel Groulx, a professional historian who dominated the field for the first half of the century, and concludes with figures such as Paul-André Linteau who occupy an important place in the discipline today. Since historical writing reflects the society in which it was produced, Rudin's analysis offers new ways of thinking about Quebec society over the course of this century. He questions past interpretations of the careers of certain historians, dismissed for having been insufficiently professional to warrant serious attention. The dismissal of such historians has facilitated the belief, common in the profession, that historical writing in and about Quebec has constantly improved. Rudin challenges this received notion of continual progress by examining a group of historians who were remarkably similar, throughout the period, in their desire to abide by contemporary professional standards.As a complementary volume to Carl Berger's The Writing of Canadian History, and as a new, critical reading of Quebec historiography, this book will stimulate considerable debate in the historical community.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw an unprecedented wave of public celebration of the past. Throughout the western world, heroes and great events from earlier times were celebrated through such devices as staging lavish parades, constructing intricately designed monuments, and mounting theatrical re-enactments of pivotal moments in history. In Quebec, two individuals occupied centre stage. Between 1878 and 1908, Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec City (and often referred to as the lay father of French-Canadian civilization), and Mgr François de Laval, the first bishop of Quebec (and often seen as French Canada's religious father), were feted in four commemorative mega-events staged in the streets of Quebec City.Based largely upon the archival documents left behind by the lay and ecclesiastical leaders who organized the celebrations of Champlain and Laval, Ronald Rudin's study describes the complicated process of staging these spectacles. The vast array of leaders, lay and clerical, French and English-speaking, rarely saw eye to eye about either the form or the goal of any one commemorative celebration. Accordingly, the tens, if not hundreds of thousands who came out to view these celebrations saw events with numerous messages. An examination of the four spectacles, which took place over a period of thirty years, provides an opportunity to view both changes in the nature of commemorative celebrations across the western world and tensions within Canadian society.

Between 2004 and 2005, Acadians observed two major anniversaries in their history: the 400th anniversary of the birth of Acadie and the 250th anniversary of their deportation at the hands of the British. Attending many of the commemorative activities that marked the anniversaries, Ronald Rudin has documented these events as an "embedded historian." Conducting interviews and collecting the opinions of Acadians, Anglophones, and First Nations, Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie examines the variety of ways in which the past is publicly presented and remembered.A profound and accessible study of the often-conflicting purposes of public history, Rudin details the contentious cultural, political, and historical issues that were prompted by these anniversaries. Offering an astounding collection of materials, Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie is also accompanied by a website (www.rememberingacadie.concordia.ca) that provides access to films, audio clips, and photographs assembled on Rudin's journey through public memory.

In 1969, the federal and New Brunswick governments created Kouchibouguac National Park on the province’s east coast. The park’s creation required the relocation of more than 1200 people who lived within its boundaries. Government officials claimed the mass eviction was necessary both to allow visitors to view “nature” without the intrusion of a human presence and to improve the lives of the former inhabitants. But unprecedented resistance by the mostly Acadian residents, many of whom described their expulsion from the park as a “second deportation,” led Parks Canada to end its practice of forcible removal. One resister, Jackie Vautour, remains a squatter on his land to this day.In Kouchibouguac, Ronald Rudin draws on extensive archival research, interviews with more than thirty of the displaced families, and a wide range of Acadian cultural creations to tell the story of the park’s establishment, the resistance of its residents, and the memory of that experience.

In 1969, the federal and New Brunswick governments created Kouchibouguac National Park on the province’s east coast. The park’s creation required the relocation of more than 1200 people who lived within its boundaries. Government officials claimed the mass eviction was necessary both to allow visitors to view “nature” without the intrusion of a human presence and to improve the lives of the former inhabitants. But unprecedented resistance by the mostly Acadian residents, many of whom described their expulsion from the park as a “second deportation,” led Parks Canada to end its practice of forcible removal. One resister, Jackie Vautour, remains a squatter on his land to this day.In Kouchibouguac, Ronald Rudin draws on extensive archival research, interviews with more than thirty of the displaced families, and a wide range of Acadian cultural creations to tell the story of the park’s establishment, the resistance of its residents, and the memory of that experience.

In 1969, the federal and New Brunswick governments created Kouchibouguac National Park on the province’s east coast. The park’s creation required the relocation of more than 1200 people who lived within its boundaries. Government officials claimed the mass eviction was necessary both to allow visitors to view “nature” without the intrusion of a human presence and to improve the lives of the former inhabitants. But unprecedented resistance by the mostly Acadian residents, many of whom described their expulsion from the park as a “second deportation,” led Parks Canada to end its practice of forcible removal. One resister, Jackie Vautour, remains a squatter on his land to this day.In Kouchibouguac, Ronald Rudin draws on extensive archival research, interviews with more than thirty of the displaced families, and a wide range of Acadian cultural creations to tell the story of the park’s establishment, the resistance of its residents, and the memory of that experience.

In 1969, the federal and New Brunswick governments created Kouchibouguac National Park on the province’s east coast. The park’s creation required the relocation of more than 1200 people who lived within its boundaries. Government officials claimed the mass eviction was necessary both to allow visitors to view “nature” without the intrusion of a human presence and to improve the lives of the former inhabitants. But unprecedented resistance by the mostly Acadian residents, many of whom described their expulsion from the park as a “second deportation,” led Parks Canada to end its practice of forcible removal. One resister, Jackie Vautour, remains a squatter on his land to this day.In Kouchibouguac, Ronald Rudin draws on extensive archival research, interviews with more than thirty of the displaced families, and a wide range of Acadian cultural creations to tell the story of the park’s establishment, the resistance of its residents, and the memory of that experience.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw an unprecedented wave of public celebration of the past. Throughout the western world, heroes and great events from earlier times were celebrated through such devices as staging lavish parades, constructing intricately designed monuments, and mounting theatrical re-enactments of pivotal moments in history. In Quebec, two individuals occupied centre stage. Between 1878 and 1908, Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec City (and often referred to as the lay father of French-Canadian civilization), and Mgr François de Laval, the first bishop of Quebec (and often seen as French Canada's religious father), were feted in four commemorative mega-events staged in the streets of Quebec City.Based largely upon the archival documents left behind by the lay and ecclesiastical leaders who organized the celebrations of Champlain and Laval, Ronald Rudin's study describes the complicated process of staging these spectacles. The vast array of leaders, lay and clerical, French and English-speaking, rarely saw eye to eye about either the form or the goal of any one commemorative celebration. Accordingly, the tens, if not hundreds of thousands who came out to view these celebrations saw events with numerous messages. An examination of the four spectacles, which took place over a period of thirty years, provides an opportunity to view both changes in the nature of commemorative celebrations across the western world and tensions within Canadian society.

This book is the first comprehensive examination of the way French-speaking Quebecers have written about their past in the twentieth century. Rudin begins his study with Lionel Groulx, a professional historian who dominated the field for the first half of the century, and concludes with figures such as Paul-André Linteau who occupy an important place in the discipline today. Since historical writing reflects the society in which it was produced, Rudin's analysis offers new ways of thinking about Quebec society over the course of this century. He questions past interpretations of the careers of certain historians, dismissed for having been insufficiently professional to warrant serious attention. The dismissal of such historians has facilitated the belief, common in the profession, that historical writing in and about Quebec has constantly improved. Rudin challenges this received notion of continual progress by examining a group of historians who were remarkably similar, throughout the period, in their desire to abide by contemporary professional standards.As a complementary volume to Carl Berger's The Writing of Canadian History, and as a new, critical reading of Quebec historiography, this book will stimulate considerable debate in the historical community.

Between 2004 and 2005, Acadians observed two major anniversaries in their history: the 400th anniversary of the birth of Acadie and the 250th anniversary of their deportation at the hands of the British. Attending many of the commemorative activities that marked the anniversaries, Ronald Rudin has documented these events as an "embedded historian." Conducting interviews and collecting the opinions of Acadians, Anglophones, and First Nations, Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie examines the variety of ways in which the past is publicly presented and remembered.A profound and accessible study of the often-conflicting purposes of public history, Rudin details the contentious cultural, political, and historical issues that were prompted by these anniversaries. Offering an astounding collection of materials, Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie is also accompanied by a website (www.rememberingacadie.concordia.ca) that provides access to films, audio clips, and photographs assembled on Rudin's journey through public memory.

Between 2004 and 2005, Acadians observed two major anniversaries in their history: the 400th anniversary of the birth of Acadie and the 250th anniversary of their deportation at the hands of the British. Attending many of the commemorative activities that marked the anniversaries, Ronald Rudin has documented these events as an "embedded historian." Conducting interviews and collecting the opinions of Acadians, Anglophones, and First Nations, Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie examines the variety of ways in which the past is publicly presented and remembered.A profound and accessible study of the often-conflicting purposes of public history, Rudin details the contentious cultural, political, and historical issues that were prompted by these anniversaries. Offering an astounding collection of materials, Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie is also accompanied by a website (www.rememberingacadie.concordia.ca) that provides access to films, audio clips, and photographs assembled on Rudin's journey through public memory.