| Summary: |
Before the Second World War, Canada was a rural country. Unlike most industrializing countries, Canada's rural population grew throughout the century after 1871--even if it declined as a proportion of the total population. Rural Canadians also differed in their lives from rural populations elsewhere. In a country dominated by a harsh northern climate, a short growing season, long distances, and poor land, they typically relied on three ever-shifting pillars of support: the sale of cash crops, subsistence from the local environment, and wage work off the farm. This is a history of this distinctive experience, including not only Canada's farmers, but also the hunters, gardeners, fishers, miners, loggers, and cannery workers who lived and worked in rural Canada. |
Book
