The Second Greatest Disappointment

"A lively and wide-ranging work on the history of the North American honeymoon, and, of necessity, the tourist industry at Niagara Falls. Dubinsky charts the growth of Niagara Falls as a tourist destination from the 1850s to the 1960s and explains how it acquired its reputation as the "Honeymoon Capital of the World." Ultimately, the author asks: Of all the ways to promote a waterfall, why honeymoons? Winner of the 2000 Albert B. Corey prize from the Canadian Historical Association and the American Historical Association for the best book in Canadian-American history."--pub. desc.

A lively and wide-ranging work on the history of the North American honeymoon, and, of necessity, the tourist industry at Niagara Falls. Dubinsky charts the growth of Niagara Falls as a tourist destination from the 1850s to the 1960s and explains how it acquired its reputation as the "Honeymoon Capital of the World." Ultimately, the author asks: Of all the ways to promote a waterfall, why honeymoons? Winner of the 2000 Albert B. Corey prize from the Canadian Historical Association and the American Historical Association for the best book in Canadian-American history.

Creating Colonial Pasts explores the creation of history and memory in Southern Ontario through the experience of its inhabitants, especially those who took an active role in the preservation and writing of Ontario's colonial past: the founder of the Niagara Historical Society, Janet Carnochan; twentieth-century Six Nations historians Elliott Moses and Milton Martin; and Celia B. File, high-school teacher and historian of Mary Brant. Examining the grand narratives of colonial Ontario – the Loyalists, the War of 1812, and the creation of settler society – Cecilia Morgan argues that place played an important role in shaping memory and narrative in locations such as Niagara-on-the-Lake, the Six Nations territory at the Grand River, and the Mohawk community at Tyendinaga. Illuminating the pivotal role of women and Indigenous people in historical commemoration and uncovering the existence of a lively and interconnected circle of historians and heritage activists in late nineteenth and twentieth-century Ontario, Creating Colonial Pasts is a virtuoso study of history-making.

The prohibition era of gangsters and bootleggers has captured our imagination. But what happened when the government turned the taps back on? Dan Malleck shows that, contrary to popular belief, post-prohibition Ontario was an age when the government struggled to please both the “wets” and the “dries.” Rather than pandering to temperance groups, officials sought to define and promote manageable drinking spaces in which citizens would follow the rules of proper drinking and foster self-control. Post-prohibition liquor control was not a restrictive regulatory force but rather something more pragmatic – a bureaucratic attempt to balance temperance with recognition that prohibition was unsustainable.

Tourism promoters strive to brand their destinations in anticipation of what they think travellers hope to experience. In turn, travel writers react in part to destinations in line with their expectations. While several scholars have documented such patterns elsewhere, these have remained understudied in the case of Quebec despite the frequency with which the province was branded and rebranded and its status as a major North American travel destination in the decades leading up to Expo 67. The first comprehensive history of Quebec tourism promotion and travel writing, From Old Quebec to La Belle Province details changing marketing strategies and shows how these efforts consistently mirrored and strengthened French Quebec's evolving national identity. Nicole Neatby also takes into account the contentious role of English-speaking promoters in Montreal, belying the view that Quebec was unvaryingly represented and appreciated for being "old." Taking a comparative approach, Neatby draws on books and a wide array of newspapers, popular and specialized magazines, and written and visual sources from outside the tourist genre to reveal how the distinct national and cultural identities of English Canadians, Americans, and French Quebecers profoundly shaped their expectations and reactions to the province. From Old Quebec to La Belle Province traces and explains shifting promotional priorities for tourism and travel writers' varying reactions over the course of four decades, and how these attitudes harmonized with evolving national identities.

From Timbits to totem poles, Canada is boiled down to its syrupy core in symbolic forms that are reproduced not only on t-shirts, television ads, and tattoos but in classrooms, museums, and courtrooms too. They can be found in every home and in every public space. They come in many forms, from objects—like the red-uniformed Mountie, the maple leaf, and the beaver—to concepts—like free healthcare, peacekeeping, and saying “eh?”. But where did these symbols come from, what do they mean, and how have their meanings changed over time? Symbols of Canada gives us the real and surprising truth behind the most iconic Canadian symbols revealing their contentious and often contested histories. With over 100 images, this book thoroughly explores Canada’s true self while highlighting the unexpected twists and turns that have marked each symbol’s history.

Publisher Description

During the first half of the twentieth century, Winnipeg Beach proudly marketed itself as the Coney Island of the West. Located just north of Manitoba’s bustling capital, it drew 40,000 visitors a day and served as an important intersection between classes, ethnic communities, and perhaps most importantly, between genders. In Winnipeg Beach, Dale Barbour takes us into the heart of this turn-of-the-century resort area and introduces us to some of the people who worked, played and lived in the resort. Through photographs, interviews, and newspaper clippings he presents a lively history of this resort area and its surprising role in the evolution of local courtship and dating practices, from the commoditization of the courting experience by the Canadian Pacific Railway's “Moonlight Specials,” through the development of an elaborate amusement area that encouraged public dating, and to its eventual demise amid the moral panic over sexual behaviour during the 1950s and ‘60s.