A year ago I made the public commitment to blog weekly about Canadian history. A year later, this is the 52nd post I’ve published. Here’s what I’ve learned, and what comes next. By the numbers, I’ve published more than 40,000 words on this blog this year, the length (though not the cohesion) of a small … Continue reading A year of blogging historically
My great aunt Joy was born on September 9, 1926, and she died on January 1, 2017, the same day I started this blog. Having just experienced 2016, when so many beloved celebrities had suddenly and unexpectedly died, I remember thinking, while nursing a dull hangover in a Montreal hotel room, “Joy made it out alive.” … Continue reading When Joy was born
It is commonly said that the internet contains “the entirety of human knowledge.” Some variation of the phrase is often used as a joke, like this: Though the idea is also invoked much more seriously, like when Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales says he’s providing “free access to the sum of all human knowledge,” or when Google says … Continue reading The edge of knowledge
I’ve said before that a tagline for this blog could be “I read Canadian history so you don’t have to.” I started out with very little knowledge of Canadian history and have written about the parts I’ve found interesting as I’ve learned. This is my 40th post out of the 52 weekly posts I promised … Continue reading What I’m reading about Canadian history
The bad news is I’m very sleepy, typing from a cozy bed, and I’m not going to last long. The good news is that I’ve got a collection of tweets to share with you, BuzzFeed-style, before I lose consciousness. 1. Bet you didn’t know Labrador has a flag, well it does It's Labrador's Flag Day … Continue reading 8 surprising tweets about Canadian history
Here’s an impossible question: is life especially hard for you because you don’t have access to technologies you’ve never even conceived of? An early episode of CBC’s Canada: The Story of Us included some Canadian celebrities talking about how hard life was hundreds of years ago. The examples cited were that “we’re very lucky… because we … Continue reading Are you better off than you were 400 years ago?
As I’ve mentioned, I recently moved to California from New York. As a goodbye gift, some of my New York friends compiled a document called “A List of the Things We Learned About Canada From Chris Tindal.” It was a really special and thoughtful gift, especially now that I am able to use it as … Continue reading Weird things I apparently taught my American friends about Canada
To borrow Dan Carlin‘s phrase, I’m “not a historian, just a fan of history.” I read and listen to as much Canadian history as I can, then try to recount the events and facts that I find most interesting in a compelling way. This usually means I’m telling stories, which, if you want to be a little fancy, means … Continue reading Stories about history are dangerous
So far, many of the most interesting things I’ve learned about Canadian history have come from indirect sources, like histories of the United States, of the Americas in general, and of Canada’s European colonizers. For example, I chose the name of this blog after listening to a lecture series on the French Revolution by history professor Suzanne … Continue reading Why “Acres of Snow”
Last year I realized that, despite thinking myself a reasonably educated and engaged Canadian, I knew almost nothing about Canadian history. I could name some major milestones and important figures, but I couldn’t answer simple, fundamental questions about what kind of country Canada is and how it came to be. So I began a personal project to learn … Continue reading Canadian history is world history
