Book Review: Canada: Canada. The Uneasy Neighbor
| Date | 01 September 1966 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206602100321 |
| Published date | 01 September 1966 |
| Author | G. M. Craig |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
384
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
opposition
to
him,
when
he
calls
the
Atlantic
Alliance
basic
to
our
[French]
security
Very
interesting
and
exceedingly well
supported,
if
not
altogether
new,
are
Beaufre's
views
of
the
possibilities
of
nuclear
warfare,
all-out
(he
calls
it
"spasm")
warfare,
intense
controlled,
and
"submitted.
The
latter
he
seems
to
consider
militarily
possible,
and
even
necessary
and
politically
acceptable under
certain
circumstances.
Quite
novel
is
his
argument-clearly
in
the
main
applicable
to
France-in
favour
of
a
militia
system
for
"general
military
tasks"
And
of
special significance
for
Canada,
where this
has
at
long
last
also
been
realized,
is
the
author's
emphasis
on a
mobile
strategic
reserve
for
the
"indirect
strategy"
to
be
employed
in
support
of
national
policy.
The
book
ends with
a
kind
of
tour
d'horzon,
with
politico-military
annotations,
of
our
troubled
world.
It
is
meant
to
support
the
conclu-
sions,
which
the author
neatly
draws
after
every
chapter,
in
an
interest-
ing,
if
in
spots
arguable,
fashion.
The
real
significance,
though,
of
Beaufre's
book
is in
its
middle
position
which
points
up
the
differences
in
the
American
and the
European
outlooks
on
deterrence
as
the
domin-
ant
ingredient
of
modem
strategy
Toronto
JOHN
GELLNER
Canada
CANADA.
THE
UNEASY
NEIGHBOR.
By
Gerald
Clark.
1965.
(Toronto:
McClelland
&
Stewart.
xi,
433pp.
$7.50)
This
book
is
the result
of
a
voyage
of
rediscovery
of
his
country
by
a
Canadian
journalist
who
has
spent
much
of
his
working
career
away
from
home.
He
is
thus
able
to
view
the
national
scene
with
a
keen
eye
and
against
a
broad
perspective.
Building
on a good
working
knowledge
of
the
literature
of
Canadian
politics,
society
and
history
he
has
made
his
distinctive
contribution
through
an
extensive
series
of
interviews
with
a
wide
variety
of
people
in
all
regions
of
Canada.
This
technique
gives
his
book
immediacy
and
it
also
vividly
illustrates
his
argument
that
Canada,
far
from
being
"a
benign
country
com-
placently enjoying a
high
standard
of
living,
is "in
truth
filled
with
conflict.
The
sharpest
conflict
is
that
between
English-speaking and
French-speaking
Canadians,
but
there
are
also
antagonisms
between
one
region and
another
and between
provincial
and
federal authorities.
On
a
broader
level,
there
is
"the
greatest
of
all
of
Canada's
conflicts:
between
her
own
interests-or
imagined
interests-and
those
of
the
United
States.
These
conflicts
and
tensions
might
have
combined
to
produce
a
distinctive
national
character
and a
stimulating
intellectual
climate.
Instead,
to
his
chagrin,
Clark
found
that
Canadians
all
too
often
were
worried,
apprehensive
and
suspicious
when
they
were
not
indifferent,
complacent
and
parochial. Despite his
wish
to
be
dispassionate
and
detached,
he
was
clearly
appalled
both
by
the
hostility
and
the
lack
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