Book Review: Empire of the North Atlantic: The Maritime Struggle for North America
| Author | C. P. Stacey |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205100600110 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
56
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
often,
both
consciously
and
unconsciously,
created
by
the
purveyors
of
news themselves. "Time," he
remarks
with
some
urgency, "must
have
a
stop,"
a
remark
which
in
its
context
suggests
that
society
would
be
well
advised
to
cool
itself
off
either
by
complementing
present
means
of
communication
by
others
or
by
adopting
a
more
sober
attitude
to
those
we
have.
We
can
carry
our
present
state
of
sensitive
instability too
far
for
our
own
good.
We
have
indeed,
in
all
likelihood,
already
done
so.
No
one
need
suppose
that
Dr.
Innis
has
launched
a
full
scale
attack
on
the
idea
of
a
free
press.
He
has
not.
There
is
no
more
firm
believer
in
freedom
than
he,
and
no
one who
mourns
more
every
attack upon
it.
But
his
analysis
is
in
some
respects
devastating
and
deserves
attention.
Montreal,
1950.
G.
V.
Ferguson
EMPIRE
OF
THE
NORTH
ATLANTIC:
THE
MARITIME
STRUGGLE
FOR
NORTH AMERICA.
By
Gerald
S.
Graham.
1950.
(Toronto:
Uni-
versity
of
Toronto
Press.
xviii,
338 pp.
$5.00,
members
$4.00.)
In
this
volume issued
under
the
auspices
of
the
Canadian
Institute
of
International
Affairs the Rhodes
Professor
of
Imperial
History
in
the
University
of
London
has
attempted
and
effected
something
never
actually
essayed
before.
He
has
provided
a
scholarly
historical outline
illustrating
the
influence
of
sea
power
upon
the
destinies
of
Canada
during
the
whole
of
the
sailing-ship
era,
from the
days
of
Cabot
through
the
Napoleonic
period.
His
book
is
competently
written
and
carefully
documented,
and
to
a
considerable
extent
based on
original
research.
Professor Graham's
general
thesis
is
simple:
the
possession
of
Canada
during
the
days
of
the
maritime
rivalry
of
Britain
and
France
and
the
infancy
and
adolescence
of
the
United States
turned
upon
the
naval
command
of
the
North
Atlantic.
Obviously,
this
is
hardly
a
dis-
covery;
Admiral
Mahan
observed
and
noted
the
fact;
but
Canadians-
including
even
historians-will
be
none
the
worse
for
being
reminded
of
it. The
author
has
traversed,
from
one
special
viewpoint,
much
the
same
period
that
Francis Parkman
covered
in
his
monumental
volumes
three-quarters
of
a
century
ago.
Parkman
did
a
more
thorough
job
than
many
people
today
realize,
and
most
of
his
work has never
been
super-
seded
except in
matters
of
detail.
Mr. Graham might
usefully
have
made
more
references
to
this great
scholar
who was
his predecessor.
His
own
treatment
is
necessarily much
briefer,
and
it
is
no
depreciation
of
his
work
to
summarize
its
significance
by
saying
that
it
is
a
valuable
supplement
to
Parkman
on
the
naval
side,
plus
a
useful
treatment
of
the
latter
part
of
the
eighteenth century
which
Parkman
did
not
touch.
Its
original
contribution
consists
chiefly
in
the
use
that
it
makes
of
Admir-
alty papers
in
the
Public
Record
Office,
from
which
a
good
many
new
and
interesting
facts
are
adduced.
Mr.
Graham
promises
a
further
study
covering
the
age
of
steel
and
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