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Negotiating a River: Canada, the US, and the Creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway, by Daniel Macfarlane

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
DOI10.1177/0020702017707504
AuthorRonald Stagg
Date01 June 2017
Published date01 June 2017
Subject MatterBook Reviews
untitled Book Reviews
289
‘‘out of ashes.’’ Jarausch makes readers aware of the porous nature of the Iron
Curtain. Rather than an impermeable barrier, the dividing line between liberalism
and communism in postwar Europe served as a mirror by which both sides eval-
uated their own societies. Due to this mutual inf‌luence, capitalist democracies
became more socialist, with the introduction of an expansive welfare net, while
communist countries catered increasingly to civil rights.
Jarausch’s massive survey, which ranges across topics from the Bauhaus move-
ment to the gold standard, is a welcome tonic in an age when historians and their
graduate students write ever-narrower theses. It is also a powerful antidote in these
nationalistic times. Disheartened by the UK’s vote to leave the European Union,
Jarausch nevertheless sees reason to hope that Europe will learn from its past and
recognize the mutual benef‌its that accrue from economic cooperation and, above
all, a reduction in enmity. Whig history, with its eurocentrism and its emphasis on
the steady march of progress, may be out of fashion, but Jarausch is right on this
count: how can humanity move forward without at least a modicum of hope that
things are going to get better?
Daniel Macfarlane
Negotiating a River: Canada, the US, and the Creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway
Vancouver: UBC Press, 2014. 324pp. $95.00 (cloth), $34.95 (paper)
ISBN: 978–0–77482–643–3, 978–0–77482–644–0
Reviewed by: Ronald Stagg, Ryerson University
Surely one of the longest negotiations between Canada and the United States must
be that involving navigation of the Great Lakes, and in particular the St. Lawrence
River. Beginning in the 1890s, both the Canadian Parliament and American House
of Representatives requested improved navigation on the Great Lakes–St.
Lawrence route. Negotiations dragged on for over half a century, with each coun-
try taking turns being the reluctant partner. Only twice in the intervening years was
an agreement close, in 1932 when a change of...

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