Review: Canada: Mackenzie King
| Author | James A. Gibson |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207903400416 |
| Date | 01 December 1979 |
| Published date | 01 December 1979 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
730
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
no
such
consensus because
some
scholars
see
Canada's
relations
with
the
American empire
as
far
more
significant
than
its
relations
with
the
British
empire.
This
book
is
not
a
revisionist
version
of
external
policy.
The
author
still
devotes
most
of his
time
to
the
emergence
of
dominion
status.
He
does
recognize
the
importance
of
economic
factors
however
and
so
he
has
expanded
the
traditional
version
by
adding material
on trade rela-
tions
with
the
United
States.
One
senses
that
constitutional
rather
than
economic autonomy
is
still
seen
as
the
heart
of
the
matter;
in
an
un-
guarded
moment
the
author
actually
comments
that
in
1911,
'the
hand
of
friendship
which
Robert
Taft
extended
with
such
evident honesty
and
simplicity
at Albany
was
to
be
struck
aside'
(p
146).
The
significant
point,
however,
is
that
this volume
is
eclectic,
including
both
traditional
and
revisionist approaches
without
achieving any
synthesis.
It
is
scholar-
ly.
It
will
become
a
standard
reference.
It
will
not,
however,
crystallize
our
contemporary
perspective
on
Canadian
foreign
policy
by
providing
a
new
consensus.
H.
Blair
Neatby/Carleton
University
MACKENZIE
KING
Widening
the
Debate
Edited
by
John
English/J.O.
Stubbs
Toronto:
Macmillan,
1977,
x,
253PP,
$14.95
This
collection
of
essays
arises
from
the
colloquium
organized
at
the
University
of
Waterloo
in
December
1974
to
mark
the
one
hundredth
anniversary
of
the
birth
of
William
Lyon
Mackenzie
King.
Four
of
the
contributions
were
presented
at this
colloquium;
three
are
remem-
brances
of
the prime minister
by
prominent
Canadians
who
knew
him
well;
the
remaining
papers
were
commissioned
for this
volume.
At
the
colloquium
itself
the
contrast
between
the
'older
hands'
and
the
newer
researchers
was
very
marked:
the
difference between
a
group
of
politicians
and public
servants
who
had
worked
with
Mr
King
on
a
day-to-day
basis
for
the
last
fifteen
years
of
his
life
and
a
band
of
eager
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