J. Andrew Ross and Andrew D. Smith, eds - Canada's Entrepreneurs From the Fur Trade to the 1929 Stock Market Crash: Portraits from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography

J. Andrew Ross and Andrew D. Smith, eds

Canada's Entrepreneurs From the Fur Trade to the 1929 Stock Market Crash: Portraits from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography

Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011

xvii + 580 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978-1-442-612860

The editors have assembled 61 entries from the first fifteen volumes of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography to illustrate the theme of entrepreneurship, mainly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The selection includes five women, one Aboriginal, one Asian and fifteen francophones. Some essays have been edited, and the appendices identifying source materials are replaced by brief sections of further reading. Readers are referred to the original volumes and the on-line www.biographi.ca site for cross referencing and endnotes. The material is grouped into seven sections. The first begins with John Guy in Newfoundland. The second is entitled 'The Commercial Empire of the St Lawrence after 1763'. Three sections focus on regions: the Maritimes, the West and central Canada. The editors ingeniously link 'Railwaymen and Network Creators', the latter category including bankers, journalists and Sir Adam Beck of Ontario Hydro. 'Brand Names and Big Business' covers such personalities as Timothy Eaton and Rodolphe Forget. The editors sensibly avoid a precise definition of entrepreneurship, and their broad interpretation permits the inclusion of a wide range of personalities and activities. One of their motives for publication is a desire to encourage the study of business topics within Canadian history courses. To this end, they pose challenging questions in their brief Introduction. Has Canada had it too easy, its abundant natural resources rendering innovation unnecessary? Has Canadian business been over-dependent upon government support? Have some regions failed to stimulate and harness entrepreneurial talent? In global or at least continental terms, has Canadian entrepreneurship proved a story of success or failure? The volume is well illustrated and handsomely produced.