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Staking Claims to a Continent is a highly readable examination of how Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, and Sir John A. Macdonald took part in a daring game of nation building that has impacted the global order to the present day.Three political leaders presided over the reshaping of the North American continent during the fiery 1860s. Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln were both born in Kentucky, Davis in June 1808 and Lincoln the following February. John A. Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in January 1815. All were Protestants; none came from a wealthy family. In an earlier era, such men would not have risen to political heights. They personified an age of social and economic transformation, thrust to the top by the very forces that tore the continent apart.
Davis tried to create a country by ripping the South out of the United States and establishing the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Lincoln¿s crusade to save the Union honed the industrial-military power that would one day dominate the world. Macdonald led the drive to shepherd the diverse British North American provinces into a federal state that would secure the northern half of the continent and keep Canada out of American hands.
In a high stakes game, these three national projects competed to create viable nation states. And the success or failure of the projects would have consequences ¿ not only for the long-term future of the continent but also for the entire global order.
About the author
Award-winning author James Laxer has written many books and appears regularly on television discussions of issues of the day. He is a professor of political science at York University in Toronto.
Visit James Laxer's blog: http://blog.jameslaxer.com/
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Summary
Now available in paperback, the second work of history in James Laxer's North American trilogy looks at the turbulent 1860s, the decade that defined North America.
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PRAISE FOR JAMES LAXER AND TECUMSEH AND BROCK:
“An authoritative and sympathetic grasp of Native history . . . Tecumseh & Brock promises a valuable alternative to the notion that history is invariably written by the victors. Here, the vanquished also get their due in a story of immensely tragic dimensions.” National Post
PRAISE FOR JAMES LAXER AND STALKING THE ELEPHANT: MY DISCOVERY OF AMERICA:
“Laxer takes a fresh look at American life as he sets out on a physical and intellectual journey across the country . . . This is an entertaining, disturbing, and sometimes whimsical snapshot of the Unites States at the dawn of a new century . . . Highly recommended.” Library Journal
“This is an important book . . . This is a debate for our time, perhaps for all time . . . This is a book by a Canadian that can change the United States.” David Shribman, Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington bureau chief for the Boston Globe, in the Globe and Mail
“Laxer records his vignettes with humour and verve. This is quality reporting.” Thomas Axworthy, Adjunct Lecturer, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in Literary Review
“Laxer gets great mileage out of memorable descriptions of events an NFL game tailgate party, a personal protection seminar for gun owners, the crowd outside an execution in Texas that are peculiarly American, without being typically American . . . His book is fascinating.” Guardian
“To see ourselves as others see us is a gift,’ Burns wrote. Laxer offers us that gift: the journals of a lively, curious foreigner exploring the U.S.A.” Booklist
