Non-Fiction Pick of the Week: Imagining Canada

Imagining Canada: a century of photographs preserved by the New York Times edited by William Morassutti

Imagining Canada is an evocative, heartbreaking journey through Canada’s last 100 years as captured by the lenses of several  photographers working under the auspices of the NYT. This photographic archive was purchased by Canadian businessman Chris Bratty in 2009. Bratty and Morassutti first floated the collection in the online mag TORO.com. Interest was high, so the two commissioned a number of essays by well-known Canadians to accompany the photos.

The result is a soul searing, unflinching look at Canada’s social history, through the camera lens that doesn’t distort, but also doesn’t whitewash or explain. The photos of Canada’s indigenous peoples accompanied by Shawn Atleo’s essay First Nations brings the fascinated reader to tears. Tim Cook’s A Warrior Nation shows us that: “The very fabric of the country that was to become Canada was forged by war, conflict, and the struggle for survival”. Charlotte Gray’s The Changing Face of Society reveals who we really were, and who we may yet become. “Photojournalism was already in its infancy when the Dominion of Canada was born in 1867. So cameras have clicked as the nation matured – although the image and the reality have not always meshed.”

This gloriously fascinating book will break your heart and fill you with awe [and a little pride] all at the same time. Highly recommended.