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Since 1952, CBC television has played a unique role as the primary mass media purveyor of Canadian history. Yet until now, there have been no comprehensive accounts of Canadian history on television.
Monica MacDonald takes us behind the scenes of the major documentaries and docudramas broadcast on the CBC, including in Explorations (1956-64) and the series Images of Canada (1972-76), The National Dream (1974), The Valour and the Horror (1992), and Canada: A People's History (2000-02). Drawing on a wide range of sources, MacDonald explores how producers struggled to represent the Canadian past under a range of external and internal pressures. Despite dramatic shifts in the writing of history over this period, she determines that television themes and interpretations largely remained the same. The greater change was in the production and presentation, particularly in the role of professional historians, as journalists emerged not only as the new producers of Canadian history on CBC television, but also as the new content authorities.
A critique of public history through the lens of political economy, Recasting History reveals the conflicts, compromises, and controversies that have shaped the CBC version of the Canadian past.
"MacDonald shows how, over the decades, professional historians, who once appeared on-screen, have been replaced by journalists, and she questions the wisdom of that development. The one impression Recasting History reinforce(s) is that borders exist not only between nations/countries but also inside them, and remain sources of tension, both creative and destructive." British Journal of Canadian Studies
"[MacDonald] has deftly outlined the major trends and players in our public broadcaster's treatment of Canadian history. Her treatment suggests CBC Television has, with some success, not only tried to portray a distinctively Canadian identity, but also define a Canadian sensibility." Winnipeg Free Press
"MacDonald's book will be valuable to those interested in the impossibly complicated process of trying to use a public broadcaster to tell stories about Canada's contentious past." Quill & Quire
"In analyzing fifty years of history on Canadian television sets, Recasting History discerns a pattern in CBC documentaries and docudramas. Since Explorations, these programs have aimed to define Canada as a unified nation, despite some episodic tensions between the French and English, a nation that's unique and separate from the United States, a nation built on the accomplishments of male explorers, military leaders, captains of industry, and dignified politicians. It seems this trend will only continue, at least until ratings and market share stop being the yardsticks by which we measure the value of a TV show." Literary Review of Canada
"Recasting History is a well-researched study that makes a valuable and original contribution to Canadian history. MacDonald interweaves exposition and analysis, each informing the other, with clear and detailed prose." Donald Wright, University of New Brunswick