Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
I agree with that and I’m going to express the heretical to our Canadians belief that Anne has more in common with the New England of the US of its times than it does with Canada as a whole. The late nineteenth century hardscrabble economies of the North Atlantic I suspect transcended nationality, especially as the Maritimes were separated from the rest of Anglo Canada by the huge swath of Quebec. Much closer geographically, there also was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing even as evidenced in the text, with Islanders traveling to the US and “rich Americans” vacationing on the Island.
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With apologies for straying off topic, I just wanted to mention a book on cultural history in follow-up to
issybird’s observations about Anne’s commonalities with New England. The book is
Albion’s Seed, by David Hackett Fischer.
https://www.amazon.com/Albions-Seed-...al-text&sr=1-1
From Library Journal
This cultural history explains the European settlement of the United States as voluntary migrations from four English cultural centers. Families of zealous, literate Puritan yeomen and artisans from urbanized East Anglia established a religious community in Massachusetts (1629-40); royalist cavaliers headed by Sir William Berkeley and young, male indentured servants from the south and west of England built a highly stratified agrarian way of life in Virginia (1640-70); egalitarian Quakers of modest social standing from the North Midlands resettled in the Delaware Valley and promoted a social pluralism (1675-1715); and, in by far the largest migration (1717-75), poor borderland families of English, Scots, and Irish fled a violent environment to seek a better life in a similarly uncertain American backcountry. These four cultures, reflected in regional patterns of language, architecture, literacy, dress, sport, social structure, religious beliefs, and familial ways, persisted in the American settlements. The final chapter shows the significance of these regional cultures for American history up to the present. Insightful, fresh, interesting, and well-written, this synthesis of traditional and more current historical scholarship provides a model for interpretations of the American character. Subsequent volumes of this promised multivolume work will be eagerly awaited. Highly recommended for the general reader and the scholar.
I’ve recently started it and though it’s focused on the U.S., I find it resonates with this Maritimer, so thought it might be of interest to others with British roots as well. It also brought to mind our earlier discussions about the ethos of Lake District when we discussed
The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks.
It was rated quite highly at the UK Amazon site, but I did read critiques as well, so I hope this isn’t offensive to anyone.