I just finished the epic The Impossible Railway, by Pierre Berton. What can I say? This book is overlooked epic of the building of a great country as much as the building of a great railroad and a great nation.

The book itself is great. It is not written apologetically, as so many more modern tracts are. The author does recognize that the railroad was not an unmixed blessing.

I'll start with the shortcomings of the country highlighted in the book. It goes into detail on its distortion of the financial markets, its effect on Native Americans/First Nations, and other woes.

Quebec demonstrated its ability to dominate Parliament out of proportion to its numbers, And also, in a mixed socialist-capitalist system, the potential for corruption. And the love/hate relationship with Americans and the U.S. All of these have been more or less permanent features of Canadian life. Canada is simply not as wealthy a country as its neighbor to the south, against whom comparisons are inevitably made.

Now for the greatness. It is obvious. A destitute country that was barely in existence (six years) when it embarked on a Herculean nation-building project. Think what you will about the Riel Rebellion but it demonstrated the need to be able to move across the country expeditiously. And Canada built the railroad successfully through some extremely hostile terrain. Frankly, it dwarfs my country's accomplishment in building its railroad.

I look forward to reading books by this author. ( )