The Department of History congratulates History PhD student Mary Janigan on the publication of her book Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark: The West Versus the Rest Since Confederation. The book, published by Random House Press was launched to great fanfare at Massey College Nov. 14.
Describing the book, Random House says; “The oil sands. Global warming. The National Energy Program. Though these seem like modern Canadian subjects, author Mary Janigan reveals them to be a legacy of longstanding regional rivalry. Something of a “Third Solitude” since entering Confederation, the West has long been overshadowed by Canada’s other great national debate: but as the conflict over natural resources and their effect on climate change heats up, 150 years of antipathy are coming to a head. Janigan takes readers back to a pivotal moment in 1918, when Canada’s western premiers descended on Ottawa determined to control their own future–and as Margaret MacMillan did in Paris 1919, she deftly illustrates how the results reverberate to this day.”
Former Alberta Premier Peter Loughheed read the book before his death and described it as “one of the first authoritative looks at the struggle over resources with the rest of Canada that has plagued the West since the mid-19th century. This is an important book that explains so much of today’s debates.”
Janigan is in the third year of her PhD in History under the supervision of Prof. Jennifer Stephen. The book is based on the Major Research Paper she wrote as part of her M.A. in History, also here at York and again supervised by Prof. Stephen.
For more information please see http://www.randomhouse.com/book/208460/let-the-eastern-bastards-freeze-in-the-dark-by-mary-janigan.