Away: Maritimers in Massachusetts, Ontario, and Alberta - Hardcover

Burrill, Gary

9780773508996: Away: Maritimers in Massachusetts, Ontario, and Alberta

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773508996 ISBN 13: 9780773508996

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992

"These accounts are not `interviews' in the sense of structured sets of questions and answers. Rather, time and time again, as I introduced myself and my subject by explaining something about the theme of leaving home in Maritime history, some kind of chord was struck in the self-understanding of those I spoke with, and we then spent an hour, an afternoon, or a day recording a conversation about the place of leaving home in their lives and in their thinking." from the Preface In Away, Gary Burrill presents the voices of Maritimers in exile as they talk about their decisions to leave home, their experiences moving to and establishing themselves in new areas, and the way their exile from the Maritime provinces of Canada has shaped their views of themselves, their adopted communities, and their native homes. Each of the book's three sections deals largely with the experiences of a generation. From the turn of the century to the 1920s and 1930s, Maritimers looked primarily to Boston for work when they made their decision to leave home; during the economic expansion that followed the Second World War, southern Ontario was the destination of choice; when western Canada experienced an "oil boom" in the 1970s and early 1980s, a younger generation of Maritimers was drawn to Alberta. Taken together, the reflections and autobiographical reminiscences of these Maritimers provide a broad geographical and generational picture of the experience at the centre of post-Confederation life in the Maritimes -- exile, out-migration, going away.

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Review:

"The book has great freshness and originality. Its rich detail and significant observations regarding the experiences of such a broad spectrum of the community is unparalleled. Burrill sensitively reflects on the experiences of his informants, whose lives are an important testimony deserving of a wide audience. This recognition and validation of oral history as a genre deserves imitation across a broader range of subject matter; for the immediacy of the first person testimony is a powerful voice that should be heard more often." Del Muise, Department of History, Carleton University. "A fine piece of oral history ... The interviews are well-chosen, treat different aspects of the theme, and altogether create a new and valuable primary source on North American, Canadian, and particularly Maritime social history ... The value of the book is enhanced by interviews from a broad social spectrum, from the unskilled (but not inarticulate) workers to scholars, bankers, and politicians ... The language of those interviewed is vigorous, vivid, and often quotable ... I found this book utterly fascinating." Ernest Forbes, Department of History, University of New Brunswick.

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