Seeing Reds: The Red Scare of 1918-1919: Canada's First War on Terror

(Hardback)

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Description

Seeing Reds tells the story of a turbulent period in Canadian history, when in 1918-19 the Canadian government, fearful in the wake of the Russian Revolution, tried to suppress radical political activity at home by branding legitimate labor leaders as Bolsheviks and Reds. Daniel Francis examines Canada's Red Scare in a global context, including government responses to similar activities in the United States and Europe, as well as its ramifications for the contemporary war on terror, in which issues of free speech and political dissent are similarly compromised in the name of national security.

Reviews

The Winnipeg General Strike took place more than 90 years ago, but it resonates still - as in historian Daniel Francis's new book ... A well-told tale.
--The Globe and Mail

Francis presents a vivid picture of sharp class and political struggles across Canada during the early 20th century ... The details make for compelling reading.
--People's Voice

Canada's greatest myth-buster has done it again, with this trenchant account of how, following World War I, immigrants to Canada suddenly found themselves branded 'enemy aliens' and the focus of a nasty wave of anti-socialist paranoia. Put it on your shelf next to Francis's classics National Dreams and The Imaginary Indian.
--The Tyee

Author Bio

Daniel Francis is an historian and the author of 20 books, principally on Canadian history, including four from Arsenal Pulp Press: National Dreams, The Imaginary Indian, L.D., and Imagining Ourselves. He was editorial director of the mammoth Encyclopedia of British Columbia and is a frequent contributor to Geist magazine.