Recasting history : how CBC Television has shaped Canada's past / Monica MacDonald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

MacDonald, Monica, 1965- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television--Social aspects--Canada.

Television.

History on television.

Television and history--Canada.

Television and history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (289 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2019]

Summary:

Since 1952, CBC television has played a unique role as the primary mass media purveyor of Canadian history. Yet until now, there have been no comprehensive accounts of Canadian history on television. Monica MacDonald takes us behind the scenes of the major documentaries and docudramas broadcast on the CBC, including in Explorations (1956–64) and the series Images of Canada (1972–76), The National Dream (1974), The Valour and the Horror (1992), and Canada: A People's History (2000–02). Drawing on a wide range of sources, MacDonald explores how producers struggled to represent the Canadian past under a range of external and internal pressures. Despite dramatic shifts in the writing of history over this period, she determines that television themes and interpretations largely remained the same. The greater change was in the production and presentation, particularly in the role of professional historians, as journalists emerged not only as the new producers of Canadian history on CBC television, but also as the new content authorities. A critique of public history through the lens of political economy, Recasting History reveals the conflicts, compromises, and controversies that have shaped the CBC version of the Canadian past.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

CBC Television Presents . . .Canadian History! Explorations

A New Histor y of Canada? Images of Canada

Television Histor y and the Star Journalist: The National Dream

Behind the Histor y Wars at the CBC: The Valour and the Horror

The One Big Story: Canada: A People’s History

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780773558083

077355808X

9780773558090

0773558098

OCLC:

1079838761