Professor Fowke ably demonstrates the merit of a comparative approach to American and Canadian economic history. His penetrating analysis reveals how relevant the understanding of economic development in Canada is to the study of that in the United States. Of the two, the Canadian national period has been shorter, the essential lines of economic growth simpler, and the role of government clearer and more pronounced. Canadian experience thereby provides a fruitful comparative basis for analyzing the longer, more complex development of the American economy and the more varied, often puzzling, part taken by government.
Commonwealth. A Study of the Role of Government in the American Economy: Massachusetts, 1774-1861, par OSCAR HANDLIN et MARY FLUG HANDLIN. Un vol., 6¼ po. x 9½, relié, 314 pages. — HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Massachusetts, 1969. Édité au Canada par SAUNDERS OF TORONTO, LIMITED. ($12.50)