Against the Tides

Against the Tides tells the compelling story of the rehabilitation of the Maritime marshlands, a project that reshaped not only the landscape of the Bay of Fundy region but the communities that depended on it.

Ronald Rudin is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Concordia University. He is the author of numerous books, among them Remembering and Forgetting in Acadie: A Historian’s Journey through Public Memory and Kouchibouguac: Removal, Resistance, and Remembrance at a Canadian National Park. The latter received the Canadian Historical Association Clio Prize for best book on Atlantic Canada, the Canadian Oral History Association Prize, and the Prix de l’Assemblée nationale from the Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française. Rudin has produced eight documentary films, most recently Unnatural Landscapes, which accompanies this book.

Sara Spike:

"An articulate and readable contribution to the literature on postwar environmental engineering by the Canadian state, the book highlights compelling local stories and perspectives, placing them into national and international context."

Claire Campbell, Bucknell University:
[Against the Tides] is a timely read with climate change and rising sea levels tilting waters back into the marshlands.

Edward MacDonald:

"Concise, perceptive, concrete yet conceptual, Against the Tides comes ready for use."

Shannon Stunden Bower:
Against the Tides is a skillful examination of distinctive landscapes and histories...[it] is also an illustration of the potential of community-involved scholarship and a powerful reminder of how audiovisual materials can enrich research dissemination efforts.

rom the foreword by Graeme Wynn, professor emeritus, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia:

Against the Tides is an environmental story of people and place, of war and peace, of struggle and resilience, and of science and humanity … Rudin encourages and enables the reader to reflect on the sweep of time and tide across the Fundy marshlands; to contemplate anew the variety, intricacy, and consequences of human-environment relations; and to ponder – with some urgency – the future of our planet.

Matthew Hatvany, professor, Department of Geography, Université Laval:

Told using primary sources that have rarely, if ever, been exploited, Against the Tides is truly something new under the sun. Rudin succeeds in making the fragmented and chaotic story of the marshlands both understandable and highly interesting.