An Accidental History of Canada

An exploration of accidents and their causes, consequences, and afterlives

An Accidental History of Canada explores accidents, their causes, consequences, and afterlife, in colonial, Indigenous, and urban contexts, from the 1630s to the 1970s. These investigations make plain that accidents have significant social, cultural and policy meaning, and reveal aspects of precarity and inequity.

Megan J. Davies is professor emerita at York University and an activist community historian.Hudson Geoffrey L. :

Geoffrey L. Hudson is associate professor in the History of Medicine at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University.

Megan J. Davies is professor emerita at York University and an activist community historian.

Geoffrey L. Hudson is associate professor in the History of Medicine at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University.

"Each of the twelve essays in this book features dozens of footnotes and an extensive bibliography, a depth of documentation that underscores how the history of accidents has been chewed over for some time. The charm of the book is its focus on lesser-known individuals and small groups. Appropriately, the introduction quotes the American journalist Jessie Singer: 'When we die by accident, we die in ones and twos.'" Literary Review of Canada

“This books depicts a Canada different from the one generally seen in the historiography, which has tended to focus on major urban centres. The contributors are much more attentive to Canada’s geographical margins – its resource frontiers and its rural peripheries. This detailed collection paints a portrait of Canada ‘from the margins in.’” Magda Fahrni, Université du Québec à Montréal

“Hudson and Davies are asking questions that simply have not be asked before in Canada. This collection addresses the traditional ‘gaps’ in the telling of the nation’s history, such as the marginalization of Indigenous peoples, immigrants, the labouring classes, and those living beyond urban settings.” Jonathan Swainger, University of Northern British Columbia