Canada and the End of the Imperial Dream: Beverley Baxter's Reports from London through War and Peace, 1936-1960

Decades after political independence, Britain's cultural influence on the Canadian population remained strong. Beverly Baxter, a Canadian-born journalist and British politician, reinforced this imperial connection through his semi-monthly column in Maclean's magazine called, simply, London Letters. Six hundred of these widely read and deeply influential articles were published from 1936 to 1960, becoming the most important Canadian source of information on British politics, culture, and society of their time. More than the story of Baxter himself, this stylishly written account provides new insights into a transformative era in Canadian history. As the British Empire disintegrated and a nationalistic Canada emerged on the world stage, Baxter maintained an imperial vision. His vivid and opinionated column reported on crucial international events-from the victory over Germany in 1945 to the Suez crisis-amidst a backdrop of rising global superpowers. Accompanied by rare archival images, Canada and the End of the Imperial Dream is a history of politics, war, imperial and international relations, culture, and the personalities that moved the world in the troubled middle years of the twentieth century.