Michael Bliss, "Northern Enterprise: Five Centuries of Canadian Business" (1987)

Michael Bliss, Northern Enterprise: Five Centuries of Canadian Business (1987).

As much as I wanted to gain a fuller, better understanding of Canada’s economic and business history, I’m not sure that Five Centuries of Canadian Business was the best choice to satisfy this need.

While the level of detail in this lengthy tome was sometimes appreciated, combined with the dull writing style and often times sacrifice of clarity for inclusion of what can only be remembered as lists of names or businesses, it was difficult to get through. The length of the text obscured the overall thematic development of the book, which only seemed to gather some consistency and clarity of thought when covering the decades following the Second World War. Unfortunately, Bliss’ book remains one of few available options to familiarize yourself with the larger trends and personalities of Canadian business history.