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Distinguished Canadians: Ramsay Cook

Distinguished Canadians was a weekly series featuring an interview with an outstanding Canadian. The guests were from a variety of disciplines: science, the arts and humanities, education, politics and religion. Ain Soodor produced the program.

To understand the "laboratory" of Canadian history, says York University professor Ramsay Cook, students must know something about British, French and American history. In this clip from CBC-TV's Distinguished Canadians, Cook discusses his background and describes what he sees as the fundamental issues regarding the identity of Canada. He defines the difference between a nation-state and a national-state, and comments on the relevance of Canadian history to today's world.

• George Ramsay Cook was born in Alameda, Sask. in 1931.

• Cook holds degrees from the University of Manitoba and Queen's University. He earned his PhD in history from the University of Toronto.

• His books on Canadian political and social history include John W. Dafoe and the Free Press(1963) and Canada and the French Canadian Question (1966).

• Cook taught history at York University in Toronto from 1971 to 1996.

• In 1985, Cook received the Governor General's Literary Award for non-fiction for his book The Regenerators: Social Criticism in late-Victorian English Canada.

Medium: Television
Program: Distinguished Canadians
Broadcast Date: May 28, 1972
Guest(s): Ramsay Cook
Interviewer: Vincent Tovell
Duration: 27:10

Last updated: June 17, 2013

Page consulted on June 18, 2013

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