The Waning of the Green: Catholics, the Irish, and Identity in Toronto, 1887-1922 (Mcgill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion)

Montreal & Kingston: McGill Queens University Press, 1999. First Edition . Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. This book looks almost new, with a crisp clean interior (no signatures or marks) and fresh beige cloth covers, showing just a touch of wear at corners. However, pages 291/92 (the last page of text) and 297/98 (Appendix B) have been damaged in the manufacturing process. The text is complete and readable, but the paper is crumpled. Synopsis: Most historical accounts of the Irish Catholic community in Toronto describe it as a poor underclass of society, ghettoised by the largely British, Protestant population and characterised by the sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics that earned Toronto the title "Belfast of Canada." Challenging this long-standing view of the Irish Catholic experience, McGowan traces the evolution of the Catholic community from an isolated religious and Irish ethnic subculture in the late nineteenth century into an integrated segment of English Canadian society by the early twentieth century. English-speaking Catholics moved into all neighbourhoods of the city and socialised with and married non-Catholics. They even embraced their own brand of imperialism: by 1914 thousands of them had enlisted to fight for God and the British Empire.