(Book Launch) Unlikely Utopia: The Surprising Triumph of Canadian Pluralism
When it comes to diversity among its foreign-born and the number of countries from which newcomers hail - Canada stands alone. Some believe that amid the new world order, it is just a matter of time before Canada becomes a battleground in the manner of Lower Manhattan, the London Underground, the Madrid train system, or the suburbs of Paris.
Does the violence of the world at present - violence profoundly rooted in ethnic and religious conflict - put the lie to the idea that Canada can become a utopia? In electing a Conservative government, are Canadians showing that they have awakened from their naïve dreams of fluid identities, both personal and national?
In his new book, Unlikely Utopia , Michael Adams says "No!" He believes that far from being disabused of their naiveté by the world's conflicts and bloodshed, Canadians, by focusing on the more mundane task of helping people of all kinds get along - both materially and socially - are proving Canada to be the "experiment" that worked.
Michael Adams
Michael Adams is president of the Environics Group of marketing research and communications consulting companies with offices in the United States and Canada . He is the author of Fire and Ice: the United States , Canada and the Myth of Converging Values(Penguin, 2004), which won the prestigious 2004 Donner Prize for the best book on public policy in Canada . His most recent book is American Backlash: The Untold Story of Social Change in the United States (Viking, 2005).
Mr. Adams's lecture is based on his new book, Unlikely Utopia . Copies of the book will be available for purchase from Words Worth Books at this event.
This event is sponsored by St. Jerome 's University, Penguin, and Words Worth Books.