The Vanishing Country, Abridged Edition:Is It Too Late to Save Canada from the US?

The forgotten story of how a generation of politicians and businesspeople sold out the country, with a foreword by Carol Off.

In 2003, long before Trump started invoking fears of a future as the 51st state, The Vanishing Country was sounding the alarm about Canada’s vulnerability to US takeover and impending Americanization. Mel Hurtig’s seminal book is a record of the “sellout” of Canada that had been building for decades, and a stark warning that, unless we rally to stop it, we could lose the country so many are proud to call home.

A meticulously researched rallying cry in defence of what makes us different, The Vanishing Country also pulls back the curtain on the decades of furtive decision-making that allowed the US to encroach so significantly. It captures the history of nation-building that can be so easily forgotten, and stands as an urgent primer for the economics and politics of today.

Abridged for a new generation and a new fight, The Vanishing Country is required reading for anyone who values Canadian sovereignty, and wants to preserve it for coming generations. | MELVIN HURTIG, OC, was a publisher, political activist, author. In 1956, he opened Hurtig Books in Edmonton. The store soon became a centre for the literary community and grew into one of the largest retail book operations in Canada. Hurtig sold his stores in 1972 and concentrated on publishing Canadian books under the imprint Hurtig Publishers. He was twice named Canadian Book Publisher of the Year (1975, 1981). Most notably, Hurtig conceived of and published two editions of the highly acclaimed Canadian Encyclopedia (1985 and 1988) and Junior Encyclopedia of Canada (1990). He sold Hurtig Publishers to McClelland & Stewart in 1991.