Canada

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Canada: A Celebration is both a spectacular photographic depiction of the land and a written tribute to its people.More than two hundred years ago, Voltaire described Canada as a few acres of snow. Today, Canadians occupy a subcontinent greater in area, and more diverse in climate, that Europe, China or the United States. The immensity of the country and the astonishing variety and grandeur of its land forms-the fog-bound Atlantic coastline, the oldest exposed Precambrian shield on earth, the youngest major mountain range, the horizonless Arctic, and the rugged Pacific shore-provide images that dominate the imagination and shape the character of the Canadian people. Paralleling this geographic diversity, Canadian society has developed a pattern of cultural diversity rather than assimilation. In contrast to the American melting pot, the outcome is a cultural mosaic: beginning with the traditions of Native Canadians, and the first English and French settlers, later immigrants have added the cultural inheritance of (among others) Italy and Germany, Poland and the Scandinavian countries, the Orient and the Caribbean.