Lament for a Nation cover art

Lament for a Nation

The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism (Carleton Library Series)

Preview
This Season's Biggest Deal

$0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus voucher

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 28 December, 2026.
More purchase options

Lament for a Nation

By: George Grant, Andrew Potter
Narrated by: Jonathan Watton
Get this deal

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 28 December, 2026. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $24.85

Buy Now for $24.85

This Season's Biggest Deal | $0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo. after 3 months - terms apply.
Summary

Canadians have relatively few binding national myths, but one of the most pervasive and enduring is the conviction that the country is doomed. In 1965 George Grant passionately defended Canadian identity by asking fundamental questions about the meaning and future of Canada’s political existence. In Lament for a Nation he argued that Canada–immense and underpopulated, defined in part by the border, history, and culture it shares with the United States, and torn by conflicting loyalties to Britain, Quebec, and America–had ceased to exist as a sovereign state. Lament for a Nation became the seminal work in Canadian political thought and Grant became known as the father of Canadian nationalism.

This edition includes a major introduction by Andrew Potter that explores Grant’s arguments in the context of changes in ethnic diversity, free trade, globalization, post-modernism, and 9/11. Potter discusses the shifting uses of the terms “liberal” and “conservative” and closes with a look at the current state of Canadian nationalism.

©1965, 1978 George P. Grant (P)2026 McGill-Queen’s University Press
Canada Politics & Government World

Critic Reviews

“Lament for a Nation should be respected as a masterpiece of political meditation … In this study Grant opened Canadian public debate, with frankness and depth, to include the most fundamental and perennial questions a nation must ask itself about the full meaning of its own political existence. He challenged us to reflect on the unique possibilities and limits constituting our destiny as Canadians.”—Peter Emberley, Carleton University

No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.