Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life by James Daschuk (review)

and multiculturalism to a neoliberal militarisation of identity. McCready creates a strong case throughout the book that not only was there a shift, but the myths of peacekeeping and multiculturalism were even used within these campaigns to justify the militarisation of Canadian foreign and domestic policy and the transposition from welfare state to security state. Arguing that the militarisation of national identity relies on Mackey’s (2002) ‘ordinary citizens’, defined as white, non-political and masculine, and excludes ‘special interest groups’ such as ‘immigrants, people of colour, lesbians and gays and ... women’ (p. 57), McCready is unapologetically critical of the Conservative Harper government and the developing security state. Analysing several ‘support the troop’ campaigns, McCready concludes that the campaigns ‘cloak themselves in liberal individualism’ and a superficial representation of ‘populist political authenticity’ while it ‘does the work of government’ to restore an ‘enobled and empowered masculinity’ (p. 56) that harks back to colonisation of the Empire; while Canadian identity was once built on the myth of ‘peacekeeping’, the military role has become one of moral authority and arbitrator of democracy. Although the chapter on Militarized Cultural Production, and especially the section on the film Passchendaele, is particularly descriptive, McCready argues that militarisation is not a particular set of values, but rather a blurring of the political and social lines, and relies on the traditions of oppression and exploitation. While McCready articulates a changing narrative of national self from loyalty to the British Empire to a focus on Trudeau’s multiculturalism and civility, she completely disregards the notion of Canadian duality, the legitimacy of two national communities within a federation (which was of course problematic in itself ). While McCready’s focus on indigeneity and gender was certainly a strength of the book, there is little mentioned about the contestation of Quebecois and Franco-Canadians for representation within the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and within the larger Canadian identity. Readers, especially those interested in the changing state, national identity and sense of belonging, will be interested in McCready’s analysis of inclusion and exclusion, and the role of the Afghan War as justification for policy under the Harper government. McCready uses an interesting array of analysis (close readings, material history, and discourse analysis) that accurately supports her thesis argument and allows her the freedom to critique the circulations of power through programs invoked by the government (new military ads, the Canada First Defence Strategy), as well as the ‘grass-roots’ programs mentioned above. One can certainly applaud the way in which McCready ‘sticks to her guns’ and creates a well-argued case for the militarisation of national identity. Megan Melanson, University of Edinburgh