Why I Hate Canadians

by Will Ferguson

Book Overview

First published in 1997, this hilarious book launched satirist Will Ferguson's career. Challenging the notion that Canadians are "nice," the book asks, "Do we as Canadians deserve a country so great?" Tackling subjects from Canada's favorite inbred royals to the mighty beaver as national icon, from sex in a canoe to all-Canadian "superhero" Captain Canuck, Ferguson rampages across the cultural landscape. The book also provides a fast-paced, opinionated...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1553652797
• ISBN13: 9781553652793
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Why I hate Will Ferguson

Because I wish I wrote this book first! Feguson, having spent 5 years in Japan, returned to Canada with a unique view on Canada and Candians, warts and all. With this book, essentially a collection of essays, he successfully delfates many of the myths that Canadians like to insulate themselves with and shows how this self-delusion part of the Canadian character. The writing itself is excellent - Ferguson is funny without being trite, insightful without being dry, cynical without being negative. Highly recommended for all progressive thinking Canadians.

a deeper look at canadians

There's something very refreshing about the way Will Ferguson looks at Canadians. Here is a writer who isn't afraid to tackle both sides of our national character -- to acknowledge the bad along with the good. Like any other country in the world, we've got plenty of black spots on our record ... and we're terribly bad at admitting that they exist.Ferguson raises a number of questions about our national fixations and delusions. Why do we think we're so nice, and why are we so proud of it? Why are we so obsessed with how much land we've got? Why do we persist in claiming that "Superman is Canadian!"? And when are we going to stop constantly comparing ourselves to the United States?If you are Canadian, or if you know a lot of Canadians, odds are that you will find yourself, over and over again, shaking your head, laughing out loud, and saying to yourself, "that's so true!" The frank, honest humour in Ferguson's writing makes the terrible truth about ourselves surprisingly easy to accept.Despite the title, it's quite clear that Ferguson is, in his own way, very patriotic. This book is not all about saying "Canadians suck." We have it in us to be a great people, and there are plenty of things we really SHOULD be proud of. Ferguson doesn't hesitate to point these things out. We are one of the few countries in the world to be born without a bloody revolution. We are the founders of peacekeeping and the home of multiculturalism. So why is it that we always point to the fact that we're not American when we want to demonstrate how great we are?"Canada is Canada," says Ferguson. "You can't understand it. Don't try." But try he does, and succeeds better than any other writer I've read.

Very Entertational!

I have learned more about Canada from reading Will Ferguson's books than I ever did in school. School was boring.....Ferguson is hilarious! "Bastards and Boneheads" taught me Canadian history. "Why I Hate Canadians" has given me even more reason to be proud to be Canadian. I have been living in the United States for the past four years.....after reading this book, I want to move back home and attend Canada Day celebrations for the first time. Thank you Will!

An important voice for our generation...

Will Ferguson is an important voice emerging from my generation. This book was unputdownable, and I think the big reason was that the author put to paper my adolescence and young adulthood (he and I are the same age and remember exactly the same things, it seems). Don't let the title of this book fool you - Mr. Ferguson actually has a secret love affair with his home country going on in the background... and all the warning signs are revealed as one reads through the pages of this book. In the oh-so-atypical-typical self-deprecating style of that which makes Canadians so Canadian, Will has deftly revealed the heart'n'soul of his fellow countrymen through our bizarre osmosis-style of taking in pop culture and deviant political practices from other countries and making them uniquely our own. But Canada has also generated some original 'content' as well, and Ferguson lovingly rips those things to shreds as well. His humour is sharp, his wit equally sharp, and his observation of all things Canadian is dead on the mark. A great read, this book... and it's started me on a literary oddyssey with Mr. Ferguson's work. I always browse the shelves for his latest tomes and never hesitate to pick up a copy for myself. Great read - go get yourself a copy!

A funny, wise work of genius

This was given to me by a Canadian, and I'm eternally in her debt as a result, because this is one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. Ranging from laugh-out-loud funny to non-schmaltzy poignance, this is Will Ferguson at his best: dismantling myth piece by piece to give us a better view of what really lies at Canada's heart.A Canadian himself, Will decries Canadian 'niceness', skewers Canadian attitudes towards America, despairs at the country's politics, and (in my favourite section) takes a merciless and hilarious look at Canadian popular culture. He doesn't hate Canadians - he loves them, and it shows.Beautifully written, insightful, touching, and entertaining, this book should be read by everyone interested in what nationhood really means.