A new book makes a compelling case for saving Canadian book publishing from American cultural imperialism

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Anti-Trump Canadianism is pouring out of our Facebook feeds, TikTok reels and even the old-fashioned medium of long-form books. But is there anything substantive in this? If Trump goes away, will the same people who now profess their undying maple-syrup love for our homeland stick around?

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Richard Stursberg has some ideas. In his new book, “Lament for a Literature,” the former CBC executive and long-time CanCon booster tells the story of what he calls “the collapse of Canadian book publishing.” It is a mostly convincing account of how a cultural institution was weakened, why it happened and what might be done to rebuild it.

The basic facts are not really in dispute. Canadians once read large numbers of books written by Canadian authors about this country and its people, but not anymore. Today’s bestseller lists are dominated by foreign authors and especially by celebrity memoirs.

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Worse still, many of the popular Canadian authors are not writing about Canada itself. Their books are set elsewhere, or in vague places that might as well be the United States. The same pattern has unfolded in television and film. Schitt’s Creek, one of the most popular recent Canadian television shows, starred Canadians but was set in a deliberately generic........

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