"In this study, Philip Massolin looks at the forces of modernization that transformed Canada in the last century, and the intellectual conservatives who opposed them. At the turn of the twentieth century, Victorian society - agrarian, religious, characterized by a rigid set of philosophical and moral codes - began to give way to the modern age - industrial, secular, scientific, and anti-philosophical.

Massolin analyses the development of a modern consciousness through the eyes of some of the most fervent critics of modernity - adherents to the value systems associated with Canada's tory tradition. These critics include Harold Innis, Donald Creighton, Vincent Massey, Hilda Neatby, George P. Grant, W. L. Morton, Northrop Frye, and Marshall McLuhan, and their works are considered here for their strong views on the nature and implications of the modern age."--BOOK JACKET.