"Our experiment of the new Canadian nationality has now been going on for almost a hundred years. It must be confessed that we approach the centenary year of 1967 in a state of mind that falls far short of the spirit of optimism and high adventure that marked the Fathers of Confederation. We seem to have lost their clear assurance of national purpose. We are not sure even that we are one nation. Our Canadian politics of the 1960s is leading many citizens to doubt whether it is worth trying to be nation if this is the only kind of politics which we are capable. One senses a feeling of defeatism in the air."

This book contains the text of all the six half-hour radio lectures that were first broadcast in the fall of 1963 as the third series of Massey Lectures. The series was arranged by Robert McCormack and produced by Gordon Bruce of the CBC Department of Public affairs.