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Start giftingKnow It All
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Learn moreIn Know It All: Finding the Impossible Country James Marsh tells of his evolution from a troubled childhood to a long career in Canadian publishing that culminated in the creation of The Canadian Encyclopedia — what one reviewer called “the intellectual equivalent of the building of the CPR.” Through friendships, curiosity, the insights of a charismatic psychiatrist, his passion for books, and the intimate encounters with the authors he met, he championed a diverse and inclusive view of Canada, which was used to draw the great minds of an impossible nation together in a common national enterprise. While exploring how memory works and how we learn to think of ourselves, Know It All offers insights into the intricacies of Canadian identity, the profession of book editors, and is the most comprehensive first-hand story about the creation of The Canadian Encyclopedia.
James H. Marsh grew up in the rough Toronto neighbourhood of the Junction, surviving a difficult childhood. He began his career in publishing at a summer job with Holt, Rinehart and Winston learning the business from copy editing to typesetting and printing. At HRW, he was the editor of a centennial history of Canada called Canada: Unity and Diversity, later becoming the editor of the Carleton Library Series. His love of the book business led him into a prized job at The Canadian Encyclopedia, where he was editor in chief.
James H. Marsh grew up in the rough Toronto neighbourhood of the Junction, surviving a difficult childhood. He began his career in publishing at a summer job with Holt, Rinehart and Winston learning the business from copy editing to typesetting and printing. At HRW, he was the editor of a centennial history of Canada called Canada: Unity and Diversity, later becoming the editor of the Carleton Library Series. His love of the book business led him into a prized job at The Canadian Encyclopedia, where he was editor in chief.
Reviews
“Diderot’s Encyclopédie put the ideas of the Enlightenment on the map. James Marsh’s The Canadian Encyclopedia will do the same for Canadian studies.” —John Hutcheson, Canadian Forum
“A delight to browsers old and young, rich in detail and resourcefulness and perhaps best of all it incarnates a living sense of Canada’s past and present.” —The Toronto Star
“A nation in a nutshell ... an indispensable reference work for anyone with even the slightest interest in this improbable country of ours.” —William French, book critic
“[A]superb accomplishment and eloquent testimony to the scholarly maturation of a nation.”
—John Saywell, Saturday Night magazine
“I am left with the sense, that a vast and variegated land has met its match in print.”
—George Galt, Books in Canada
“...in a very exciting way, a new communications satellite.”
— James Reaney, Saturday Night magazine
“[The editors] have shown us how Canadians as a collective mentality think, and how they understand their own being.”
—Val Clery, Canadian Literature
“The encyclopedia is probably the closest equivalent that we will have in this generation to an intellectual ‘bee’. ”
— Historian Viv Nelles, Canadian Historical Review
“The encyclopaedia is the single most useful compendium of biographies of Canadian scientists, engineers and physicians anywhere.” — Richard A. Jarrell, Canadian Journal of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
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