War Culture

American Emigres in Canada During the Vietnam War

By: Donald W. Maxwell

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Paperback | 12 May 2023

At a Glance

Paperback
276 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.0

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$59.75

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The United States is accustomed to accepting waves of migrants who are fleeing oppressive conditions and political persecution in their home countries. But in the 1960s and 1970s, the flow of migration reversed as over fifty thousand Americans fled across the border to Canada to resist military service during the Vietnam War or to escape their homeland's hawkish society.

Unguarded Border tells their stories and, in the process, describes a migrant experience that does not fit the usual paradigms. Rather than treating these American refugees as unwelcome foreigners, Canada embraced them, refusing to extradite draft resisters or military deserters and not even requiring passports for the border crossing. And instead of forming close-knit migrant communities, most of these emigres sought to integrate themselves within Canadian society.

Historian Donald W. Maxwell explores how these Americans in exile forged cosmopolitan identities, coming to regard themselves as global citizens, a status complicated by the Canadian government's attempts to claim them and the U.S. government's eventual efforts to reclaim them. Unguarded Border offers a new perspective on a movement that permanently changed perceptions of compulsory military service, migration, and national identity.

Industry Reviews

"Unguarded Border: American Emigres in Canada during the Vietnam War is an intelligent and engaging volume that carefully examines the forces that propelled and impacted American migration to Canada during the course of the Vietnam war. Skillfully steeped in a rich array of primary documentation and secondary source materials, Unguarded Border is an outstanding work of scholarship." -- Christopher Kirkey * director, Center for the Study of Canada and Institute on Quebec Studies, SUNY Plattsburgh *
"Why did more than fifty thousand American men and women leave their country during the Vietnam War era? How did they adapt to Canada? Donald W. Maxwell explores the arrival of thousands of Americans to Canada and the support that they received in their adopted country. More than an immigration study, Maxwell offers a new perspective on the Vietnam War and its political and social consequences on both societies. This fascinating study is a great read for anyone who wants to learn about this large wave of migrants that happened during the 1960s." -- Marcel Martel * professor, Department of History, York University *

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