Review by Choice Review
That social statistics collected by either private or public agents are not value free, but are instead reflections of the time they were collected and the questions asked through them is not a new perspective. Emery (history, Univ. of Western Ontario) has produced a valuable study of the formulation, collection, and interpretation of vital statistics in Ontario, including Francophone Ontario. He has kept at the center of his analysis the sense that vital statistics are really social statistics refecting cultural and political influences at work on those who formulated the means to collect and interpret them. He shows not only how the desire for social information shaped legislation and executive order, but also how that information was shaped by such legislation and orders. Emery is particularly good at this analysis, and he fits it into a history of increasing efforts directed by the government to collect full, reliable information about births, deaths, health, etc. This book should be in all social history as well as Canadian history collections. It is a case study rich in itself and in its implications for the work of many historians, sociologists, and demographers. Advanced undergraduates and above. M. J. Moore; Appalachian State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
