Awards
- Winner of CLIO Prize - North awarded by Canadian Historical Association 2015 (Canada)
Overview
Enlightened Zeal examines the fascinating history of the Hudson's Bay Company's involvement in scientific networks during the company's two-hundred year chartered monopoly. Working from the company's voluminous records, Ted Binnema demonstrates the significance of science in the company's corporate strategies. Initially highly secretive about all of its activities, the HBC was by 1870 an exceptionally generous patron of science. Aware of the ways that a commitment to scientific research could burnish its corporate reputation, the company participated in intricate symbiotic networks that linked the HBC as a corporation with individuals and scientific organizations in England, Scotland, and the United States. The pursuit of scientific knowledge could bring wealth and influence, along with tribute, fame, and renown, but science also brought less tangible benefits: adventure, health, happiness, male companionship, self-improvement, or a sense of meaning. The first study of scientific research in any chartered company over the entire course of its monopoly, Enlightened Zeal expands our understanding of social networks in science, establishes the vast scope of the HBC's contribution to public knowledge, and will inspire new research into the history of science in other chartered monopolies.
Full Product Details
Author: Ted Binnema
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Imprint: University of Toronto Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.40cm
, Height: 3.10cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.720kg
ISBN: 9781442614758
ISBN 10: 1442614757
Pages: 488
Publication Date: 24 March 2014
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Temporarily unavailable
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Reviews
'Binnema has produced a superbly written, thoroughly researched, and highly relevant study of the HBC's role in the development of scientific networks in the modern era. The book is an enormous achievement.' -- Stephen J. Hornsby Journal of British Studies, vol 54:01:2015
'Enlightened Zeal is a quite successful combination of corporate history and the history of science.' -- Karl Davids Isis vol 106:02:2015 'Enlightened Zeal will be useful foundational reading for graduate seminars and independent research on the history of chartered trading companies, network exchange, and the appropriation of knowledge in the HBC and Rupert's Land.' -- Matthew S. Wiseman American Review of Canadian Studies vol 46:01:2016 'I recommend this book for its excellent biographical data and its chronicling of HBC interactions with scientific networks.' -- C. Stuart Houston Archives of Natural History, vol 42:01:2015 'Binnema has produced a superbly written, thoroughly researched, and highly relevant study of the HBC's role in the development of scientific networks in the modern era. The book is an enormous achievement.' -- Stephen J. Hornsby Journal of British Studies, vol 54:01:2015
Author Information
Ted Binnema is an emeitus professor of history at the University of Northern British Columbia.
