“Deindustrializing Montreal is an excellent book animated by a rich and rigorous use of oral history and careful attention to race and language. High combines a mastery of international literature with a serious engagement with place. The result is a fascinating study of neighbourhood in the context of capitalism, community, politics, and economic change.” Steve Penfold, University of Toronto
“Steven High offers an original and innovative analysis of deindustrialization and gentrification in two neighbourhoods that have been at the heart of the expansion of industrial capitalism in Canada since the nineteenth century. The book’s rich illustrations and its insistence on including and engaging the voices of citizens of Pointe Saint-Charles and Little Burgundy make it directly relevant to residents and community groups in those neighbourhoods but also to anyone in the myriad urban communities living with deindustrialization. High has a special gift for connecting the issues of the past with the challenges of the present and for reminding us that the creation of historical knowledge is a communal endeavour.” Martin Petitclerc, Université du Québec à Montréal
“There is no way to ignore the stunning presentation of Deindustrializing Montreal. With its large format, glossy pages, and dozens of photographs (many in color), it occupies a place between densely argued academic monograph and lavish coffee table book. High has succeeded in the difficult task of producing a volume that will be of interest to a wide variety of readers, from specialist scholars in urban and labor history to members of the general public interested in the evolution of Montreal’s Southwest or, more generally, the story of the twentieth-century North American city.” H-Sci-Med-Tech
“A deluxe love letter to two neighbourhoods and their residents. The book is filled with colour photographs, and the extensive interviews and archival detail testify to High’s diligence … . High is known locally as a public- facing scholar, who conducts walking tours, writes op-eds, and organizes off- campus events. His work is the kind of deeply humanist tribute that all neighbourhoods deserve but that few receive.” Literary Review of Canada
«Il est impossible de rendre justice, en quelques mots, au contenu de cet ouvrage exceptionnel. Il constitue un apport remarquable à l’histoire ouvrière, urbaine et politique de Montréal et de sa communauté noire. Enfin, soulignons les qualités esthétiques de ce livre dont la facture soignée reconnaît et rend hommage aux acteurs de cette histoire.» Le jury du Prix Lionel-Groulx
