Keeping the Dream Alive examines a crucial era in the evolution of the CCF/NDP in Ontario when, after almost a decade of unprecedented popularity, the party experienced a significant decline in support. Dan Azoulay chronicles the party's difficult but inspiring struggle to survive and regain its status as a major player in the political arena.

What was romance like for Canadians a century ago? What qualities did marriageable men and women look for in prospective mates? How did they find suitable partners in difficult circumstances such as frontier isolation and parental disapproval, and, when they did, how did courtship proceed in the immediate post-Victorian era, when traditional romantic ideals and etiquette were colliding with the modern realities faced by ordinary people?

Searching for answers, Dan Azoulay has turned to a variety of primary sources, in particular letters to the -correspondence columns- of two leading...