Why are we so hard on ourselves when everyone else thinks we're wonderful? Walt Whitman, Marlene Dietrich and Bill Clinton all have had admiring things to say about Canada. At the same time, some of our patriots--including Northrop Frye, Margaret Atwood and Pierre Trudeau--are harsh critics.

David Olive has collected a witty and whimsical book of 600 quotations that show how critical Canadians are--and always have been--of themselves, and how foreigners are usually unstinting in their praise of Canada.

Canada Inside Out is a browser's delight and a feast of canny Canadiana. Perhaps we'll never figure ourselves out, but David Olive lets us revel in the sheer joy of our contradictions.