Fur Nation traces the interwoven relationships between sexuality, national identity, and colonialism. Chantal Nadeau shows how Canada, a white settler colony, bases its existence and its nationhood on a complex sexual economy based on women wrapped in fur.
Nadeau traces the centrality of fur through a series of intriguing case studies, including:
* Hollywood's take on the 330 year history of the Hudson Bay Company, founded to exploit Canada's rich fur resources
* the life of a postwar fur fashion photographer
* a 1950s musical called Fur Lady
* the battle between Brigitte Bardot's anti-fur activists and the fur industry.
Nadeau highlights the connection between 'fur ladies' - women wearing, exploiting or promoting furs - and the beaver, symbol of Canada and nature's master builder. She shows how, in postcolonial Canada, the nation is sexualised around female reproduction and fur, which is both a crucial factor in economic development, and a powerful symbol through which the nation itself is conceived and commodified. Fur Nation demonstrates that, for Canada, fur really is the fabric of a nation.

Contents:
Acknowledgements List of illustrations Prologue Section One: Fur Nation 1. My Fur Ladies (The Fabric of a Nation) 2. Princes, Bear Boys, and Beaver Men (Tales from the Beaver Clubs) Section Two: Beavers 3. The eyes of June Sauer (For a Sexual economy of fur fashion photography) 4. My Fur Lady, Canada's Liberty Section Three: Bardots 5. BB and her Beasts 6. Venus Forever (The Next Fur Generation) Endnotes Bibliography