The dictionary of Canadian biography: A major bicultural source

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography (called the DCB; see sidebar 1) is a companion to Britain's Dictionary of National Biography and America's Dictionary of American Biography. At first glance, the DCB in title, concept, and general appearance is a parallel publication—the national and monumental biographical dictionary which records, posthumously, the lives of persons who contributed to the nation. However, there are some differences. These reflect not so much the concept of a national biography as the economic and editorial circumstances surrounding such a project in Canada in the last half of the twentieth century.