Toronto Hard and Soft

Two new academic books about Toronto, one about the history of its waterfront, the other its treatment in literature, help explain in very different ways both the cacophony of daily headlines in this impossible city and our endlessly conflicted emotions about its qualities. And perhaps they give part of an answer to the more fundamental problem any citizen of Toronto tussles with every day: how is it possible that such an ugly, discordant, rootless, dysfunctional, poorly governed, nationally disdained city can be such a delightfully intriguing and successful place to live in and arguably one of the last best hopes of modern urban life?

Let’s start on the waterfront. And with those headlines. Why does nothing ever happen? How can we cut through governmental gridlock? What should be done about shady land dealings? Who can rein in rogue quasi-public agencies? That is not just today’s Toronto Star but the consistent coverage in The Globe and The...