King - Softcover

Levine, Allan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1771000686 ISBN 13: 9781771000680

Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre, 2013

Synopsis

Mackenzie King was a brilliant tactician, was passionately committed to Canadian unity, and was a protector of the underdog, introducing such cornerstones of Canada’s social safety net as unemployment insurance, family allowances and old-age pensions. At the same time, he was insecure, craved flattery, became upset at minor criticism, and was prone to fantasy especially about the Tory conspiracy against him.

The book comes at a time when the Canadian people have resoundingly rebuffed the Liberal party under Michael Ignatieff; while the party's future remains uncertain, this definitive biography sheds light on its history under its greatest leader.

This first major biography of Mackenzie King in 30 years mines the pages of his remarkable diary, at 30,000 pages one of the most significant and revealing political documents in Canada’s history and a guide to the deep and often moving inner conflicts that haunted Mackenzie King. With animated prose and a subtle wit, Allan Levine draws a multidimensional portrait of this most compelling of politicians.

About this title

About the Author:

Allan Levine is an award-winning author and historian who has written ten books. A diverse author who moves easily between popular non-fiction and fiction, he has written four historical mysteries. His first mystery, The Blood Libel, won the Margaret McWilliams Medal for Best Historical Fiction and was nominated for the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Arthur Ellis First Mystery Novel Award. He lives in Winnipeg.

Review:

"This first major biography of Mackenzie King in 30 years is a guide to the deep and often moving inner conflicts that haunted Mackenzie King. With animated prose and a subtle wit, Allan Levine draws a multidimensional portrait of this most compelling of politicians." (Canada's History)

"If anyone doubted that King spent a lot of time in la-la land, they need only read Mr. Levine's intriguing account, one that fleshes out new material from his voluminous diaries." (Globe & Mail)

"In King, Allan Levine gives us a readable, comprehensive account of a prime minister we ought to know about. He also reminds us that, in ever-changing ways, King haunts us still." (Levine Allan Globe & Mail)

"King's writing is characterized by clarity, compassion, and humanist intelligence...The personal, political, and aesthetic obstacles they encountered are described here with sympathy, so that we feel we've actually met these individuals -- the goal of any good biography." (Library Journal)

"...his book is perceptive and eminently readable. Levine's discussion of King's personality is excellent...(Levine) has ably shown that King was important and remarkable." " (Literary Review of Canada)

"...until now no one has ever done as magisterial a job as Levine in fusing King's many parts into a complex but comprehensible whole..." (Maclean's Magazine)

"...an outstanding biography of Canada's longest-reigning prime minister." (Scott Marian Montreal Gazette)

"If the world needed evidence to disprove the notion we need to know as much as possible about our political leaders, it's between the covers of Allan Levine's new biography of William Lyon Mackenzie King...William Lyon Mackenzie King: A Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny must therefore be treated as a skillful introduction to one of the most important and perplexing personalities to hold the highest political post in Canada." (Kelly McParland National Post)

"Allan Levine had no shortage of peculiar personal details to make use of in his biography of Canada's longest serving P.M." (Quill & Quire)

"In this endeavour, Levine has succeeded masterfully...By examining King's personality and politics as two sides of the same coin, Levine has produced a wonderfully comprehensive portrait of this intensely disagreeable -- yet critically important -- Canadian." (Quill & Quire)

About this edition

• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1771000686
• ISBN 13: 9781771000680
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 552