John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician. The Old Chieftain (RICH: Reprints in Canadian History) - Softcover

Estate Of Donald Creighton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802071643 ISBN 13: 9780802071644

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 1998

Synopsis

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography calls this work 'probably the greatest Canadian biography yet published in English.' Donald Creighton's two-volume account of Canada's first Prime Minister was originally published in the 1950s as 'John A. Macdonald: The Young Lion' (1952) and 'John A. Macdonald: The Old Chieftain' (1955). Each of the volumes won a Governor General's Literary Award. Creighton's rare combination of rigorous scholarship, magnificent literary style, and romantic and heroic vision gives this work extraordinary power and wide appeal.

Sir John A. Macdonald's flamboyant personality dominated Canadian public life from the years preceding Confederation to the end of the nineteenth century, and the political structures and national policies which developed under his leadership continue to shape public issues today. Creighton's first volume takes Macdonald from his childhood and early years as a young lawyer in Kingston, Ontario, through his swift rise in political life to positions of influence, to the great achievement of uniting the colonies of British North America in Confederation. The second volume traces Macdonald's often tumultuous subsequent career in the context of a growing and often recalcitrant nation. He was Prime Minister from 1867 to 1873 and then again from 1878 until his death in June, 1891. The spectacular and evocative epilogues with which Creighton concludes each volume are widely recognized as having a place among the great passages of literary prose.

P. B. Waite's introduction to this new one-volume republication provides an illuminating account of the impact that Creighton and his biography of Macdonald had on a whole generation of historians and readers.

About this title

About the Author

The late Donald Creighton (1902-1979) was the outstanding narrative historian of Canada in his era. A long-time professor of history at the University of Toronto, his other books include The Empire of the St. Lawrence, The Road to Confederation, and Canada's First Century.

Peter Waite is a professor emeritus in the Department of History at Dalhousie University.

Review

'It is not often that distinguished Canadians achieve distinguished biographies, but this life of Canada's first Prime Minister is great by any standards.'

(Hilda Neatby Critically Speaking)

'His scholarship is comprehensive, without obtruding, his portrait entertaining.'

(Times Literary Supplement)

'In Donald Creighton, the University of Toronto has one of the half-dozen best historians now writing anywhere in the English-speaking world.'

(The Spectator, London)

'A balance picture, a truthful record, and a work of art.'

(Ottawa Journal)

'A brilliant piece of writing and a pioneer work of scholarship.'

(Maclean's Magazine)

'A convincing and valuable contribution to history and to literature.'

(Guardian)

'An impressive and illuminating political narrative.'

(Canadian Forum)

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0802071643
• ISBN 13: 9780802071644
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 1216