Biography & Autobiography Political
John A. Macdonald
The Young Politician. The Old Chieftain
- Publisher
- University of Toronto Press
- Initial publish date
- Apr 1998
- Category
- Political, History & Theory, General
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780802071644
- Publish Date
- Apr 1998
- List Price
- $76.00
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781442676428
- Publish Date
- Mar 1998
- List Price
- $77.00
Add it to your shelf
Where to buy it
Description
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 the authors
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.
Estate of Donald Creighton's profile page
P.B. Waite is professor emeritus, Dalhousie University, and the author of The Life and Times of Confederation, 1864-1867 and The Man from Halifax: Sir John Thompson, Prime Minister. He is an officer of the Order of Canada.
Other titles by
The Life and Times of Confederation 1864-1867
Politics, Newspapers, and the Union of British North America
The Confederation Debates in the Province of Canada, 1865
Confederation Debates in the Province of Canada, 1865
The Lives of Dalhousie University: Volume II
1925-1980, The Old College Transformed
Lives of Dalhousie University, Volume 2
1925-1980, The Old College Transformed
The Lives of Dalhousie University: Volume I
1818-1925, Lord Dalhousie's College
Lives of Dalhousie University, Volume 1
1818-1925, Lord Dalhousie's College
The Loner
Three Sketches of the Personal Life and Ideas of R.B. Bennett, 1870-1947
The Loner
Three Sketches of the Personal Life and Ideas of R.B. Bennett, 1870-1947
Lord of Point Grey
Larry MacKenzie of UBC
