A modern look at a classic leader.
Macdonald at 200 presents fifteen fresh interpretations of Canada’s founding Prime Minister, published for the occasion of the bicentennial of his birth in 1815. Well researched and crisply written by recognized scholars and specialists, the collection throws new light on Macdonald’s formative role in shaping government, promoting women’s rights, managing the nascent economy, supervising westward expansion, overseeing relations with Native peoples, and dealing with Fenian terrorism. A special section deals with how Macdonald has (or has not) been remembered by historians as well as the general public. The book concludes with an afterword by prominent Macdonald biographer Richard Gwyn. Macdonald emerges as a man of full dimensions — an historical figure that is surprisingly relevant to our own times.

The author or editor of a dozen books, a frequent commentator on political and policy issues and the host of over 100 podcasts in the Canadian history series “Witness to Yesterday, Patrice Dutil is a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University. He founded and edited for five years the Literary Review of Canada, and served as President of the Champlain Society for seven years. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at the University of Toronto and a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Among his books are Ballots and Brawls: The 1867 Canadian General Election, Prime Ministerial Power in Canada: Its Origins under Macdonald, Laurier and Borden and Macdonald at 200: New Perspectives and Legacies (edited with Roger Hall). Dutil currently lives in Toronto.

Patrice Dutil's profile page

Roger Hall is professor emeritus of history at Western University and senior fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto. He has been editor of Ontario History and co-editor of The Canadian Review of American Studies. His publications include A Century to Celebrate and The Rising Country. He lives in Toronto.

Roger Hall's profile page

Macdonald at 200 is a must-read for anyone in Kingston and beyond who wants to learn more about Canada and the role a Kingston lawyer -- a man who arrived on our shores as an immigrant from a far-off land just as millions do today -- played in our earliest years as a nation.

Kingston Whig-Standard