Awards

• Short-listed for British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction 2011
• Short-listed for Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction 2012
• Winner of Dafoe Book Prize 2012
• Winner of Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing 2012

Overview

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER John A. Macdonald, Canada's first and most important prime minister, is the man who made Confederation happen, who built this country over the next quarter century, and who shaped what it is today. From Confederation Day in 1867, where this volume picks up, Macdonald finessed a reluctant union of four provinces in central and eastern Canada into a strong nation, despite indifference from Britain and annexationist sentiment in the United States. But it wasn't easy. Gwyn paints a superb portrait of Canada and its leaders through these formative years and also delves deep to show us Macdonald the man, as he marries for the second time, deals with the birth of a disabled child, and the assassination of his close friend Darcy McGee, and wrestles with whether Riel should hang. Indelibly, Gwyn shows us Macdonald's love of this country and his ability to joust with forces who would have been just as happy to see the end of Canada before it had really begun, creating a must-read for all Canadians.

Full Product Details

9780307356451

Table of Contents

Reviews

WINNER 2012 - Writers' Trust of Canada Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political WritingWINNER 2012 - Dafoe Book PrizeFINALIST 2011 - Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 - BC National Award for Canadian Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 - Governor General's Literary Award for Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 - Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-FictionA Globe and Mail Best Book Gwyn...has given us a first prime minister for the 21st century.... The book is a towering achievement, a glittering career-capper, and it may prove impossible to beat. The Globe and Mail Writing with his usual elegance and insight, Richard Gwyn has done full justice to the man whose own story is inextricably interwoven with that of Canada. Margaret MacMillan, author of Paris 1919

A Globe and Mail Best Book <br> Having digested prodigious quantities of research, and woven his knowledge into a seamless and stylish whole, Gwyn...has given us a first prime minister for the 21st century.... A towering achievement, a glittering career-capper, and it may prove impossible to beat. <br>--Ken McGoogan, The Globe and Mail <br> All the key historical characters are deftly described, which contributes hugely to making this book such an engaging read.... Nation Maker brings a fresh, welcome perspective to the life of our founding father. Anyone who reads it will no longer be able to take this powerful, charismatic, and dedicated man for granted. <br> --Quill & Quire (starred review) <br> Gwyn knows how to tell a good story.... This is John A., warts and all. <br> --Winnipeg Free Press <br> It was widely expected that the veteran journalist Richard Gwyn would write an extremely readable biography of Sir John A. Macdonald, and he has. It was expected that his books would address many recent Canadian issues, and they do. What particularly surprises and delights students of Canadian political history, however, is the amount of new material Gwyn has uncovered about the life and political times of the country's first Prime Minister. If he does not know absolutely everything about Sir John A., Richard Gwyn knows far more than any previous biographer, including Donald Creighton. In a tour de force of research, he has mastered the sources, weaves them beautifully into his text, and presents to us a more lifelike, more credible Macdonald than we had previously imagined. In passing Richard Gwyn puts a generation of Canadian political historians to shame with his scholarship and energy. Thanks to him we now have a John A. Macdonald for twenty-first century Canada. <br>--Michael Bliss <br> Charming, difficult, far-sighted, devious, Sir John A. Macdonald was a master politician who spoke to Canadians in a way that few others have ever done. W

WINNER 2012 Writers Trust of Canada Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political WritingWINNER 2012 Dafoe Book PrizeFINALIST 2011 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 BC National Award for Canadian Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 Governor General s Literary Award for Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 Hilary WestonWriters Trust Prize for Non-FictionA Globe and Mail Best Book Gwyn...has given us a first prime minister for the 21st century.... The book is a towering achievement, a glittering career-capper, and it may prove impossible to beat. The Globe and Mail Writing with his usual elegance and insight, Richard Gwyn has done full justice to the man whose own story is inextricably interwoven with that of Canada. Margaret MacMillan, author of Paris 1919 WINNER 2012 - Writers' Trust of Canada Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political WritingWINNER 2012 - Dafoe Book PrizeFINALIST 2011 - Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 - BC National Award for Canadian Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 - Governor General's Literary Award for Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 - Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-FictionA Globe and Mail Best Book Gwyn...has given us a first prime minister for the 21st century.... The book is a towering achievement, a glittering career-capper, and it may prove impossible to beat. The Globe and Mail Writing with his usual elegance and insight, Richard Gwyn has done full justice to the man whose own story is inextricably interwoven with that of Canada. Margaret MacMillan, author of Paris 1919 Gwyn...has given us a first prime minister for the 21st century.... The book is a towering achievement, a glittering career-capper, and it may prove impossible to beat. The Globe and Mail Writing with his usual elegance and insight, Richard Gwyn has done full justice to the man whose own story is inextricably interwoven with that of Canada. Margaret MacMillan, author of Paris 1919 A Globe and Mail Best Book Having digested prodigious quantities of research, and woven his knowledge into a seamless and stylish whole, Gwyn...has given us a first prime minister for the 21st century.... A towering achievement, a glittering career-capper, and it may prove impossible to beat. --Ken McGoogan, The Globe and Mail All the key historical characters are deftly described, which contributes hugely to making this book such an engaging read.... Nation Maker brings a fresh, welcome perspective to the life of our founding father. Anyone who reads it will no longer be able to take this powerful, charismatic, and dedicated man for granted. --Quill & Quire (starred review) Gwyn knows how to tell a good story.... This is John A., warts and all. --Winnipeg Free Press It was widely expected that the veteran journalist Richard Gwyn would write an extremely readable biography of Sir John A. Macdonald, and he has. It was expected that his books would address many recent Canadian issues, and they do. What particularly surprises and delights students of Canadian political history, however, is the amount of new material Gwyn has uncovered about the life and political times of the country's first Prime Minister. If he does not know absolutely everything about Sir John A., Richard Gwyn knows far more than any previous biographer, including Donald Creighton. In a tour de force of research, he has mastered the sources, weaves them beautifully into his text, and presents to us a more lifelike, more credible Macdonald than we had previously imagined. In passing Richard Gwyn puts a generation of Canadian political historians to shame with his scholarship and energy. Thanks to him we now have a John A. Macdonald for twenty-first century Canada. --Michael Bliss Charming, difficult, far-sighted, devious, Sir John A. Macdonald was a master politician who spoke to Canadians in a way that few others have ever done. W

WINNER 2012 - Writers' Trust of Canada Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political WritingWINNER 2012 - Dafoe Book PrizeFINALIST 2011 - Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 - BC National Award for Canadian Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 - Governor General's Literary Award for Non-FictionFINALIST 2011 - Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-FictionA Globe and Mail Best Book Gwyn...has given us a first prime minister for the 21st century.... The book is a towering achievement, a glittering career-capper, and it may prove impossible to beat. The Globe and Mail Writing with his usual elegance and insight, Richard Gwyn has done full justice to the man whose own story is inextricably interwoven with that of Canada. Margaret MacMillan, author of Paris 1919

Author Information

RICHARD GWYN is an award-winning author and political columnist. He is widely known as a commentator for the Toronto Star on national and international affairs and as a frequent contributor to television and radio programs. His books include two highly praised biographies, Smallwood- The Unlikely Revolutionary on Newfoundland premier Joey Smallwood, and The Northern Magus on Pierre Elliott Trudeau. His book, Nationalism Without Walls- The Unbearable Lightness of Being Canadian, was selected by the Literary Review of Canada as one of the 100 most important books published in Canada.The first volume of Gwyn's biography of Macdonald was published in 2007, became a national bestseller and won the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. The author lives in Toronto, ON.

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