Macdonald: His life and world

by Peter B. Waite

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an unconventional biography of Sir John A. MacDonald, with many chapters focusing more on his world, as the title suggests, than his life. As such it does give some interesting insight into life in Canada in the last half of the 19th century, but some of the areas of focus are quite detailed and stray a fair bit from the narrative about Macdonald. One strength of the book is its illustrations, which include many great pictures and editorial cartoons relating to Macdonald's political life. This wouldn't be the first biography I would recommend that someone new to Macdonald's life should read ... that honour would go to Richard Gwyn's two volume masterpiece ... but this is an interesting addition to any Canadian history library, filling in some of the colour and context around MacDonald's life.