The Trudeau Papers

by Ian Adams

In this chilling novel, set in the not-too-distant future nuclear warheads are accidentally exploded over western Canada. Following in their wake come U.S. occupation troops, whose main purpose is to safeguard American economic interests, and guerrilla warfare-of a kind that parallels Viet Cong opposition to American involvement in Vietnam.

108 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Ian Adams is a writer who has covered war in South-East Asia, revolutions and the "dirty wars" in South America. He has travelled widely in Africa, Pakistan, the Middle East, Central America, Europe and North America, and written about those places. He has published ten books, fiction and non-fiction, mostly about intelligence services, and essentially with the premise that intelligence organizations are really secret governments that in reality wield more power than democratically elected ones. Since 2000 he has also been writing screenplays, two of which he adapted from his books and were made into movies. (See the attached list of awards for produced screenplays written by him and his writing partner, Riley Adams.) He was born in the Congo to Irish missionary parents, grew up in Africa, and is now a resident of Toronto, and a Canadian citizen.

Born in 1937.

Reviews

[Mary Soderstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprising and interesting book published in 1971. The basic premise is that for reasons that are not explained very well, the US and the USSR are more or less sucked into a nuclear exchange, much of which takes place over Canada's prairie provinces. In the disorder that follows, the US invades Canada so it can profit from its natural resources.

The story is told by a former CIA operative and journalist who has joined the Canadian insurgency. Many references to events reminiscent of the Vietnam War, which was raging as the book was published, as well as a remarkable scene of a bombing in a bar that is straight out of the classic movie The Battle of Algiers, except this time the young woman who has the bomb in her makeup case is killed along with the generals.

The novel is only 108 pages, and much of it is taken up with vividly described battle scenes, which is not surprising since the author has done a lot of action movie scenarios. So if that kind of thing is your cup of tea, read on. If you also enjoy learning about the worries about the future of people 45 years ago, you'll find the book illuminating. Many things have not changed that much...

[Len Appleby · Rating 4 out of 5]

(note: this review was rejected by amazon.com for violating its Community Guidelines)

'The Trudeau Papers' (108 pp.) was published in hardcover by McClellan and Stewart, Ltd., Toronto, in 1971. As far as I can tell, no paperback edition ever was released.

Canada's Liberal Elite always has viewed the United States with suspicion and skepticism, but it was during the 1960s that this suspicion blossomed into outright detestation, aided in part by the Vietnam War. The attitude of the Liberal Elite is best summed up in the lyrics to the Guess Who song 'American Woman', from 1970:

I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be

'The Trudeau Papers' is a prime example of the Canadian Left's paranoia toward the U.S. Its author, Ian Adams (b. 1937) has written a number of Cold War-era thriller novels, some of which posit collusion and conspiracy between the Canadian government and the CIA.

'Trudeau' is framed as the first-person narrative of a Canadian man named Alan Jarvis. The novel eschews formal chapters in favor of being divided into segments, ranging from a half page to several pages in length, that serve as commentaries and diary entries. These constitute the eponymous 'papers' that Jarvis intends to bequeath to the Canadian public.

'Trudeau' is set in late 1975 or early 1976. In its opening segments, Soviet and American ICBMs armed with H-bombs have accidentally detonated over Canada (the circumstances under which this happens are more than a little contrived, and the novel's major weak point). Edmonton, and a sizeable tract of Saskatchewan, are turned into cinders, and over a million people die from the explosions or the resultant fallout.

Under the pretext of helping their stricken neighbors to the North, the U.S. Canadian Military Assistance Program (CANMAP) sends large numbers of troops into Canada, seizing control of major metropolitan areas. Canada's resource-based industries are obliged to operate under American supervision, with the revenue diverted south of the border instead of to the desperate citizens of Canada.

As atrocities mount, and what is left of Canadian sovereignty evaporates, it is up to bands of resistance fighters to conduct guerilla warfare to liberate Canada from its oppression at the hands of the Yankee Capitalists. As Alan Jarvis soon discovers, the fighting will be costly and without mercy, and the outnumbered and ill-equipped freedom fighters will find themselves the weaker party in many engagements.

But as Jarvis is to learn, in the struggle for liberation, personal sacrifices on the part of the members of the Resistance cannot always be avoided...........

'The Trudeau Papers' is a very readable novel, and a successful manifestation of 'Yankee-phobia' (upon its publication, the book apparently caused a sensation in Canadian circles).

Author Adams uses a clipped, declarative prose style that works well in evoking the horrors of nuclear devastation, and the brutality (which deliberately evokes the American 'pacification' operations conducted during the Vietnam War) visited upon hapless Canucks by the U.S. military. The book is relentlessly bleak in its outlook, and a 'happy' ending is by no means assured.

The verdict ? 'The Trudeau Papers' is a polemic, of course, but an engrossing one. While those few copies still available can have steep asking prices, if you see this book for sale for a reasonable price, it's worth picking up.