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Points of View
His millions of fans will hear Rex's voice in every line of this wide-ranging selection
Rex Murphy left his outpost home in Newfoundland to go to university at the age of 15. Since that time (including a spell at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar) he has been writing and talking. His skills in that area have made him Canada’s most-watched TV commentator – with an opinion spot on CBC-TV’s “The National” – while his speeches have earned standing ovations from coast to coast. And, always, his audience wants to know “When will you put this in a book?”
The answer is “NOW.” Here, Rex has selected the best from thirty years of writing and speech-making – a variety that reveals the range of his mind. Here you’ll find tributes to people as apparently unlinked as Joey Smallwood and William Shakespeare; book reviews that turn into instructive essays about other places in other centuries; hard-hitting attacks on politicians and other malefactors that will have you cheering as you read; hilarious satires on human folly; and gentle memories of Newfoundland and its people.
You will close this book with a sense of a wide-ranging intelligence and fascinating mind at work.
From the Hardcover edition.
Rex Murphy left his outpost home in Newfoundland to go to university at the age of 15. Since that time (including a spell at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar) he has been writing and talking. His skills in that area have made him Canada’s most-watched TV commentator – with an opinion spot on CBC-TV’s “The National” – while his speeches have earned standing ovations from coast to coast. And, always, his audience wants to know “When will you put this in a book?”
The answer is “NOW.” Here, Rex has selected the best from thirty years of writing and speech-making – a variety that reveals the range of his mind. Here you’ll find tributes to people as apparently unlinked as Joey Smallwood and William Shakespeare; book reviews that turn into instructive essays about other places in other centuries; hard-hitting attacks on politicians and other malefactors that will have you cheering as you read; hilarious satires on human folly; and gentle memories of Newfoundland and its people.
You will close this book with a sense of a wide-ranging intelligence and fascinating mind at work.
From the Hardcover edition.
- GenresNonfictionHumor
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Rex Murphy
3 books7 followersRex Murphy was born and raised near St. John's, Newfoundland, where he graduated from Memorial University. In 1968, he went to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Afterwards, returning to Newfoundland, he soon established himself as a quick-witted and accomplished writer, broadcaster and teacher.
Rex Murphy's primary interest is in language and English literature, but he also has a strong link with politics. As well as host of CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup, he contributes weekly TV essays on diverse topics to CBC TV's The National, and also writes book reviews, commentaries, and a weekly column for The Globe & Mail.
He is much in demand as a speaker. His oratory -- a volatile mix of insight, humour and biting political commentary, powered by an extraordinary vocabulary -- brings audiences to their feet at events from coast to coast.
Rex Murphy has won several national and provincial broadcasting awards and has been awarded honorary doctorates in letters by Memorial University, St. Thomas University, and Nipissing University.
Rex Murphy's primary interest is in language and English literature, but he also has a strong link with politics. As well as host of CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup, he contributes weekly TV essays on diverse topics to CBC TV's The National, and also writes book reviews, commentaries, and a weekly column for The Globe & Mail.
He is much in demand as a speaker. His oratory -- a volatile mix of insight, humour and biting political commentary, powered by an extraordinary vocabulary -- brings audiences to their feet at events from coast to coast.
Rex Murphy has won several national and provincial broadcasting awards and has been awarded honorary doctorates in letters by Memorial University, St. Thomas University, and Nipissing University.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 30, 2015
Such an insightful thinker and writer.
July 29, 2020
Poignant and hilarious.
May 27, 2024
I wasn't ready to let go of Rex Murphy after his recent death, so I ordered the two collections of his work, and I am glad that I did. Being in the presence of such a fine mind, a critical thinker whose clarity and erudition was leavened by a great sense of the absudity of life was a true pleasure. LIke millions of Canadians, Rex Murphy was my daily 'must-read' - most recently in the National Post - and Canada is poorer for the loss of his insights.
I didn't always agree with Murphy, but reading him sharpened my own thinking, and just as often made me laugh at myself for my intellectual follies exposed in his commentary. He was a Rhodes Scholar, on his way to becoming a professor when he changed course and became a journalist. Academia's loss was journalism's gain. I remember when, during the height of COVID lockdowns, he suggested that reading poetry could be a comfort. I took his advice, and he enriched my life with that observation.
This collection is somewhat dated; the columns are from the late nineties to about a year after September 11, 2001. The subject matter varies - elegies on the deaths of famous Canadians (Pierre Trudeau among them), politics, book reviews, literary criticism, absurdities like the Monica Lewinsky affair, and the horrible fallout from September 11. Throughout it all, he quotes poetry, discusses daily events in their historical and contemporaneous context, and writes like a mischievous Puck, explaining 'what fools these mortals be.' I laughed out loud at many lines, I was forced to rethink my own points of view, and remained thoroughly engaged. The subject matter may have been dated, but Murphy's perspective includes timeless ideals of honour, and commitment, as well as the critical capacity to discuss how to think about who we are. I will always miss him as a part of my daily routine; it is an end of era for me.
I didn't always agree with Murphy, but reading him sharpened my own thinking, and just as often made me laugh at myself for my intellectual follies exposed in his commentary. He was a Rhodes Scholar, on his way to becoming a professor when he changed course and became a journalist. Academia's loss was journalism's gain. I remember when, during the height of COVID lockdowns, he suggested that reading poetry could be a comfort. I took his advice, and he enriched my life with that observation.
This collection is somewhat dated; the columns are from the late nineties to about a year after September 11, 2001. The subject matter varies - elegies on the deaths of famous Canadians (Pierre Trudeau among them), politics, book reviews, literary criticism, absurdities like the Monica Lewinsky affair, and the horrible fallout from September 11. Throughout it all, he quotes poetry, discusses daily events in their historical and contemporaneous context, and writes like a mischievous Puck, explaining 'what fools these mortals be.' I laughed out loud at many lines, I was forced to rethink my own points of view, and remained thoroughly engaged. The subject matter may have been dated, but Murphy's perspective includes timeless ideals of honour, and commitment, as well as the critical capacity to discuss how to think about who we are. I will always miss him as a part of my daily routine; it is an end of era for me.
August 8, 2015
This is a selection of pieces from years of Rex Murphy’s reviews, columns, and commentaries. They include pieces from his show on CBC “Cross Country Check-up”, columns from the Globe and Mail, as well as speeches and some book reviews.
Murphy is so many things---highly literate, witty, articulate, clear thinking and full of passion for the potential of ideas to affect the way we live our lives. Although sometimes fierce and unforgiving in his criticisms, he also has moments when he is tender and sympathetic.
Reading the words of this accomplished and well informed Rhodes Scholar is always a treat. He challenges the reader’s thinking as well as providing him with the occasional guffaw couched in the serious debate of an issue. He is not shy to give full sail to his criticisms, but he is never rude or profane.
Murphy is a born in the wool Newfoundlander and although he currently lives in Toronto, it is clear he still pines for his homeland.
Murphy is so many things---highly literate, witty, articulate, clear thinking and full of passion for the potential of ideas to affect the way we live our lives. Although sometimes fierce and unforgiving in his criticisms, he also has moments when he is tender and sympathetic.
Reading the words of this accomplished and well informed Rhodes Scholar is always a treat. He challenges the reader’s thinking as well as providing him with the occasional guffaw couched in the serious debate of an issue. He is not shy to give full sail to his criticisms, but he is never rude or profane.
Murphy is a born in the wool Newfoundlander and although he currently lives in Toronto, it is clear he still pines for his homeland.
February 5, 2011
It's hard to enjoy a man's work when, at times, he can be SO brilliant, SO deliciously scathing, SO perceptive...and then, at other times, such a conservative-apologist GIT!
August 3, 2012
Good book you pick up and read a few pages at a time...
April 19, 2014
Murphy is a master wordsmith. The book, a collection of his articles and commentaries, offers many good observations and insights. It is also somewhat dated.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews