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The Distemper of our Times (Volume 112)
It is impossible to appreciate Canada in the mid- and late-1960s without reading The Distemper of Our Times. Newman's skilful selection of evidence, his grasp of personality and the flair and pace of his writing style bring the disparate events of that turbulent era into a cogent narrative that will retain its drama and urgency for future generations.
592 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 1978
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October 31, 2024
We live, these days, in times when distemper is raging. Strange. Canada was like that during the political power vacuum of the mid-sixties, too...
***
I loaned this one to a slightly younger neighbour - my junior by five years - on the occasion of his well-deserved early retirement from a career as a senior manager ten years ago.
Actually, he was a bit nonplussed by it, for it WAS a library discard.
After all, too, he hadn’t lived through his early teen jock years in an intensely politically-aware way - which was more the usual case with most of us sleepy sixties' Canuck kids.
Personally, I just read ALL the news, back then, as a time filler. And bookish passions bloom late in most modern teens.
But those years were the distempered Canadian time of the perpetual minority governments covered here.
And by the mid-60’s there were more splinter parties than candidates, it seemed!
Parliament was unrooted and disjointed in the years of noticeably minority governments - Liberals, Tories, NDPer’s, Social Creditors and Credidistes fought back the burgeoning Séparatistes into non-party status.
In wacko Canada we can have as many parties as we please, if only to irk our American cousins.
But back then our distemper was profoundly disturbing.
We wanted change, Big Time.
***
Anyway, at the time I bought this book, in 1978 the sixties were still relevant to the young. Their nascent socialism had mushroomed now into Full Fledged Fungi. Oh, well. Live and learn.
But shopping for books back then wasn't only point and click. No - it was an Adventure in itself.
The Glebe area of the city, in the Centre of town that I later abandoned for the country, was crammed full of used bookstores, being the student quarter.
And back then the latest releases were mere fools' gold for us hippies.
We Hippies didn't care for glitz and glamour - we were on a Quest of the Spirit. Just like serious young readers nowadays, we wanted a way out from the dystopia of our days in the fallen land God gave to Cain.
But to the powerful US, we were a mere tempest in a teapot. To be seen and not heard!
***
However, by ‘68, of course, the American public suddenly HAD to pick up its ears down south. 1968 in Canada meant TRUDEAUMANIA!
Distemper was catching.
One of the first things Trudeau Senior did was give us all SIN (social insurance numbered) cards. Easier for big brother Pierre to keep tabs on us all. It got so if you applied for a loan, however, you had to divulge your medical innards.
Do I smell a rat, someone asked? I think it was some back-bencher civil libertarian who musta screamed SNAFU at Pierre in parliament. Big Brother was among us!
Say, did we INFECT you guys?
We're sorry, because the glorious freedom that Lightfoot's Bobby McGee sought -
Was just another word for nothing left to LOSE -
Namely, our political innocence.
***
I loaned this one to a slightly younger neighbour - my junior by five years - on the occasion of his well-deserved early retirement from a career as a senior manager ten years ago.
Actually, he was a bit nonplussed by it, for it WAS a library discard.
After all, too, he hadn’t lived through his early teen jock years in an intensely politically-aware way - which was more the usual case with most of us sleepy sixties' Canuck kids.
Personally, I just read ALL the news, back then, as a time filler. And bookish passions bloom late in most modern teens.
But those years were the distempered Canadian time of the perpetual minority governments covered here.
And by the mid-60’s there were more splinter parties than candidates, it seemed!
Parliament was unrooted and disjointed in the years of noticeably minority governments - Liberals, Tories, NDPer’s, Social Creditors and Credidistes fought back the burgeoning Séparatistes into non-party status.
In wacko Canada we can have as many parties as we please, if only to irk our American cousins.
But back then our distemper was profoundly disturbing.
We wanted change, Big Time.
***
Anyway, at the time I bought this book, in 1978 the sixties were still relevant to the young. Their nascent socialism had mushroomed now into Full Fledged Fungi. Oh, well. Live and learn.
But shopping for books back then wasn't only point and click. No - it was an Adventure in itself.
The Glebe area of the city, in the Centre of town that I later abandoned for the country, was crammed full of used bookstores, being the student quarter.
And back then the latest releases were mere fools' gold for us hippies.
We Hippies didn't care for glitz and glamour - we were on a Quest of the Spirit. Just like serious young readers nowadays, we wanted a way out from the dystopia of our days in the fallen land God gave to Cain.
But to the powerful US, we were a mere tempest in a teapot. To be seen and not heard!
***
However, by ‘68, of course, the American public suddenly HAD to pick up its ears down south. 1968 in Canada meant TRUDEAUMANIA!
Distemper was catching.
One of the first things Trudeau Senior did was give us all SIN (social insurance numbered) cards. Easier for big brother Pierre to keep tabs on us all. It got so if you applied for a loan, however, you had to divulge your medical innards.
Do I smell a rat, someone asked? I think it was some back-bencher civil libertarian who musta screamed SNAFU at Pierre in parliament. Big Brother was among us!
Say, did we INFECT you guys?
We're sorry, because the glorious freedom that Lightfoot's Bobby McGee sought -
Was just another word for nothing left to LOSE -
Namely, our political innocence.
Displaying 1 of 1 review