J. Gwyn's Books

John A

The Man Who Made Us

By: Richard J. Gwyn

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The first full-scale biography of Canada’s first prime minister in half a century by one of our best-known and most highly regarded political writers. The first volume of Richard Gwyn’s definitive biography of John A. Macdonald follows his life from his birth in Scotland in 1815 to his emigration with his family to Kingston, Ontario, to his days as a young, rising lawyer, to his tragedy-ridden first marriage, to the birth of his political ambitions, to his commitment to the all-but-impossible challenge of achieving Confederation, to his presiding, with his second wife Agnes, over the first Canada Day of the new Dominion in 1867. Colourful, intensely human and with a full measure of human frailties, Macdonald was beyond question Canada’s most important prime minister. This volume describes how Macdonald developed Canada’s first true national political party, encompassing French and English and occupying the centre of the political spectrum. To perpetuate this party, Macdonald made systematic use of patronage to recruit talent and to bond supporters, a system of politics that continues to this day. Gwyn judges that Macdonald, if operating on a small stage, possessed political skills–of manipulation and deception as well as an extraordinary grasp of human nature–of the same calibre as the greats of his time, such as Disraeli and Lincoln. Confederation is the centerpiece here, and Gywn’s commentary on Macdonald’s pivotal role is original and provocative. But his most striking analysis is that the greatest accomplishment of nineteenth-century Canadians was not Confederation, but rather to decide not to become Americans. Macdonald saw Confederation as a means to an end, its purpose being to serve as a loud and clear demonstration of the existence of a national will to survive. The two threats Macdonald had to contend with were those of annexation by the United States, perhaps by force, perhaps by osmosis, and equally that Britain just might let that annexation happen to avoid a conflict with the continent’s new and unbeatable power. Gwyn describes Macdonald as “Canada’s first anti-American.” And in pages brimming with anecdote, insight, detail and originality, he has created an indelible portrait of “the irreplaceable man,”–the man who made us. “Macdonald hadn’t so much created a nation as manipulated and seduced and connived and bullied it into existence against the wishes of most of its own citizens. Now that Confederation was done, Macdonald would have to do it all over again: having conjured up a child-nation he would have to nurture it through adolescence towards adulthood. How he did this is, however, another story.” “He never made the least attempt to hide his “vice,” unlike, say, his contemporary, William Gladstone, with his sallies across London to save prostitutes, or Mackenzie King with his crystal-ball gazing. Not only was Macdonald entirely unashamed of his behaviour, he often actually drew attention to it, as in his famous response to a heckler who accused him of being drunk at a public meeting: “Yes, but the people would prefer John A. drunk to George Brown sober.” There was no hypocrisy in Macdonald’s make-up, nor any fear. —from John A. Macdonald

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562

Publisher

Vintage Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307371352

ISBN 13

9780307371355

John A.: 1815-1867

By: Richard J. Gwyn

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John A.: 1815-1867

By: Richard J. Gwyn

But it wasn't easy. The wily Macdonald faced constant crises throughout these years, from Louis Riel's two rebellions through to the Pacific Scandal that almost undid his government and his quest to find the spine of the nation: the railroad that would link east to west. 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."--pub. desc. (v.2)

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562

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Random House Digital, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

067931475X

ISBN 13

9780679314752

Nation Maker

Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times

By: Richard J. Gwyn

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Nation Maker

Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times

By: Richard J. Gwyn

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER An exciting story, passionately told and rich in detail, this major biography is the second volume of the bestselling, award-winning John A: The Man Who Made Us, by well-known journalist and highly respected author Richard Gwyn. 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. The wily Macdonald faced constant crises throughout these years, from Louis Riel's two rebellions through to the Pacific Scandal that almost undid his government and his quest to find the spine of the nation: the railroad that would link east to west. 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.

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690

Publisher

Random House Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307366871

ISBN 13

9780307366870

Geohazard-associated Geounits

Atlas and Glossary

By: L. A. Rivard

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Geohazard-associated Geounits

Atlas and Glossary

By: L. A. Rivard

Originally conceived as a technical manual, but now offering the reader so much more, this timely work deals with various aspects of geohazards – surely an area of growing importance in this world of global warming. Using photogeology and remote sensing, Quebecois researcher Rivard’s work is unique in that the succinct text supports the illustrations, and is devised as a quick-reference, standardized presentation of 170 globally occurring photo-geomorphological units.

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1065

Publisher

Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

3540688854

ISBN 13

9783540688853

The Enterprising Admiral

By: J. Gwyn

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The Enterprising Admiral

By: J. Gwyn

The financial impact of war in the eighteenth century upon the corps of naval officers has not been systematically studied. Nor have the opportunities of a naval career to exploit such sidelines as trade, money-lending, and land purchases in the colonies, where officers spent much of their time, been looked at carefully. The present study analyses in detail the fortune of a single naval officer, Admiral Sir Peter Warren, whose principal wealth came from prize money: the capture of enemy vessels in wartime. He emerges as a new type of entrepreneur, with his feet well planted on both sides of the Atlantic, equally at home in the financial circles of New York, Boston, Charleston, Dublin, and London. Owing to the mobility of his naval career he became familiar with the economic prospects in these scattered places, while he possessed the necessary imagination to take advantage of their commercial opportunities. Mobility also enabled him to select personally the agents who served his varied interests. Neither his widow nor his heirs had the same advantages, nor did they possess the same degree of business sense, with the result that his fortune, invested internationally, was eventually repatriated to England.

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325

Publisher

McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published Date

ISBN 10

0773582258

ISBN 13

9780773582255

The King's Cardinal

The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey

By: Peter J Gwyn

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The King's Cardinal

The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey

By: Peter J Gwyn

Proud, greedy, corrupt and driven by overwhelming personal ambition. Such is the traditional image of Thomas Wolsey, Lord Chancellor, Archbishop of York, Bishop of Winchester, Abbot of St. Albans, Bishop if Tournai and Papal Legate. It is an image which Peter Gwyn examines, challenges and decisively overturns in this remarkable book. From exceedingly humble beginnings Wolsey rose to a pinnacle of power unsurpassed by any other British commoner. Peter Gwyn explores every aspect of the Cardinal's career - not least his relationship with Henry VIII - and sets it firmly in a vividly recreated Tudor world. The Wolsey who emerges is a man of prodigious energy and ability, a tireless dispenser of justice, an enlightened reformer wholly dedicated to his king and country - a man who has been consistently misrepresented and maligned for four-and-a-half centuries.

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690

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Random House

Published Date

ISBN 10

1446475131

ISBN 13

9781446475133

John A

The Man Who Made Us

By: Richard J. Gwyn

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John A

The Man Who Made Us

By: Richard J. Gwyn

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542

Publisher

Random House of Canada Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

0679314768

ISBN 13

9780679314769

Pierre Elliott Trudeau

By: Richard Gwyn

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Pierre Elliott Trudeau

By: Richard Gwyn

Seldom has there been a political leader so complex, so impossible to predict, so difficult to understand, so private and yet so public, as Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Canada's Prime Minister from 1968 to 1979, and again from 1980 to 1984.

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Markham, Ont. : Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Published Date

ISBN 10

1550417746

ISBN 13

9781550417746

Book's by J. Gwyn

John A

John A

John A.: 1815-1867

John A.: 1815-1867

Nation Maker

Nation Maker

Geohazard-associated Geounits

Geohazard-associated Geounits

The Enterprising Admiral

The Enterprising Admiral

The King's Cardinal

The King's Cardinal

John A

John A

Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Pierre Elliott Trudeau

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