Bruce Hutchison, "Mr. Prime Minister, 1867-1964" (1965)

Bruce Hutchison, Mr. Prime Minister, 1867-1964 (New York, : Harcourt, Brace &​ World, 1965)

This book is ideal bedtime reading. It presents a genuinely engaging, pleasant read, surveying the basic biography of each Canadian Prime Minister from Macdonald to Pearson. It strikes a nice balance between identifying personal traits and tribulations faced by each Prime Minister, and surveying the political context each man served within. No chapter is overly long or tediously detailed, and yet each manages to touch on major points of concern. Particularly meritorious, to my mind, was the information concerning some of the Canada's earliest Prime Ministers (such as Bowells and Mackenzie), of whom it is often difficult to find information, or to understand how their tenure of service related to 'brighter lights' around them, such as Macdonald and Laurier.

The language used in this book is sometimes a little amusing. It takes me back to a time when people actually read and wrote, when biographies of 'great men' were written without cynicism, apology, or disclaimers. Additionally, it is unfortunate that the book essentially stops with its survey of Diefenbaker. Although Pearson is discussed, the likelihood of his success as Prime Minister is more a case of speculation than review. I can only wonder how Hutchison might have assessed Trudeau, Mulroney, or Chretien.