- Hardcover: 504 pages
- Publisher: Douglas Gibson Books (Oct 28 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0771056923
- ISBN-13: 978-0771056925
- Product Dimensions: 16.1 x 4 x 23.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 907 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #104,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Quill & Quire
Considering the appeal of easy access to a pulpit, one of the biggest perks of political office, it is not surprising that firing off one last ideological salvo in the form of a memoir has become de rigueur for former heads of state. The general appeal of such works is questionable, but given the Liberal Party’s continuing decline, highlighted by its historically poor showing in the last federal election, few people seem better positioned to offer perspective on the party’s fortunes than Canada’s last Liberal prime minister. The story starts in Windsor. The young Paul Martin, Jr., always within earshot of his father’s politicking, feels an “ambivalence for the profession,” and instead chooses law school and a career in business. Martin takes the helm at Canadian Shipping Lines, capitalizing on an entrepreneurial vigour and a boyhood love of all things nautical. His eventual entry into politics, though logical, seems almost out of character. Once on the Hill, Martin, with his corporate pedigree, was an obvious choice for finance minister, charged with the job no one wanted: balancing Canada’s books. Martin is at his best when writing about his years as budgetary axe-man in the 1990s. He clearly and concisely explains the implications of national debt and makes a strong case for global financial reform. Through the first half of the book, Martin maintains a healthy balance between insight, humour, and a minimum of self-flattery. The writing is by no means engrossing, but it is certainly readable. The book’s second half, which begins with the 2004 election campaign, is dramatically different. A social visionary with a healthy dose of financial pragmatism, Martin was the odds-on favourite to lead the country. But the Liberals’ victory did not shepherd Canada into the expected golden age, prompting the obvious question: what went wrong? Instead of providing an answer, Hell or High Water degenerates into self-aggrandizement and finger-pointing. As might be expected, Martin revisits his clashes with Jean Chrétien and dwells at length on the infamous sponsorship scandal, which he blames for weakening the Liberal Party’s integrity and hindering his own ability to govern. Just as Chrétien did in his plodding yet vitriolic 2007 memoir My Years as Prime Minister, Martin reopens an ugly chapter of Canadian political history, one the public would rather forget, but whose main players incomprehensibly insist on rehashing at every opportunity. When it comes to talking about his work as prime minister, Martin is sweeping and perfunctory. He predictably lauds his own policy initiatives, and even defends some of his more questionable decisions, such as his blind-eye policy toward China. But on the key question of why Canadians, so enamoured with Martin the finance minister, did not throw their support behind Martin the prime minister, he provides no answers.
Review
“Martin writes presciently of our current financial crisis — and settles several scores.”
— Montreal Gazette
“Juicy.”
— CTV News
“Charming, self-deprecating.”
— Policy Options
“Martin does not hesitate to dish.”
— Ottawa Citizen
— Montreal Gazette
“Juicy.”
— CTV News
“Charming, self-deprecating.”
— Policy Options
“Martin does not hesitate to dish.”
— Ottawa Citizen
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fitting Swan Song,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Hell or High Water: My Life in and out of Politics (Hardcover)
While former prime minister Paul Martin's autobiography reveals very little that is startlingly new, it does provide a decent profile of the life of a prominent career politician dedicated to serving the Canadian public at the highest level possible. What I found most fascinating about Martin's reflections on his life in Ottawa over five decades (including the time he spent in the nation's capital as the son of another famous politician) was his ability to develop and pursue a vision for a stronger Canada on the economic world stage. He doggedly stuck to forcing the country to adopt a serious fiscal restraint program in the 1990s so it could be more able to afford better social programs like national daycare and improved health care. His life as a highly-successful businessman, turned politician, is a story that comes with many interesting twists and turns, but all invariably leading him to eventually becoming PM, a role in which he could best encourage constructive national change. Undoubtedly, Martin was well equipped for the job of finance minister during those troubling deficit years, as witnessed by his determination to turn around government spending before it sank the country. However, in his run for the top, he admits that he lacked a certain political savoir faire as to how to handle his enemies within the party. His many disagreements with Chretien and the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party came back to haunt him big time during his brief tenure as national leader. Reading between the lines, I get the distinct feeling that Martin never quite understood how to be politically adept when it came to outsmarting those who had it in for him. His head was always somewhere in the clouds over matters such as resolving international issues like Third World debt, when he should have been more diligent in handling organizational matters on the ground in key Quebec ridings. To this day, I still find it astounding that he, as finance minister, knew nothing about the Sponsorship program until it became a full-blown scandal in 2004. While a real team player at the global level, Martin definitely lacked Jean Chretien's savvy in knowing the domestic political terrain. Many of his prominent political supporters and advisers seemed to connect with him on a world plane that was so far removed from the daily moil and toil of Canadian politics. I like this book for its honesty, humility and instructional value on what the dark, dirty world of politics can teach us about ourselves. Martin, while I would never have voted for him, is a decent man who strove very hard to make Canada a better place to live, but failed because, like Hamlet, he did not hone his political survival skills. This is a book written by a proud - not arrogant - Canadian who resorts to a lot of useful reflecting about the things he did achieve on behalf of all Canadians.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't reach the mark,
This review is from: Hell or High Water: My Life in and out of Politics (Hardcover)
Paul Martin's attempt at an autobiography ranks low in terms of recent similar works by Mulroney and Chretien. While the first part of the book gets the reader's hopes up, with some great insight into Martin's life in business and education, in addition to heartfelt stories about his father and mother, the second part is painful at points. It is clear that according to Martin, his tenure as finance minister was mired by attempts by former PM Chretien to undermine him constantly, and the parts dealing with his time as Prime Minister seems to be a litany of excuses for why things did not get done, and how everyone else was to blame.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Canadian
- Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Political
- Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Presidents & Heads of State
- Books > History > Americas > Canada
- Books > History > Canada
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > History
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Social Sciences > Political Science
- Books > Nonfiction > Politics
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
