- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Canada (Oct 12 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0679312323
- ISBN-13: 978-0679312321
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.1 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 327 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,416,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Maureen McTeer is at once an obvious candidate for an autobiography, and an odd one. As the enduring (and much younger) wife of the oft-maligned Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, McTeer has traveled the world, consorting with dignitaries and doyennes, from Margaret Trudeau to Mother Teresa to the Queen Mum. She has been first lady at both Sussex Drive and Stornoway, has conversed with politicians at the highest levels of power, seen up close the beauty and ugliness of federal politics in Canada, and helped put progressive issues on the map in the name of feminism and plain old enlightenment. Yet if you asked the average punter what they think of first when they hear the name Maureen McTeer, they'd say, "Oh yeah, she's Joe Who's wife, the one who kept her maiden name." Being defined by that single thing is hardly McTeer's fault, especially since the "name issue" was mostly a curiosity then and is positively passé now. But the example serves to illustrate how narrow the audience is for In My Own Name. Certainly, anyone eager to glean insights into the professional modus operandi of Clark and the nearly extinct PC party, or to better understand the impetus behind a highly educated, fluently bilingual author, activist, and attorney will find much to savour. But that's about it: McTeer never goes that deep. Yes, she admits lingering guilt over not being at her father's bedside at his death and she reveals her rationale for keeping the McTeer name, but on the issue of her courtship, for instance, she is exasperatingly vague. The way McTeer tells it, she went from working as a constituency assistant with Clark in late 1972 to receiving flowers on Valentine's Day '73 to a marriage proposal shortly thereafter. Presumably, McTeer and Clark dated. What is he like as a guy and how did he make her feel? McTeer is more forthcoming about her childhood and her anxiety about simultaneously pursuing a career, keeping up as a political wife, and trying to raise their daughter Catherine. Still, for all but the most devoted, In My Own Name is a wash that probably would have worked better as a lunchtime lecture with all the highlights and fewer missives from the campaign trail in the Prairies. --Kim Hughes
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
“In My Own Name is a fascinating look at Canada’s recent political past, as seen from the inside. It is a candid, personal account of the joys and stresses of political life...Maureen McTeer is an example to all Canadian women, indeed to all women everywhere. She shows us that it is possible to live our convictions, to fight for what we believe in, and even to find a life partner who will support us, and cheer along the way!”
—The Hamilton Spectator
“A remarkably candid memoir...the political book of the season...the most revealing read this fall for political junkies.”
—The Ottawa Citizen
“Highly personal and surprisingly candid.”
—The National Post
“It is a thought-provoking book that prompts reflection upon how life has changed for Canadian women over the past three decades, the fragility of those gains and how much has yet to change.”
—The Gazette (Ottawa)
“McTeer has strong opinions and is not afraid, is even eager, to share and explain them.”
—The Globe and Mail
“What makes [In My Own Name] a success, rather than an earnest but dry treatise on one woman’s feminist life, is the palpable warmth with which she writes. In My Own Name gives us lovely little tidbits of behind-the-scenes action that will delight any political junkie…. One can’t help but marvel throughout the memoir at the seemingly endless font of energy McTeer brings to life…. It’s a classy read all the way.”
—Edmonton Journal
“Her memoir … is a thorough, dignified work. For a woman who has always been intensely private, the book is a revealing look into the cost that politics can exact on a family…. It’s not a show-and-tell, spill-the-beans book, but rather one that presents us with a picture of a woman who has long had a reputation for contrariness and who became a feminist before it was fashionable. It’s also a primer on how to balance a busy political life with motherhood and a respected legal and academic career.”
—Edmonton Journal
“McTeer’s honesty and her personal look into her own life and that of being a public figure as ‘wife of’ are not only interesting, but would be instructive for all the young women who have never known a world without feminism and equality.”
—The Calgary Herald; The Ottawa Citizen
“McTeer’s honest look into her own life and that of being a public figure is interesting and potentially instructive — especially for young women who have never known a world without feminism and equality.”
—Truro Daily News/Times Colonist
“Maureen McTeer helped redefine political wives … This mid-life memoir demonstrates a dedication to and a passion and sacrifice for politics … Many readers will find entertainment, even catharsis, in McTeer’s blunt criticisms of her political rivals and detractors.”
—Fast Forward Weekly
“Maureen McTeer’s Memoir is an intriguing and intimate recounting of a personal, professional and political life lived on fast forward, by a very private person…McTeer is such a good storyteller that she makes us experience vicariously the tension and the atmosphere of these Machiavellian political confrontations…McTeer is an evocative travel writer…In My Own Name is a warm witty and moving testimony of McTeer’s personal journey.”
—The Record (Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo)
From the Hardcover edition.
—The Hamilton Spectator
“A remarkably candid memoir...the political book of the season...the most revealing read this fall for political junkies.”
—The Ottawa Citizen
“Highly personal and surprisingly candid.”
—The National Post
“It is a thought-provoking book that prompts reflection upon how life has changed for Canadian women over the past three decades, the fragility of those gains and how much has yet to change.”
—The Gazette (Ottawa)
“McTeer has strong opinions and is not afraid, is even eager, to share and explain them.”
—The Globe and Mail
“What makes [In My Own Name] a success, rather than an earnest but dry treatise on one woman’s feminist life, is the palpable warmth with which she writes. In My Own Name gives us lovely little tidbits of behind-the-scenes action that will delight any political junkie…. One can’t help but marvel throughout the memoir at the seemingly endless font of energy McTeer brings to life…. It’s a classy read all the way.”
—Edmonton Journal
“Her memoir … is a thorough, dignified work. For a woman who has always been intensely private, the book is a revealing look into the cost that politics can exact on a family…. It’s not a show-and-tell, spill-the-beans book, but rather one that presents us with a picture of a woman who has long had a reputation for contrariness and who became a feminist before it was fashionable. It’s also a primer on how to balance a busy political life with motherhood and a respected legal and academic career.”
—Edmonton Journal
“McTeer’s honesty and her personal look into her own life and that of being a public figure as ‘wife of’ are not only interesting, but would be instructive for all the young women who have never known a world without feminism and equality.”
—The Calgary Herald; The Ottawa Citizen
“McTeer’s honest look into her own life and that of being a public figure is interesting and potentially instructive — especially for young women who have never known a world without feminism and equality.”
—Truro Daily News/Times Colonist
“Maureen McTeer helped redefine political wives … This mid-life memoir demonstrates a dedication to and a passion and sacrifice for politics … Many readers will find entertainment, even catharsis, in McTeer’s blunt criticisms of her political rivals and detractors.”
—Fast Forward Weekly
“Maureen McTeer’s Memoir is an intriguing and intimate recounting of a personal, professional and political life lived on fast forward, by a very private person…McTeer is such a good storyteller that she makes us experience vicariously the tension and the atmosphere of these Machiavellian political confrontations…McTeer is an evocative travel writer…In My Own Name is a warm witty and moving testimony of McTeer’s personal journey.”
—The Record (Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo)
From the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A novel political life,
By Renee V. Cox (British Columbia, CANADA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: In My Own Name (Hardcover)
Maureen McTeer, wife of...no, mustn't say that. This talented, fluently bilingual woman just happened to marry, at the age of 22, a man 13 years her senior who would become Canada's 15th prime minister. But she accomplished a great deal on her own. In the late 1970s--in what was supposedly a time of great advancement for women--Joe Clark, already a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament from Alberta when she met him, lost a considerable faction of committed party voters because his wife chose to keep her maiden name. And a lot of those voters were women. Fast forward to the '90s. Hilary Rodham became Hillary Rodham Clinton, and often just Hillary Clinton. Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose?You know the expression: I'm not superman? Well, McTeer may have been a real superwoman. Yes, she had a lot of support, but she went to law school, was admitted to the Ontario bar, and got a master's degree in law, all the while helping her husband campaign successfully for the highest elected office in Canada. Later when his minority government crumbled after a few months due to factors that were not entirely their fault (although some were, such as poor "party whipping," and a degree of naiveté dealing with members of other parties as well as their own) her life was even more stressful. And when her husband lost his party leadership to Brian Mulroney, it was the most difficult time of all. In this book, Joe Clark comes off as a man of intelligence wit, grace and humour, and above all, integrity. It is difficult to understand, from this perspective, why Joe was often earlier dismissed as "Joe Who?" During these past years, if I thought about McTeer at all--perhaps because McTeer lived her own life to a great extent-- I would have just put her absence from my consciousness to the fact that the Clarks faded from the scene. This was not true; they continued to work and accomplish much individually and as a couple. But they did not enjoy particularly ample or good press. McTeer herself admits to using coarse language in a moment of understandable exasperation during a party convention, and I recall reading years ago, around the time she first announced she was pregnant with her daughter, that she demanded in an interview to know why the media were always "crapping on my husband." She definitely had a point, but this type of remark is not endearing. Even though McTeer was disliked by some of the more right-wing members of the Progressive Conservative party, she had her share of admirers, and justifiably so. She ran for Parliament unsuccessfully in 1988 and I think this was Canada's loss. Her pro-choice stance for women was to haunt her, an example of the pitfalls for candidates and one that, because she was a woman, became an unfairly heavy burden. McTeer tells a chilling anecdote about her beloved daughter being harassed during door-to-door campaigning. There have been jests over time that the party title, Progressive Conservatives, is an oxymoron, but McTeer makes the description sound not only feasible but exciting. The Progressive Conservatives ("Tory") party, were nearly wiped out in the post-Mulroney federal election 10 years ago, and they recently voted to merge with their nemesis, the Alliance (formerly "Reform"), a grassroots party that sprang up in the frustrated West. Although Alliance has achieved substantial stature, it has remained unable to "crack" the East with its huge numbers of voters, many of them francophones. Clearly the opposition hopes this new incarnation will give the powerful Liberals under incoming Prime Minister Paul Martin a run for their money. But McTeer, who defines herself as a social progressive and a fiscal conservative (a laudable if somewhat contrary notion), must be utterly dismayed by the turn of events. This time the party has chosen to drop the old "Progressive" (which goes back to the union of the Progressives and the Conservatives in 1942) and call itself, plain and simple, "Conservative" once again. Joe Clark will not be pleased. And I am sure--indeed hopeful--that we will hear more from McTeer about this.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
4.0 out of 5 stars
A novel political life,
By Renee V. Cox - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: In My Own Name (Hardcover)
Maureen McTeer, wife of...no, mustn't say that. This talented, fluently bilingual woman just happened to marry, at the age of 22, a man 13 years her senior who would become Canada's 15th prime minister. But she accomplished a great deal on her own. In the late 1970s--in what was supposedly a time of great advancement for women--Joe Clark, already a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament from Alberta when she met him, lost a considerable faction of committed party voters because his wife chose to keep her maiden name. And a lot of those voters were women. Fast forward to the '90s. Hilary Rodham became Hillary Rodham Clinton, and often just Hillary Clinton. Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose?You know the expression: I'm not superman? Well, McTeer may have been a real superwoman. Yes, she had a lot of support, but she went to law school, was admitted to the Ontario bar, and got a master's degree in law, all the while helping her husband campaign successfully for the highest elected office in Canada. Later when his minority government crumbled after a few months due to factors that were not entirely their fault (although some were, such as poor "party whipping," and a degree of naiveté dealing with members of other parties as well as their own) her life was even more stressful. And when her husband lost his party leadership to Brian Mulroney, it was the most difficult time of all. In this book, Joe Clark comes off as a man of intelligence wit, grace and humour, and above all, integrity. It is difficult to understand, from this perspective, why Joe was often earlier dismissed as "Joe Who?" During these past years, if I thought about McTeer at all--perhaps because McTeer lived her own life to a great extent-- I would have just put her absence from my consciousness to the fact that the Clarks faded from the scene. This was not true; they continued to work and accomplish much individually and as a couple. But they did not enjoy particularly ample or good press. McTeer herself admits to using coarse language in a moment of understandable exasperation during a party convention, and I recall reading years ago, around the time she first announced she was pregnant with her daughter, that she demanded in an interview to know why the media were always "crapping on my husband." She definitely had a point, but this type of remark is not endearing. Even though McTeer was disliked by some of the more right-wing members of the Progressive Conservative party, she had her share of admirers, and justifiably so. She ran for Parliament unsuccessfully in 1988 and I think this was Canada's loss. Her pro-choice stance for women was to haunt her, an example of the pitfalls for candidates and one that, because she was a woman, became an unfairly heavy burden. McTeer tells a chilling anecdote about her beloved daughter being harassed during door-to-door campaigning. There have been jests over time that the party title, Progressive Conservatives, is an oxymoron, but McTeer makes the description sound not only feasible but exciting. The Progressive Conservatives ("Tory") party, were nearly wiped out in the post-Mulroney federal election 10 years ago, and they recently voted to merge with their nemesis, the Alliance (formerly "Reform"), a grassroots party that sprang up in the frustrated West. Although Alliance has achieved substantial stature, it has remained unable to "crack" the East with its huge numbers of voters, many of them francophones. Clearly the opposition hopes this new incarnation will give the powerful Liberals under incoming Prime Minister Paul Martin a run for their money. But McTeer, who defines herself as a social progressive and a fiscal conservative (a laudable if somewhat contrary notion), must be utterly dismayed by the turn of events. This time the party has chosen to drop the old "Progressive" (which goes back to the union of the Progressives and the Conservatives in 1942) and call itself, plain and simple, "Conservative" once again. Joe Clark will not be pleased. And I am sure--indeed hopeful--that we will hear more from McTeer about this. |
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