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John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician. The Old Chieftain

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I am rather surprised to be the first person to review this book, since Donald Creighton's biography of John A. Macdonald is considered a classic in Canadian history. The book was first published in two parts, in 1952 and 1955, and both parts won the Governor General's award for these two years. At that time its topic was relatively new, since there had been only a few detailed biographies on Macdonald written in the half century before Creighton's (such as the one written by sir Joseph Pope, Macdonald's literary executor, who had at that time control over Macdonald's papers -- which were donated to the Public Archives of Canada in 1917) and even fewer books on the great politician have been written since Creighton's. But with all this new wealth of information now available to historians, Creighton was able to shed new light upon this famous Canadian statesman.

But Creighton's book is more than a conventional biography. It tries to make history come to life. Indeed, Creighton wrote Macdonald's biography in the shape of a novel, which means that the only quotations in the book are either from newspaper articles or from letters written by, to, or about John A. Macdonald. No secondary work is quoted in the entire book, even though it appears that Creighton read extensively on the subject before writing his book. The book includes endnotes, but it does not read like a conventional history book. The novel-like approach used by Creighton makes the book a pleasure to read. Creighton succeeds in making Canadian history interesting.

However, Creighton's book is also representative of its time, and representative of Creighton's personal beliefs. Creighton, who died in 1979, was known as a Canadian nationalist with strong anti-American tendencies. His choice of John A. Macdonald as a subject rather than, for example, William Lyon MacKenzie King (another famous Canadian Prime Minister), might be explained by the fact that Macdonald was himself a nationalist. Macdonald once declared: "A British subject I was born, a British subject I will die," and his famous National Policy, which favoured the development of the Canadian West and which introduced high tariffs on American goods, is still considered as one of the most nationalistic policies ever applied in Canada. Creighton, therefore, chose Macdonald as topic because of the similarities between their political positions. Therefore, Creighton is sympathetic to Macdonald throughout the book. Creighton's position regarding French-Canadian nationalism and Quebec separatism (he saw them as disruptive elements that weakened his beloved Canada against the United States) also had an impact on how the book was written, which is particularly evident when he writes about the two Metis rebellions in a rather unsympathetic way.

Also, the novel-like type of writing does have a disadvantage: it only allows the reader to know a single view on Macdonald. Historical books written in the conventional manner often include different positions on a single event, but in the case of Creighton's book, the narrative strength of the novel simply cannot include more than one version, since the sweeping narrative would otherwise be broken up by different views, and the book could consequently lose all of its appeal.

In summary, because the book has a clear bias in favour of Macdonald, and because it has not aged well (this style of writing is not used anymore by historians, because of the limitations it creates, the sacrifice of impartiality in favour of a continuous narrative form), I believe it does not deserve a full mark. On the other side, Creighton's book is interesting to read as an example of the historical research method of its time. And I must also admire Creighton's skill for making history come to life. We must thank him for his use of a writing style that makes Canadian history accessible to the larger public. And the caricatures by the Canadian cartoonist Bengough, that are present throughout the book, are an extra treat.