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Margaret MacMillan

Extraordinary Canadians:Stephen Leacock Paperback – Sept. 4 2012

by Margaret MacMillan (Author)

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In 1912, Stephen Leacock’s comic masterpiece Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town made him an international star overnight. He was published in magazines and newspapers across Canada and in New York and London. Charlie Chaplin asked him for a screenplay; a young F. Scott Fitzgerald expressed his admiration. Eminent historian Margaret MacMillan argues that, while much of what Leacock satirized in small-town Canada has disappeared, his humour endures. His skewering of pretension and his self-deprecating wit entertained thousands during his heyday, even as it defined a quintessentially Canadian stance. But Leacock, MacMillan points out, was also a public intellectual, engaged with questions about government, war, and a just society. Writing with her usual brio, MacMillan has created a wonderfully insightful and affectionate portrait of a man who mattered.

Print length

192 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Canada
Publication date

Sept. 4 2012
Dimensions

12.93 x 1.27 x 19.63 cm
ISBN-10

0143055119
ISBN-13

978-0143055112
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Review

“Lively . . . precise and eloquent.” —The Globe and Mail

“Margaret MacMillan does a superb job of breathing life into Stephen Leacock’s quirks and eccentricities—and evoking wrenching pity in the reader’s heart for Leacock’s often very unhappy lot in life.” —Calgary Herald

“A sympathetic but not uncritical portrait.” —Geist magazine

“MacMillan’s taut biography is rich in historical detail. In addition to sketching the career path of the McGill economics professor who developed a lucrative sideline in humour, the book provides fascinating glimpses into Canadian life during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.” —CBC News

About the Author

MARGARET MACMILLAN received her PhD from Oxford University and was a professor of international history at Oxford, where she was also the warden of St. Antony's College. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature; a senior fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto; and an honorary fellow of Trinity College, University of Toronto, and of St Hilda's College, Oxford University. She sits on the boards of the Mosaic Institute and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and on the editorial boards of The International History Review and First World War Studies. She also sits on the advisory board of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation and is a Trustee of the Rhodes Trust. Her previous books include Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History, Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World, Women of the Raj: The Mothers, Wives, and Daughters of the British Empire in India, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, which won the Samuel Johnson Prize, the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize, and the Duff Cooper Prize and was a New York Times Editors' Choice, and The War That Ended Peace.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Canada (Sept. 4 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143055119
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143055112
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 177 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.93 x 1.27 x 19.63 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #808,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,129 in Canadian Military History
- #1,956 in Canadian Biographies
- #4,058 in Author Biographies (Books)

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4.2 10 ratings

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Margaret MacMillan

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Margaret MacMillan was the Warden of St Antony’s College and a Professor of International History at the University of Oxford from 2007-17. Her books include Women of the Raj (1988, 2007); Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World (2001) for which she was the first woman to win the Samuel Johnson Prize; Nixon in China: Six Days that Changed the World; The Uses and Abuses of History (2008); and Extraordinary Canadians: Stephen Leacock (2009). Her most recent book is The War that Ended Peace. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, University of Toronto and of Lady Margaret Hall, St Antonys College and St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford, and is an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy. She sits on he editorial boards of International History, the International Journal and First World War Studies. She is a Trustee of the Imperial War Museum and of the Central European University.

She has several honorary degrees including from the King's College, the Royal Military College, Ryerson, Western Ontario, Calgary, Memorial, and the American University of Paris. In 2006 Professor MacMillan was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2016 became a Companion. She became a Companion of Honour in 2018.

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4.2 out of 5

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Top reviews from Canada

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Gerrit Bilkes

Stephen Leacock

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 18, 2014

Verified Purchase

I have always felt attracted to Stephen Leacock, who continues to be famous for his literary humour. At the same time he was an economist with a PhD from the University of Chicago, who taught for years at McGill University in Montreal. In his days he wrote many books to try to come to grips with the ravages of the Great Depression. He loved the sophistication of big city and university life, but he also enjoyed spending his summers in small-town Ontario, where he had grown up as a boy on a farm. There he wrote plays for children to perform in his home during the summer vacations and began to write books of humour which made him more famous than his economics. He traveled through the world to read this humorous stories to fascinated audiences. It helped him make some extra money for his son who had certain medical problems.

Helpful

PiccoSquare

You Can't Beat MacMillan!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 18, 2014

Verified Purchase

Leacock is a Canadian staple. But to look behind the scenes shows a man ahead of his time, a free thinker and in my opinion a brilliant mind. MacMillan has carefully shown us the human behind the quips and stories and a glimpse of a time past which our parents and grandparents knew. I was initially surprised that a major historian such as she. had written this but in thinking about it, her style suits th theme and her mind wraps around the social investigation well. There is still very much the small town in many of us though we inhabit the canyons of our modern urban centers. This is a "must-read" in my opinion. Thank you Ms. MacMillan.

Helpful

Theodore A. Rushton

What we have here is a failure to understand

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on October 26, 2010

Like others in this series of presumptive books, MacMillan is long on knowledge, short on understanding and filled with the entertaining opinions of a columnist who is out to advance an idea more than to illuminate a subject.

Leacock was the quintessential Canadian; someone who loves Canada so deeply they cannot resist mocking their own self-absorption in a belief they feel must be in error, despite feeling absolutely justified in their beliefs. Like Americans, Canada was born with the Declaration of Independence on 1776; Canada is descended from the Loyalist faction who fled the United States after 1783 on the belief, "we must be right, or why else would we suffer so much?"

Ever since the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists, Canadian nationalism is a belief that all benefits of the Thirteen Colonies can be gained without the mad excesses of Yankee rum, revolt and revision. Canada never accepted the 'Common Sense' of Thomas Paine; instead the intellectual goal is the pain of "Subdued Sense ... if it's all right with you".

Leacock, as MacMillan shows again and again, deflated the temptation of pomposity based on ambition or achievement. 'Sunshine Sketches ...' is the story of a small town, one of the richest per capita in Canada in 1912, that Leacock said should not become overly impressed with its brief good fortune. Mariposa is a metaphor for Canada, a warning about excess instead of caution.

In many ways, Leacock's fears and warnings foretold the history of Canada.

Perhaps MacMillan didn't know that Orillia (Leacock's Mariposa) produced some of the first Canadian automobiles, supplied much of the heavy mining equipment and supplies used to develop northern Ontario (ever hear of Carss mackinaws?) and was a prime resort for the wealthy (ever hear of Weir's Folly?). Leacock warned about being too fixated on this early and brief success; just as he cautioned Canada about the perils of the easy wealth produced by the "Dutch Disease" during the first half of the last century.

The book is neither a history nor a biography; instead, it's an assertion of Canadian nationalism. So much the better. These are books written with a point of view, and Canada is better for them even if they are better suited for television docu-dramas than for serious study.

For an American effort at describing the same perils, read 'Babbitt' by Sinclair Lewis. It's the same theme as 'Sunshine Sketches ...", but done without a hint of humour or, as Leacock wrote, without a kindly contemplation of life's incongruities.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Coach C

A Most Extraordinary Canadian

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 7, 2009

I'm ashamed to admit as a Canadian that I did not know who Stephen Leacock was before reading this short biography by Margaret MacMillan. The book is not an exhaustive look, but more of a biographical essay touching on some of the highlights of the writer, academic, philosopher, and government advisor.

What I appreciated mostly about the book is MacMillan's ability to contextualize Leacock's accomplishments as well as his faults. For example, we shouldn't fault him for what we today would view as his retrograde views on gender and race -- Leacock was a man of his time.

The most informative section were Leacock's philosophies on the role of education, and specifically the value of a liberal arts education as compared to the modern sciences. As someone who has both, I wholeheartedly agree with Leacock's assertion.

Overall, this is a very fair and balanced look at an incredible man who lived through the beginnings of Canada as a nation.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kenneth Jackson

A Good Canadian Writes About Another

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 7, 2009

Margaret MacMillan has written a warm and appreciative presentation of one of Canada's great writers and great men. It is a page turner! MacMillan tells us something of Leacock's early life in England and of the trials of the family's life here in Ontario. It is an unhappy tale of financial struggle, of marital discord and dysfunctional family life. How was it that such a family produced such a man? Humourist, scholar, teacher and internationally respected author in the field of political science, he was insightful of human nature, steady in ambition and more than kind to his students at McGill (including the women students).

MacMillan's presentation matches the man: creative, warm, persuasive, kind and insightful.

I am glad to say that I finally know Leacock. MacMillan has served him well. My only regret is that I was never a student at McGill and too young to have benefitted from him when Leacock was a professor there.

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Theodore A. Rushton

What we have here is a failure to understand

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 26, 2010

Verified Purchase

Like others in this series of presumptive books, MacMillan is long on knowledge, short on understanding and filled with the entertaining opinions of a columnist who is out to advance an idea more than to illuminate a subject.

Leacock was the quintessential Canadian; someone who loves Canada so deeply they cannot resist mocking their own self-absorption in a belief they feel must be in error, despite feeling absolutely justified in their beliefs. Like Americans, Canada was born with the Declaration of Independence on 1776; Canada is descended from the Loyalist faction who fled the United States after 1783 on the belief, "we must be right, or why else would we suffer so much?"

Ever since the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists, Canadian nationalism is a belief that all benefits of the Thirteen Colonies can be gained without the mad excesses of Yankee rum, revolt and revision. Canada never accepted the 'Common Sense' of Thomas Paine; instead the intellectual goal is the pain of "Subdued Sense ... if it's all right with you".

Leacock, as MacMillan shows again and again, deflated the temptation of pomposity based on ambition or achievement. 'Sunshine Sketches ...' is the story of a small town, one of the richest per capita in Canada in 1912, that Leacock said should not become overly impressed with its brief good fortune. Mariposa is a metaphor for Canada, a warning about excess instead of caution.

In many ways, Leacock's fears and warnings foretold the history of Canada.

Perhaps MacMillan didn't know that Orillia (Leacock's Mariposa) produced some of the first Canadian automobiles, supplied much of the heavy mining equipment and supplies used to develop northern Ontario (ever hear of Carss mackinaws?) and was a prime resort for the wealthy (ever hear of Weir's Folly?). Leacock warned about being too fixated on this early and brief success; just as he cautioned Canada about the perils of the easy wealth produced by the "Dutch Disease" during the first half of the last century.

The book is neither a history nor a biography; instead, it's an assertion of Canadian nationalism. So much the better. These are books written with a point of view, and Canada is better for them even if they are better suited for television docu-dramas than for serious study.

For an American effort at describing the same perils, read 'Babbitt' by Sinclair Lewis. It's the same theme as 'Sunshine Sketches ...", but done without a hint of humour or, as Leacock wrote, without a kindly contemplation of life's incongruities.

4 people found this helpful

See all reviews

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