The Oxford Don on the Potomac

Even the greatest stickler for propriety and protocol—should there be any left—could not reasonably object to the publication of Allan Gotlieb’s diaries from his years as Canada’s ambassador to the United States. The prime minister who appointed him, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, is dead. So is Ronald Reagan, the president who served as the Sun King of Versailles-on-the- Potomac during Gotlieb’s tenure. There should be, in 2007, no earth-shaking repercussions from the observations that an ambassador managed to jot down a couple of decades ago, in the shreds of free time available during one of the most intense and tempestuous periods in U.S.-Canada relations since the War of 1812. So it is safe to recommend The Washington Diaries, 1981–1989, to the sober student of Canadian history, who can then absorb the wisdom Gotlieb distilled from eight years of seeking wiggle room at the centre of power.

But what about everyone else? A scandal-monger might reason that there...