A Rare Gift for Leadership and Friendship

Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau is the first book in a two-volume study being undertaken by distinguished scholar and former parliamentarian John English. It follows, in a sense, the course begun in his splendid biography of Lester B. Pearson, of understanding the events of recent Canadian politics through a better knowledge of the story of the development of character of political leaders. This initial volume examines in 567 pages of text the life of Trudeau from his birth in 1919 to his accession to the office of prime minister in 1968.

It is magisterial in scope. Professor English has had complete access to memoirs, diaries, letters and other personal documents that are not available to other scholars or biographers. He has, therefore, usefully put on public record much information that would otherwise be unknown. He does not show any particular bias, nor try to prove a specific thesis. His purpose seems not to be to reach a...