The Court Jester

There comes a time in every man’s life (and every woman’s too, I assume) when the realization dawns that it is time to tidy up. If that man or woman is a writer, this process of tidying up takes the form of reviewing one’s accomplishments, putting one’s papers in order and (as in this instance at least) preserving one’s records and one’s writings. Readers should be grateful that writers do this for us, often employing assistants to track the whereabouts of texts that were otherwise misplaced or lost and forgotten.

I think Peter C. Newman has reached the tidying-up phase and has decided to do this, to set things in order to make it easier for his readers, both today’s and tomorrow’s, to assess his contribution to our national consciousness. That phrase “national consciousness” is rather grand, but I will return to it later in this review of the two volumes that are now staring me down. One volume, Heroes: Canadian Champions, Dark Horses and Icons, has a white...