Description
Book SynopsisThis definitive biography of a major Canadian political figure provides a new perspective on federal politics from the 1960s through the 1980s and gives John Turner his rightful place in Canadian history.
Trade Review"Finally, at 82, Turner's life and career in politics receive appropriate recognition in Elusive Destiny, a biography by Carleton University historian Paul Litt that is one of the best Canadian political books of the year."
-- L. Ian MacDonald * London Free Press *
Former prime minister John Turner’s life and career receive appropriate recognition in
Elusive Destiny: The Political Vocation of John Napier Turner, one of the best Canadian political books of the year. -- L. Ian MacDonald * Montreal Gazette *
Exhaustively detailed and based on interviews with key people, including Turner himself, the book provides the first complete account of a man whose rise and fall still stands as one of Canada's most intriguing political stories. -- Mark Kennedy * Postmedia News *
New biography of Turner ... is a valuable, new addition to that recorded history ... the book chronicles Turner’s political career through some powerful Liberal highs and lows of the latter half of the 20th century. -- Susan Delacourt * The Toronto Star *
If John Turner had been elected prime minister, Canada would be an entirely different country ... there would never have been a Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the Bloc Québécois and Reform parties would likely not have been formed and ‘the fiscal base for Canadian social democracy would have been stronger and social programs better preserved under a Turner administration,’ according to a new biography on the former prime minister by Carleton University professor Paul Litt. -- Bea Vongdouangchanh * The Hill Times *
A compelling biography of a tragic political figure ... [and] an important history of Canadian politics in the 1970s and 1980s and, most important, chronicled the first years of the decades-long self-immolation of a once-great political party. -- John Ibbitson * The Globe and Mail *
"With the advantage of time and the depth of Litt's book, the accusations that Turner was yesterday's man by the late 1980s seem more accurate than ever, especially given a media environment closer in time and tone to the Kardashian-Humphries wedding than the Kennedy-Nixon debate." -- Dan Rowe * Quill and Quire *
Is it time to revisit the record of John Turner? Thanks to biographer Paul Litt, and his new book on John Turner, the answer is yes. -- Michael Harris * iPolitics *
Table of ContentsForeword by John English
Introduction: The Right Man at the Wrong Time
PART 1: LIBERAL APPRENTICE, 1929-68
1 The Making of an Extrovert
2 Circling Home
3 Getting Ahead in Canadian Politics
4 Shoals of Candidacy
5 Close to Power
PART 2: MASTER POLITICIAN, 1968-79
6 Driving the Omnibus
7 Implementing the Just Society
8 Apprehended Insurrection
9 Intranational Diplomacy
10 Shokku
1 1 The Price of Gas
12 Stalking Stagflation
13 Citizen Turner
PART 3: LEADERSHIP, 1979-88
14 A Myth and a Muddle
15 Oiling the Tinman
16 Prime Minister for a Day
17 Things Fall Apart
18 The Road Back
19 Participatory Democracy
20 Creature from the Black Lagoon
21 Image, Substance, and Subversion
22 Mad Dog and Businessmen
Conclusion: Legacies and Might-Have-Beens
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
