Description
Book SynopsisThis study of the personality of William Lyon Mackenzie King challenges the view that he led 'a double life. ' Through a blending of psycho-biography and political analysis, Joy Esberey shows how King 's personality traits influenced his political behaviour, and how his personal and public life were an integrated whole, neither contradictory nor unrelated. She explores the various traumas of his early family life, resulting in difficulties with autonomy and adequate occupational and sexual roles. She also discusses the dimensions of neurotic trends, including problems associated with his mother 's death, the significance of his religious beliefs and need for spiritualism, the cult of money, and obsessive-compulsive defence mechanisms.
King was greatly concerned with the Tennysonian ideal of knightly conduct -- pure and heroic social leadership. This trait is defined in terms of relationships with women and with such men as Lord Tweedsmuir, Loring Christie, and Vincent Ma
