A double review with Canadian Folk: Portraits of Remarkable Lives
by Peter Unwin
Dundurn Press, Toronto, 2013
226 pp., $21.99 paperback
Ken McGoogan’s latest book, 50 Canadians Who Changed the World, highlights an interesting assortment of people born in Canada during the twentieth century.
McGoogan divides the book into six parts: activists; visionaries; artists, painters, writers, and filmmakers; humanitarians; performers, actors, musicians, and athletes; and scientists and inventors. Some of the names will ring familiar, such as Pierre Trudeau, David Suzuki, Farley Mowat, Oscar Peterson, Leonard Cohen, Wayne Gretzky, and Terry Fox, while others are less well-known. Each individual (or grouping of individuals — some of the fifty chapters involve more than one main personality) receives a brief biographical overview that explains their particular achievement. McGoogan also provides interesting tidbits about their lives.
One well-known personality, included under “activists,” is Tommy Douglas, a Scottish-born Canadian from a poor, working-class family. His championing of universal health care was spurred on by his experience as a child, when a chance visit from a skilled orthopaedic surgeon saved his injured leg. “I felt that no boy should have to depend either for his leg or his life upon the ability of his parents to raise enough money to bring a first-class surgeon to his bedside,” Douglas said.
It could be debated as to whether all of these fifty Canadians have indeed “changed the world,” but they have certainly educated, entertained, inspired, and enriched the lives of many. For readers, other notable Canadians not included by McGoogan might come to mind. As the author noted, “I find myself yearning to add to their number.“
Canadian Folk: Portraits of Remarkable Lives, by Peter Unwin, is a slimmer version of 50 Canadians that looks further back in history. The personalities and incidents mentioned by Unwin were chosen for their “firsts” or for the opportunity to relate other weird and wonderful facts. The publisher calls it “a fresh look at the saints, sinners, oddballs, and outright nutbars who have populated the Canadian landscape.“
Unwin unabashedly points out the flaws as well as the admirable qualities of people like Paul Kane and Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney). He writes of the racism experienced by people such as athlete Tom Longboat. And readers will learn of how the Canadian government granted timber baron J.R. Booth an amazing eleven thousand square kilometres of Ontario’s pine forest, which he subsequently flattened. We even find out about the death of the famed pachyderm Jumbo in St. Thomas, Ontario.
Unwin’s book contains a few factual errors. That aside, it provides much interesting historical data, along with ample entertainment value to make for an enjoyable read.
— Beverley Tallon (Read bio)
Beverley Tallon is a freelance writer and the former Assistant Editor for Canada's History.