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Brian Brennan’s biography of Ernest Manning, the radio-preacher turned long-time premier of Alberta, is a well-written and informative book that tells the story of a man few people care to learn about.

For Manning, there was no such thing as the separation of church and state. His story is one in which religion, particularly fundamentalist religion, looms large. It’s this fact that seems to turn many people off Manning as a subject either for scholarly research or for mere political curiosity.

How interesting can Manning be, the theory goes, if every question regarding his motivation is answered by turning to the Bible and reading the appropriate Psalm?

Brennan, a best-selling author and journalist, tackles this issue head-on in his introduction to The Good Steward, pointing out that despite Manning’s profound influence on Alberta a definitive biography of the man had not yet been written.

It’s been said that the first step to understanding Canada is to study the parts that make up the whole. And to understand Alberta, you need to study men like Manning, whose religious values and moral conservatism helped shaped the province into what it is today.

This book does the trick for anyone searching for a solid biography of the man who ruled Alberta from 1943 to 1968 with one hand on the reigns of power and the other placed firmly on the Bible.