The Canadians: Biographies of a Nation, Vol. 3

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

In recent years, biography—a favorite genre in the 19th century—has
come into its own again. Witness the popularity of History Television
and the Heritage Minutes Series, among others. Stories of people’s
lives are endlessly interesting.

In this lively collection, women’s achievements have been given only
a limited share of space. However, Marion de Chastelain, “Ma”
Murray, and Marion Orr are recognized. Billed as “the fastest pen in
the Yukon,” Margaret Murray edited the Lillooet News in Bridge River,
Yukon, in the 1930s. This spunky woman had only a Grade 3 education but
had an unlimited number of strong opinions and was indeed “a very good
fit” for a frontier town.

Marion de Chastelain (born Walsh) was the mother of General de
Chastelain, twice appointed Chief of the Defence Staff by Pierre
Trudeau. Marion, who was competent in seven languages, married in 1933,
and with her husband spent part of the 1930s in a Europe that was being
turned upside down by Hitler. After World War II, she worked in Calgary
until she was well into her 70s.

Each biography in the volume is typically 20 pages, just long enough to
allow for the detail and anecdotes that bring lives to life. Other
subjects include Samuel Cunard, “the man who invented the Atlantic,”
and Sir William Osler, one of the giants of Western medicine. Osler
entered a medical world that was chaotic and disorganized—as the
authors describe, a “largely intuitive or even guess-based
profession.” Osler’s own extensive writings, along with his massive
collection of medical works, became one of his impressive contributions
to the field.

This fine third volume in the popular series combines substantial
historical and biographical detail with a lively style aimed at the
general reader.