Madness and Ruin: Politics and the Economy in the Neoconservative Age

David Robinson is an economics professor at Laurentian University.

The 30 essays in this collection previously appeared in such
publications as The Canadian Forum, This Magazine, Queen’s Quarterly,
and Policy Options. Most were written in the last five years. Taken
together they are like very good letters home from a journalist on the
front lines. For Watkins, the battle is about saving Canada.

Unfortunately, the collection does not live up to its title. There is
no shortage of trenchant criticism, but the articles are connected more
by tone and point of view than by sustained analysis. They are
informative, insightful, and humorous, but the real strength of the
collection is the way in which the individual essays work together; they
are like a series of snapshots taken at a political picnic, more candid
and illuminating than the official photographs.

The author is a historic figure in his own right, as a former leader of
the Waffle, a socialist and nationalist movement within the NDP that was
driven out in 1972. Watkins calls himself an aging nationalist, a
political economist, and a heretic, but he is also an entertainer with a
distinctly Canadian voice. Many readers will welcome this chance to get
to know him better.