Norman Bethune: A Life of Passionate Conviction

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

Young adults need to be reminded of and inspired by the biographies of
Canada’s great men and women: statesmen, entrepreneurs, leaders with a
passion for social justice. The Quest Library, edited by Rhonda Bailey,
has initiated just such a series, and the four titles under review are
all winners.

Social historian Lynne Bowen describes how an indentured coal miner in
the 19th century became a railroad builder and the richest man in
British Columbia. The story of Robert Dunsmuir reveals the rich
complexity of 19th-century conditions in a wilderness province.

Betty Keller’s portrait of Pauline Johnson, “the Mohawk
Princess,” reveals a remarkably independent Native woman who gave
voice to her Mohawk people. Keller, a teacher and seasoned writer, is
the founder and producer of the Sechelt Writers Festival.

Novelist, poet, and freelance journalist Dave Margoshes does justice to
one of Canada’s outstanding thinkers and politicians. Douglas was the
eldest son in a family of Scottish immigrants. He became leader of the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and, in later years, the NDP.
He was responsible for the establishment of public medicare and used his
gifts to fight on behalf of ordinary people.

John Wilson tells the moving story of Norman Bethune, the Canadian
doctor who brought the first mobile blood-transfusion units to the
wounded in the Spanish Civil War and who later joined the Communist
Chinese in their guerilla war against Japanese invaders in the 1930s.
Wilson’s portrait is fast paced and dramatic yet full of the homely
details that convey the texture of daily life. A former research
geologist and a prolific journalist, Wilson has published six books for
young adults and one work of adult historical fiction.

Each volume includes a few black-and-white photographs, a substantial
chronology, and an index. The Quest Library is off to an admirable start
with these four volumes. Highly recommended.