John A Macdonald: The Young Politician, the Old Chieftain

H. Graham Rawlinson is co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most
Influential Canadians of the 20th Century.

There is doubtless some value in once again having Donald Creighton’s
titanic classic of Canadian political history widely available. But
after nearly half a century, these volumes show their age: this is
history from a bygone era, rich in research and remarkably detailed, but
flush with a moral certainty that makes many of its judgments seem both
dated and dubious. Inevitably, Macdonald is the majestic hero of this
Canadian drama, at turns overcoming the British, the French Canadians,
and other “small-minded” thinkers who stood in the way of his vision
of Confederation. The generation of historians that followed in
Creighton’s wake have sketched the subtleties of the Macdonald era
well; as a result, this Macdonald biography no longer endures as the
most reliable historical window on the era.

At the same time, as a period piece, the book remains worth rereading.
Creighton’s research is truly impressive, and it bears remembering
that, in their time, these volumes were the leading Canadian models of
professional historical research and writing. That said, easily the best
part of the reissued two-part biography of Canada’s first prime
minister is P.B. Waite’s wonderful introduction. In a thoughtful,
tightly argued essay, Waite situates both Creighton and Macdonald in
their historical eras and reminds readers that, like all history, the
Macdonald biography says as much about its author as it does about its
subject.