Render Unto Caesar: The Life and Legacy of Maurice Duplessis. Rev. ed.

J.L. Granatstein, distinguished research professor emeritus of history
at York University, is the author of Who Killed Canadian History?, and
co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Influential Canadians of the
20th Century and the Dictionary of Canad

Conrad Black’s biography of Maurice Duplessis was first published in
1976 when the author was much less well known than he is today. The book
took a rough ride from some scholars, but it was, in fact, a
well-researched study of the man who was arguably the most important
Québécois of the century. This version, substantially shortened and
with a (long) new introduction, will likely sell better than the
original.

Duplessis was in power from 1936 to his death in 1959, most of the war
years excepted. He was a cunning politician, a leader who could use the
Church, nationalism, and the press to keep himself in power, and to keep
Quebec the way he preferred. The politicians who led the Quiet
Revolution that followed him referred to the Duplessis era as the
“great darkness,” but Black is generally sympathetic to the
leader’s style and aims. Indeed, he views the Union Nationale leader
as a great modernizer, a precursor of the Quiet Revolution all by
himself.

He may be right, though many will remain unconvinced. The point to be
made, however, is that this abbreviated volume tells the story better
and more clearly than the longer version.

What will interest all readers is Black’s new introduction where he
blasts away in his customary style. He denounces the separatists for
their “spun sugar-candy fantasy” and suggests that Canada will have
a better relationship with—or as part of—the United States than it
does with Quebec, if separatism splits the country. Black is never dull,
and this book remains an important work.