Blue Thunder: The Truth about Conservatves from MacDonald to Harper

Andrew is a publishing professional based in Toronto, Ontario.

Although not a biography in the traditional sense, Blue Thunder reads like a well-written one, detailing the life of the Canadian conservative political movement, from the statecraft of John A. Macdonald to the modern-day conservative revival under Stephen Harper’s leadership. The author makes it clear from the outset that the history of conservatism in Canada took many forms, was expressed through a diverse number of political parties, and that its contributions to Canada’s greatness have been numerous over the years.

The book itself fuses perfectly the intellectual and ideological aspects of political science with thrilling, captivating story lines of biography. Most anecdotes concerning personal lives, political events or scandals are kept relatively brief, and within the context of the political events being discussed. It does, at times, delve into the nitty-gritty details of the legislative and political processes, but a reader less interested in such digressions can easily skim over those parts, while history buffs and academics can savour them.

The book is also revolutionary in that its footnotes are not printed at the end of the book, but are made available on the website devoted to the book, wherein readers and other visitors are invited by the author to weigh in on both the book and its topic; this surely is an example of how books will be published in the future, as it both cuts down on the number of pages printed, as well as sparking real discussion and human connections amongst a book’s readers.

This book would be a great choice for Canadian history buffs or fans of political biography, though political science enthusiasts should be warned about its length and emphasis on detail. But then, this is the nature of good scholarship: masses of information, well-measured with insights from the author. A great book for casual readers and as a reference for political science devotees. Recommended.