Barrett: A Passionate Political Life

Joseph Garcea is a professor of political Studies at the University of
Saskatchewan.

This enjoyable biography of Dave Barrett contains some interesting
insights into such topics as NDP campaigning strategies and styles in
the 1970s, the constitutional and energy wars during that era, caucus
and cabinet in-fighting, Barrett’s entry into federal politics, his
campaign for the leadership of the federal NDP, and his eventual loss to
a Reform Party candidate in the 1993 federal election.

Some of the anecdotes in this book may be lost on readers who are not
intimately familiar with B.C. politics during the W.A.C. Bennett and
Dave Barrett eras. In addition, the emphasis of the book is such that a
more appropriate subtitle might have been “A Humorous Political
Life.”