by John D. Ingram
Sisler High School, Winnipeg
Manitoba History, Number 4, 1982
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E. Cora Hind ... Ernest Thompson Seton ... R. B. Bennett ... George Brown. Are these names familiar? They are all the subject of new biographies in The Canadians series published by Fitzhenry and Whiteside. The series first appeared some six years ago and now numbers fifty titles. Among others already published are the well known and the not-so-well known. Among the former, for example, are Nellie McClung, Poundmaker, John A. Macdonald, and T. Eaton. In the latter category one finds Catherine Schubert, Sam McLaughlin and Norman Bethune.
In this ambitious and successful series (400,000 copies sold to date), the names of Jerry Potts, Maurice Richard, Charlotte Whitton, Emile Cardinal Leger, and John Dafoe represent just some of the biographies yet to be published. The present projected series will contain just under one hundred titles.
All of these books are sixty-three pages long, indicating tight editorial control by Robert Read and Roderick Stewart. It is the exception to find a page that does not have an illustration or marginal comments and questions. Examples are, “Write up a report on the trial of Poundmaker. Include interviews with people at the trial.” (Poundmaker) “What is meant by a holding company? ... “What large corporations like this are there in Canada today?” (Sifton) In some of these instances students may make “connections” between the past and the present.
In general, all of these reasonably priced paperback biographies are well-written. Some are “miniatures” of previously published biographies by recognized professional historians such as George Brown by J. M. S. Careless, John A. Macdonald by P. B. Waite and Clifford Sifton by D. J. Hall.
This series is particularly valuable for high school students. The reading level, illustrations, marginal comments and questions, and the length all combine to put these biographies well within students’ ability. For a change, the stories of a broad range of Canadians have become accessible and for those who may not have the time or inclination to read larger and more detailed biographies, this series provides an opportunity to become acquainted with many individuals, inexpensively and easily.
In some of these biographies there is an attempt to access and evaluate the historical roles played by the characters portrayed, as in Robert Saunders book on R. B. Bennett. More often, like R. Neering who concludes her book on Riel with the comment “saint, sinner, rebel, hero, prophet, madman, visionary, traitor ...,” they are straightforward narrative accounts.
None of the books published before 1979 have an index. This can prove to be annoying and need not have been the case. All have sections entitled “Further Reading,” usually including more recently published (and therefore more likely to be available) sources.
In closing—an interesting, informative, and useful series.
Page revised: 1 January 2011
