Love, Hope, Optimism: An informal portrait of Jack Layton by those who knew him

by James Turk, Charis Wahl (Editor)

When Jack Layton died unexpectedly in the summer of 2011, millions of people mourned the loss of a man who had emerged as a much-loved political leader. They saw him as someone who combined values they shared with a personal style they admired. In this book, one of Jack's close friends, James Turk, and co-editor Charis Wahl have gathered accounts of Jack's life from a range of people who came across him at different stages of his life and career. These contributions offer an engaging and informal biographical portrait of Jack as a young man, as a lecturer at Ryerson University, as a Toronto city councillor and as the leader of the NDP. There are stories from family members such as Sara Layton and Michael Layton, comedian Luba Goy, author Tim Flannery, and politicians Ed Broadbent, Briant Topp, Peggy Nash, Svend Robinson, Joe Mihevc, Libby Davies, Brad Lavigne and Jean Charest.

With the blessing of Jack's family, James Turk and Charis Wahl have put together a portrait of Jack which is by turns warm and funny as well as honest and illuminating.

Royalties from the sale of this book will go to the Broadbent Institute.

Genres: Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2012

About the author

James Turk has specialized in international banking, finance, and investments since graduating in 1969 from George Washington University with a B.A. degree in International Economics.
He began his business career with Chase Manhattan Bank (now J.P. Morgan Chase), which included assignments in Thailand, the Philippines and Hong Kong. In 1980 he joined the private investment and trading company of a prominent precious metals trader. He then moved to the United Arab Emirates in 1983 to be appointed Manager of the Commodity Department of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a position he held until resigning in 1987 to begin Greenfield Associates. He established the firm to publish his work and to provide investment research and trading advice, principally to investment managers, hedge funds and commodity trading advisors in the United States and Europe.
James is the founder of goldmoney.com, which he established in 2001 to provide a convenient and economical way to buy and sell gold, silver and platinum online using the digital gold currency for which he was awarded four US patents. He is the Lead Director of Goldmoney Inc., which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: XAU).
James has written several monographs on money and banking. He has frequently appeared as a featured guest on radio and television and at investment conferences to speak about gold, money, and the international monetary and banking system by drawing upon over five decades of experience in international finance.

Reviews

[Huguette Larochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

j,ai la version francaise.
i love the book. i was very sad when hi past away ,

[Darryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This portrait of the life of Jack Layton was an eye-opener for me and I was impressed with the wonderful work he did for the betterment of all Canadians. I'm now interested in seeing if someone takes on the task of writing a biography of Layton's life. I have no doubt that everything the contributors to this portrait of Layton's life wrote was accurate, I just want to hear more about the challenges and struggles in Layton's political life as he worked to bring the NDP back to relevance in Canada. In the meantime, this book is a great way to better understand Jack Layton as a man and a leader. I highly recommend it.

[David Sexton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was nice book that let me have a glimpse of what others thought of Jack Layton. I was writing a paper on leadership and Jack was a great leader and did live by what he believed in

Definitely an incredibly sad moment when he died and didn't have a chance to continue on as leader of the NDP. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened in Canadian Politics if he was still alive.

[TheEditingCompany · Rating 5 out of 5]

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