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Heroes: Canadian Champions, Dark Horses and Icons
In Heroes, Peter C. Newman gives us incisive analysis of dozens of Canadians, past and present, who have defined this country, drawing on fifty years of writing. He writes about iconic Canadians such as Terry Fox, Margaret Atwood and June Callwood. From the political ring, he discusses the legacies of Pierre Trudeau, Christina McCall and Lester B. Pearson, among others. And from the world of business, Newman includes some of the most active entrepreneurs on the planet, including Jimmy Pattison and Paul Desmarais. The grand literary master at the top of his game shares the inside stories of these pivotal characters whose lives and times set examples for all of us.
423 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
12 people want to read
About the author
Peter C. Newman
56 books27 followersPeter Charles Newman (born Peta Karel Neuman), CC, journalist, author, newspaper and magazine editor (born 10 May 1929 in Vienna, Austria; died 7 September 2023 in Belleville, ON). Peter C. Newman was one of Canada’s most prominent journalists, biographers and non-fiction authors. After starting out with the Financial Post, he became editor-in-chief of both the Toronto Star and Maclean’s. His 35 books, which have collectively sold more than two million copies, helped make political reporting and business journalism more personalized and evocative. His no-holds-barred, insiders-tell-all accounts of Canada’s business and political elites earned him a reputation as Canada’s “most cussed and discussed” journalist. A recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, Newman was elected to the Canadian News Hall of Fame in 1992. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1978 and a Companion in 1990.
Early Life and Education
Originally named Peta Karel Neuman by his secularized Jewish parents, Peter C. Newman grew up in the Czech town of Breclav, where his father ran a large sugar beet refinery. As Newman wrote in 2018, “I lived the charmed life of a little rich boy in Moravia, Czechoslovakia — until age nine, that is, when the world as I knew it vanished.” Fleeing the Nazis, his family came to Canada as refugees in 1940.
Newman initially attended Hillfield School in Hamilton, Ontario, a prep school for the Royal Military College of Canada. But, envisaging a business career for his son, Newman's father, Oscar, enrolled him as a “war guest” boarder at Upper Canada College in 1944. There he met future members of the Canadian establishment whose lives he would later document.
After graduating, Newman joined the Canadian Navy Reserves. He was a reservist for decades and eventually reached the rank of captain. For many years, he was rarely seen in public without his signature black sailor cap.
Career Highlights
Once he mastered English, Newman began writing, first for the University of Toronto newspaper, then for the Financial Post in 1951. By 1953, he was Montreal editor of the Post. He held the position for three years before returning to Toronto to be assistant editor, then Ottawa columnist, at Maclean's magazine. In 1959, he published Flame of Power: Intimate Profiles of Canada's Greatest Businessmen. It profiles 11 of the first generation of Canada's business magnates. In 1963, Newman published his masterly and popular political chronicle of John Diefenbaker, Renegade in Power: The Diefenbaker Years (1963). According to the Writers’ Trust of Canada, the book “revolutionized Canadian political reporting with its controversial ‘insiders-tell-all’ approach.” Five years later, Newman published a similar but less successful study of Lester Pearson, The Distemper of Our Times (1968).
In 1969, Newman became editor-in-chief at the Toronto Star. During this period, he published some of his best journalism in Home Country: People, Places and Power Politics (1973). He then published popular studies on the lives of those who wielded financial power in the Canadian business establishment. These included his two-volume The Canadian Establishment (1975, 1981), The Bronfman Dynasty (1978; see also Bronfman Family), and The Establishment Man: A Portrait of Power (1982). A third book called Titans: How the New Canadian Establishment Seized Power was added to this series in 1998.
Newman was also editor of Maclean's from 1971 to 1982. He transformed the magazine from a monthly to a weekly news magazine — the first of its kind in Canada — with a Canadian slant on international and national events. In 1982, he resigned to work on a three-volume history of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Honours
Peter C. Newman received the Canadian Journalism Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award and the Toronto Star's Excellence in Journalism award in 1998. He received a National Newspaper Award and in 1992 he was elected to the Canadia
Early Life and Education
Originally named Peta Karel Neuman by his secularized Jewish parents, Peter C. Newman grew up in the Czech town of Breclav, where his father ran a large sugar beet refinery. As Newman wrote in 2018, “I lived the charmed life of a little rich boy in Moravia, Czechoslovakia — until age nine, that is, when the world as I knew it vanished.” Fleeing the Nazis, his family came to Canada as refugees in 1940.
Newman initially attended Hillfield School in Hamilton, Ontario, a prep school for the Royal Military College of Canada. But, envisaging a business career for his son, Newman's father, Oscar, enrolled him as a “war guest” boarder at Upper Canada College in 1944. There he met future members of the Canadian establishment whose lives he would later document.
After graduating, Newman joined the Canadian Navy Reserves. He was a reservist for decades and eventually reached the rank of captain. For many years, he was rarely seen in public without his signature black sailor cap.
Career Highlights
Once he mastered English, Newman began writing, first for the University of Toronto newspaper, then for the Financial Post in 1951. By 1953, he was Montreal editor of the Post. He held the position for three years before returning to Toronto to be assistant editor, then Ottawa columnist, at Maclean's magazine. In 1959, he published Flame of Power: Intimate Profiles of Canada's Greatest Businessmen. It profiles 11 of the first generation of Canada's business magnates. In 1963, Newman published his masterly and popular political chronicle of John Diefenbaker, Renegade in Power: The Diefenbaker Years (1963). According to the Writers’ Trust of Canada, the book “revolutionized Canadian political reporting with its controversial ‘insiders-tell-all’ approach.” Five years later, Newman published a similar but less successful study of Lester Pearson, The Distemper of Our Times (1968).
In 1969, Newman became editor-in-chief at the Toronto Star. During this period, he published some of his best journalism in Home Country: People, Places and Power Politics (1973). He then published popular studies on the lives of those who wielded financial power in the Canadian business establishment. These included his two-volume The Canadian Establishment (1975, 1981), The Bronfman Dynasty (1978; see also Bronfman Family), and The Establishment Man: A Portrait of Power (1982). A third book called Titans: How the New Canadian Establishment Seized Power was added to this series in 1998.
Newman was also editor of Maclean's from 1971 to 1982. He transformed the magazine from a monthly to a weekly news magazine — the first of its kind in Canada — with a Canadian slant on international and national events. In 1982, he resigned to work on a three-volume history of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Honours
Peter C. Newman received the Canadian Journalism Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award and the Toronto Star's Excellence in Journalism award in 1998. He received a National Newspaper Award and in 1992 he was elected to the Canadia
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 1, 2020
Well written and informative.
September 19, 2013
This is a companion piece to Newman’s other book titled “Mavericks”.
In this volume he presents his personal choices of Canadians he has admired. In describing these choices, he says that they are a group of people who have remained true to themselves, have loved Canada as he does and were “patriots with balls”. Newman has always had a way with words!
These profiles have all been drawn from Newman’s previous writing, except for the excellent piece on Michael Ignatieff. Since some were originally published in books while others appeared in newspaper columns or magazines, they are naturally dissimilar in style and are of varying lengths. Incredibly, some such as those on Margaret Atwood, June Callwood and Irving Layton are summarily dismissed in a few pages!
The bulk of the book is dedicated to the profiles of politicians and businessmen, an area of writing for which Newman is well known and respected, and not surprisingly this is where the best selections are found. It is anchored at the beginning by profiles from the arts, and laterally (and I think, rather oddly), by some of Newman’s personal heroes (Stan Kenton, Diana Princess of Wales and Vaclav Havel) who are not even Canadian.
Newman, one of the first leaders in the field of investigative journalism and a self-proclaimed workaholic, has produced over 25 books and has a very distinct style of writing which can be provocative and controversial. He is sometimes described as the “most cursed and discussed journalist" in Canada, and has even been sued a few times by those he has written about.
The book is easy to pick up and put down and can be read while you have another book on the go.
One of my favorite pieces was his very honest and moving tribute to his former wife Christina McCall.
An interesting read.
In this volume he presents his personal choices of Canadians he has admired. In describing these choices, he says that they are a group of people who have remained true to themselves, have loved Canada as he does and were “patriots with balls”. Newman has always had a way with words!
These profiles have all been drawn from Newman’s previous writing, except for the excellent piece on Michael Ignatieff. Since some were originally published in books while others appeared in newspaper columns or magazines, they are naturally dissimilar in style and are of varying lengths. Incredibly, some such as those on Margaret Atwood, June Callwood and Irving Layton are summarily dismissed in a few pages!
The bulk of the book is dedicated to the profiles of politicians and businessmen, an area of writing for which Newman is well known and respected, and not surprisingly this is where the best selections are found. It is anchored at the beginning by profiles from the arts, and laterally (and I think, rather oddly), by some of Newman’s personal heroes (Stan Kenton, Diana Princess of Wales and Vaclav Havel) who are not even Canadian.
Newman, one of the first leaders in the field of investigative journalism and a self-proclaimed workaholic, has produced over 25 books and has a very distinct style of writing which can be provocative and controversial. He is sometimes described as the “most cursed and discussed journalist" in Canada, and has even been sued a few times by those he has written about.
The book is easy to pick up and put down and can be read while you have another book on the go.
One of my favorite pieces was his very honest and moving tribute to his former wife Christina McCall.
An interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews