Jack Whyte: Forty Years in Canada: A Memoir

by Jack Whyte

Best known for his original series of Arthurian novels, A Dream of Eagles (called The Camulod Chronicles in the US), and his more recent Knights Templar trilogy, Jack Whyte has authored 10 international bestsellers in the past 15 years. Jack's imagination and his passion for observing human nature shine through in both his prose and his verse in this uniquely Canadian memoir. He delights in pointing out daily treasures of his chosen homeland that are taken for granted by non-immigrants. He dares to challenge conventional wisdom and the politically correct. From start to finish, Jack Forty Years in Canada makes you think, makes you laugh and makes you curious.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2006

About the author

Jack Whyte is an author and writer born and raised in Scotland, but has been living in western Canada since 1967, and in Kelowna, British Columbia, since 1996.

Whyte's major work to date is the A Dream of Eagles series (as it is titled in Canada, but known as The Camulod Chronicles in the United States and elsewhere). This series of historical novels presents the tale of King Arthur set against the backdrop of Roman Britain. This retelling of the popular legend eschews the use of magic (as in T. H. White’s The Sword in the Stone) to explain Arthur’s ascent to power and instead relies on the historical condition (with some artistic license) of post-Roman Britain to support the theory that Arthur was meant to counter the anarchy left by the Roman departure from Britain in 410 AD and the subsequent colonization and invasion of Britain by various peoples from Northwestern Europe, including the Saxons, Jutes, Franks, and Angles). Whyte incorporates both traditional Arthurian names, places and events (albeit in gaelic or Latin form) as well as the names of various historical figures that have been suggested as being the possible basis for the original King Arthur legend. The tacit implication is that Whyte's version of history is the true story that has become distorted over time to become the legend and stories of magic that we know today.

Jack Whyte served as the official bard of The Calgary Highlanders and performed several tracks of poetry and song on the 1990 recording by the Regimental Pipes and Drums of The Calgary Highlanders entitled Eighty Years of Glory: The Regimental Pipes, Drums and Bard of The Calgary Highlanders.