Eminent Canadians: Candid Tales of Then and Now

by John Fraser

Ninety years ago, Lytton Strachey scandalized British society with his book Eminent Victorians, in which he disparaged the accomplishments and exaggerated the failings of four highly respected Victorians. It was an immediate bestseller, of course. In Eminent Canadians, John Fraser helps himself to Strachey’s title and to his innovative form – the journalistic profile – and goes one better by doubling the number of worthies under the magnifying glass. But his purpose is not the same as Strachey’s. Fraser wants, as he puts it, to “redeem the dismissed and humanize the demonized.” By telling stories about them, and about the Canada they live or lived in.

Of the eight Canadians Fraser subjects to his informed, opinionated, and highly entertaining scrutiny, four represent the past and four the present of a key national institution – the Anglican Church; The Globe and Mail; the prime ministership; and the monarchy. By juxtaposing rich portraits of past leaders with candid tales about their present or most recent counterparts, Fraser sheds light on just how exasperating an entity Canada has always been. And how lively a history it has.

Eminent Canadians has a serious purpose, but it is not a serious book. This is John Fraser, after all, so there is much fun to be had reading his tales of eight eminent Canadians who, as Fraser says, did the best they could to live up to the challenges of their offices and times.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

John Anderson Fraser, CM, is a Canadian journalist, writer and academic. He served as Master of Massey College in the University of Toronto from 1995 until his retirement in June 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fr...


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There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Doug Adamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewing this book is a bit of a challenge. In structure and on the surface the book reviews the lives and accomplishments of four eminent Canadians: four from the 19th century and four from the late 20th century. The chosen individuals are paired in four categories: two bishops (Strachan, Finlay), two editors (Brown, Thorsell), two Prime Ministers (Laurier, Chretien), and two Queens (Victoria, Elizabeth). Each individual is given some historical treatment but these are not biographies as such. Fraser also includes information, often anecdotal, about other individuals and, in a number of places, he gives personal observations, anecdotes, and commentary. Given all this, it is difficult to say what genre this book fits best into. This is not to say that the book is poorly written--it is not. It is awell-written and enjoyable read.

[Garth Mailman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eminent canadians


More autopiographical and biased then historically accurate


The final section on sovereigns, deals more with governors general than Queens. 

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a bizarre selection of people. Eminent Canadians?? Notsomuch. A few, but not all of the people profiled. But even so, each biography was interesting and worth reading. So then why did it feel like such a hodge podge? I expected to see prime ministers and people who helped shape our great nation; people from across the country. If that's what you're hoping to get, this isn't the book for you. The inclusion of Anglican church bishops made no sense to me. Maybe these people were big in Toronto, but they had nothing to do with Canada as a whole. Queens Victoria and Elizabeth? There are lots of books about the monarchy. They didn't need to be included and given how defensive the author was about them I'm betting his editor & publisher felt the same. It sort of seemed like the book had a multiple personality disorder. It tried to be and do too much. Part autobiography, part political comparison, part monarchical comparison, part Anglican church history. I think it would have been a much stronger and more fascinating read had the author just embraced one of those themes.