Laurier: The First Canadian

by Joseph Schull

From the back

"Sir Wilfrid Laurier was the charming and flamboyant prime minister who ushered Canada into the twentieth century. He was also our first French-Canadian prime minister, and the first Liberal prime minister in nearly two decades. After his election in 1896, he served as leader of the government for fifteen years, confronting many of the issues familiar to us today - bilingualism, Canada-US relations, religious school funding, and the role of Quebec.

Lively and insightful, well written and thoroughly researched, Joseph Schull's work stands as the finest of the biographies of Laurier, one of Canada's most intriguing political figures, as well as an illuminating exploration of the times in which he lived. Laurier's life spanned the final years of John A. Macdonald's career through to the beginning of the First World War, one of the most exciting periods in our history."

Genres: Politics, Canada, Biography, Nonfiction

658 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Joseph Schull was a Canadian playwright and historian who wrote more than two dozen books and 200 plays for radio and television.