Distemper of Our Times, The

Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1968. BOOK: Previous Owner Markings/Ex-Library; Repaired; Front, Rear Free Endpapers Pulled From Removal of Pocket, Stickers; Spine Bumped; Heavy Shelf Rub to Boards; Spine Moderately Cocked; Edges Moderately Soiled; Moderate Yellowing Due to Age. DUST JACKET: Repaired; Lightly Creased; Moderately Chipped; Moderate Sticker Pull; Slight Fading Due to Sun Exposure; In Archival Quality Jacket Cover. SUB-TITLE: Canadian Politics in Transition: 1963-1968. SYNOPSIS: This book is a chronicle of five years in a nation's history by a journalist who was close to the political action of the time. Not a bloodless audit but an angry journal, it conjugates the contradictions of the Liberal Government and traces the roots and results of the alienation between the people and the politicians that marked the period. Peter C. Newman's talent in reconstructing the inside story of Canadian politics is unique. His style obliterates the distance that usually separates the non-fiction writer from his subjects. The reader is never in the position of watching Newman watch the politicians. Instead there is a direct rapport and involvement with the action taking place. Here is a breathtakingly frank recreation of the stumbling march of events and the personalities that danced darkly across the Canadian political stage between 1963 and 1968. It is a brilliant journalist's distillation of all the frantic elements - some obvious, some still obscure - that made up the most exciting half-decade in Canada's political history. Peter C. Newman is the reporter and author whose hard-hitting and controversial book on John Diefenbaker made Canadian publishing history. At thirty-nine, Newman has established a formidable reputation in several branches of his craft. He has gained a national following first as Ottawa Editor of Maclean's magazine, then as the syndicated political columnist of the Toronto Daily Star. His book on John Diefenbaker, Renegade In Power, sold a phenomenal 100,000 copies on the way to becoming Canada's all-time political bestseller. The Saturday Review described its U.S. edition as "vigorous, unafraid and in the tradition of the best political writing on this continent." The New York Times called it "a clinical, almost psychiatric analysis of the complex and devious character of the most controversial figure in Canadian politics." Educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto, where he obtained a Master's degree, Newman has worked underground as a gold miner in northern Quebec and served as a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy. Appointed Ottawa Editor of the Toronto Daily Star in 1964, his syndicated column is now carried in twenty-nine Canadian newspapers with a circulation of nearly two and a half million, making him the most widely read commentator in the country. The winner of a National Newspaper Award for feature writing, he was co-author of a ninety-minute television documentary that won the CBC's "Wilderness Award" as the best production of 1967. His wife is Christina McCall Newman, Ottawa Editor of Saturday Night magazine; they have a daughter, Ashley. Newman is now at work on two future books, including a history of the Trudeau period in Canadian politics.. Hard Cover. Fair/Fair. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Ex-Library.