Too often, historical biographies are more like monuments than portraits. Even when they depict enormous failings, their subjects remain otherworldly to the reader. Richard Gwyn’s extensive experience as a journalist and political columnist, however, makes him well suited to the task of writing a multi-volume biography that is brisk, sharp, and engaging.

In John A., Gwyn retains the contemporary tone, pace, and style of his columns without sacrificing the method of the historian, thus lending 19th-century Canada a modern finish that is more familiar than foreign. He allows the reader to walk alongside Macdonald as a compatriot rather than observe him clinically as a lifeless museum piece.

Gwyn’s fascinating book explores the beginnings of many of the debates and challenges Canadians face today. These include Canada’s diversity, the uses and abuses of patronage, the tension between French and English Canada, anti-Americanism, the desire of a wealthy elite to join the U.S., and the ambiguity of our relationship with Britain.

In all matters but one Macdonald is shown to be more pragmatic than visionary. The exception is his commitment to Britain and the need to resist the pull of the U.S. However, even on this score, it is Macdonald’s belief in British legal and political institutions as compared with American ones that fuels his devotion, not blind patriotism.

Indeed, it is in conveying Macdonald’s pragmatism – informed by a strong sense of fairness – that Gwyn is most successful. Amiable, intelligent, industrious, and untainted by prejudice or moral conceit, Macdonald charts a course between the Orange Order and the ultramontanes, and organizes Canada’s first big-tent party capable of finding sufficient compromise to control the legislature and establish a stable government.

Faced with as complex a political landscape as any subsequent prime minister, Macdonald flourished like few others, and for this Gwyn ranks him among the most talented. And through the account of Macdonald’s deeds, we get a good sense of not only his talent, but also who he was. 

The one flaw in this otherwise excellent book is that Gwyn offsets his praise for Macdonald’s accomplishments with an overly cynical assessment of his motives. From the outset, Gwyn assures us that Macdonald is motivated primarily by the desire for money and power and will not let ethics stand in his way. At first this comes off as refreshing. However, Gwyn’s supporting evidence doesn’t hold up. Instead of personal luxury or sheer accumulation of wealth, Madonald’s money appears to have been devoted to supporting his ailing wife and mother and his dependent sisters, with little left over. Instead of craving power, he repeatedly seeks to resign from political office, kept on only by his sense of duty. As attorney general for Upper Canada, he appointed judges based on merit rather than partisan loyalty, putting the rule of law ahead of power. No doubt Macdonald was an ambitious man, but to say his principal motives were money and power seems forced.