This attractive and informative book fills a real need. Entries for each of the 20 PMs, which range from two to five pages depending on their length of time in office, provide a good balance of serious social studies and lighter human detail. While providing analysis of the critical issues and events, and biographical essentials in fact boxes, Hancock also includes engaging humanizing anecdotes: When Sir John A. Macdonald at the age of 71 crossed Canada on the CPR, he and his wife rode through Kicking Horse Pass on the outside of the train, in front of the engine! The book includes an introductory four pages on how Canadian government works and a timeline of the prime ministers and major events in Canadian history since 1867. Although summarizing the achievements and difficulties of a political career is a delicate task, Hancock generally manages to be fair without being bland.

Mantha’s illustrations, rendered in oil wash and pencil, include both formal and informal portraits of the PMs, pictures of the Houses of Parliament, and historical scenes. Many of the pictures, perhaps inevitably, have the slightly stilted, posed quality of the formal portraits they’re based on. The natty beige suit and cross-legged pose of Trudeau on the cover contrast amusingly with all the dark grey suits and side-whiskers of his predecessors. The book is skillfully designed to blend the formal with the casual, and to present solid information in an appealing, user-friendly format.