1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal Paperback - 1998

From the jacket flap

"In the 1860s, western alienation began at Yonge Street, and George Brown was the Preston Manning of the day." So begins Christopher Moore's fascinating 1990s look at the messy, dramatic, crisis-ridden process that brought Canada into being - and at the politicians, no more lovable or united than our own, who, against all odds, managed to forge a deal that worked.
From the first chapter, he turns a fresh, perceptive, and lucid eye on the people, the issues, and the political theories of Confederation - from John A. Macdonald's canny handling of leadership to the invention of federalism and the Senate, from the Quebec question to the influence of political philosophers Edmund Burke and Walter Bagehot. This is a book for all Canadians who love their country - and fear for it after the failure of the constitution-making of the 1990s. Here is a clear, entertaining reintroduction to the ideas and processes that forged the nation.

Media reviews

“Delightful, engrossing.”
–Dalton Camp

“I wish I’d had this book in front of me in high school rather than the book I did. Because this is interesting. And it’s actually fun.”
–Michael Enright, This Morning

“An immense contribution to our literature and collective memory.”
–Gordon F. Gibson, columnist, Globe and Mail


From the Hardcover edition.