by Elizabeth May After reading Mulcair’s Strength of Conviction and Trudeau’s Common Ground, it seemed fitting to end my excursion into political memoirs with May’s Who We Are. (It would appear as though I have a glaring omission with no Harper book, but I suppose it’s hard to read something that doesn’t exist.) Where the…
Read more
by Justin Trudeau If you’re Canadian and have access to the internet or television, you’re probably familiar with the laughably bad attack ad against Justin Trudeau that the Harper Conservatives have been airing for quite some time now. The unfortunate reality is that, while I say it’s laughably bad, people always spout that line when…
Read more
by Tom Mulcair When it comes to politics, I will admit that, while I can be highly opinionated, I have historically been largely apathetic. In making it my quest to become a more informed, active (hopefully) citizen, I figured that reading the memoirs written by leaders of major federal parties would probably be helpful. Since…
Read more
by Naomi Klein Rare is it for a book to come along and give you something significant to think about, that sticks with you long after you finish reading––if not fundamentally changing your outlook. I suppose saying that This Changes Everything is such a book shouldn’t be overly surprising, given the title. However, such a…
Read more
by Christopher Hitchens As you may be able to tell from my review of Arguably, I have an immense respect for the late Hitchens and his writing. Hitchens had a very clear and unique voice––a point which he makes in Mortality, as he goes off to give writing advice––and he wrote in a way that…
Read more
by Paul Wells Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Wells’ Maclean’s articles for a few years now, I always thought he was a Harper fan on the highest order, one who assumed the PM could do no wrong. I really don’t know why, given how even-handed his interviews always were with leaders of the other parties,…
Read more
by Nicholas Wade I’m very torn with this book. On the one hand, I felt it was a thoughtful exploration as to how genetics affects different ethnicities and culture. On the other, most of what is discussed at length is merely speculation––luckily, acknowledged by the author. Wade takes the time to explain the historical basis…
Read more
by Niall Ferguson It feels like a long while since I’ve read a good non-fiction, so The Great Degeneration catching my eye really couldn’t have been more timely. And colour me impressed: Ferguson offers a brilliant insight into the decay of Western civilization. It comes with smug satisfaction that I now not only have a…
Read more
by David J. Hand After making my way through The Improbability Principle, I came to a startling revelation: I really have to stop running out and buying books with positive reviews in MacLean’s. I suppose this very concisely shows my opinion on the book, but allow me to explain myself. The Improbability Principle has a…
Read more
by Elie Wiesel “We were the masters of nature, the masters of the world. We had transcended everything––death, fatigue, our natural needs. We were stronger than cold and hunger, stronger than the guns and the desire to die, doomed and rootless, nothing but numbers, we were the only men on earth.” I tend to stray…
Read more