“What particularly surprises and delights is the amount of new material Gwyn has uncovered. If he does not know absolutely everything about Sir John A., Richard Gwyn knows far more than any previous biographer, including Donald Creighton. In a tour de force of research, he has mastered the sources, weaves them beautifully into his text, and presents to us a more lifelike, more credible, Macdonald than we had previously imagined. Thanks to him, we now have a John A. Macdonald for twenty-first-century Canada.”
Michael Bliss, Historian, Author, and Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto
“Charming, difficult, far-sighted, devious, Sir John A. Macdonald was a master politician who spoke to Canadians in a way few other Canadians have ever done. Writing with his usual elegance and insight, Richard Gwyn has done full justice to the man whose own story is inextricably interwoven with that of Canada.”
Margaret MacMillan, Historian and Author of Paris 1919
 |
Globe and Mail: “Having digested prodigious quantities of research and woven his knowledge into a seamless and stylish whole, Gwyn has given us a first prime minister for the 21st century…The book is a towering achievement, a glittering career-capper, and it may prove impossible to beat.” Ken McGoogan. |
 |
Literary Review of Canada: “In this honest, thoughtful and masterful biography, Gwyn has come to grips with this astonishing Canadian…you see Macdonald clearly in his greatness and his flaws. He’ll never die.” John English |
 |
Maclean’s Magazine: “Gwyn’s masterful biography shows Sir John A. Macdonald’s private side even as it shows why his political wiles are still relevant today.” (Top Books of 2011).
|
|
|
Globe and Mail: “Wonderfully researched, engagingly written, this is history on a grand scale, with a riveting central character and a country being literally built around him.” Jeffrey Simpson. |
 |
Quill & Quire: “Nation Maker brings a fresh, welcome perspective to the life of our founding father. Anyone who reads it will no longer be able to take this powerful, charismatic and dedicated man for granted.” Megan Moore Burns. |
 |
Maclean’s Magazine: “a worthy successor to Donald Creighton’s Old Chieftain….in telling the story of Confederation’s first steps, [Gwyn] has penned an excellent portrait in 21st-century Canadian politics.” Paul Wells. |
 |
Winnipeg Free Press: “This biography would make for great TV: Richard Gwyn knows how to tell a good story.” Ron Robinson. |
 |
Calgary Herald: “ Rest on your laurels, Mr. Gwyn. The final volume is as seamless and delightful a read as the first, written with a nice understated dry humour…[and] Gwyn is one of that increasingly rare breed of historians who refuses to be swept away by the raging waters of political correct revisionism.” Naomi Lakritz. |
 |
Montreal Gazette: “No one looms larger over our history than Macdonald, and it’s essential to know about him if you want to know about Canada…Gwyn tells John A.’s story inside out and knows better than anyone else that his story doesn’t sit on top of the country’s history: it is woven in the fabric.” Kate Beaton |