"Going my way?" asked John Turner's campaign brochure in 1962, "my way is the Liberal way." It was, that is, until Pierre Trudeau came to power. Turner was his party's star apprentice in the Liberal art of managing a heterogeneous nation through brokerage politics, but in the 1968 election Canadians opted instead for a newly minted celebrity leader for a re-imagined nation.

A political biography extraordinaire, Elusive Destiny reveals the inner workings of the Liberal Party in its heyday as charted through the meteoric rise and fall of John Napier Turner. It highlights Turner's vision for the country and tallies the political price he paid when he deviated from the Trudeau legacy on matters such as language rights, social spending, and Quebec. It also provides a new perspective on federal politics from the 1960s through the 1980s while giving John Turner his rightful place in Canadian history.

A political biography extraordinaire, this book reveals the inner workings of Liberal Politics as charted through the meteoric rise and fall of its golden boy, John Napier Turner.

About the Author
Paul Litt is a historian at Carleton University in Ottawa. His account of John Turner's political career is based on extensive research in the Turner papers and other archival collections, contemporary journalism, and scores of interviews with Turner's friends, family, and colleagues. He also spent considerable time with Turner himself.

Reviews

"Finally, at 82, Turner's life and career in politics receive appropriate recognition in Elusive Destiny, a biography by Carleton University historian Paul Litt that is one of the best Canadian political books of the year."

-- L. Ian MacDonald * London Free Press *
Former prime minister John Turner's life and career receive appropriate recognition in Elusive Destiny: The Political Vocation of John Napier Turner, one of the best Canadian political books of the year. -- L. Ian MacDonald * Montreal Gazette *
Exhaustively detailed and based on interviews with key people, including Turner himself, the book provides the first complete account of a man whose rise and fall still stands as one of Canada's most intriguing political stories. -- Mark Kennedy * Postmedia News *
New biography of Turner ... is a valuable, new addition to that recorded history ... the book chronicles Turner's political career through some powerful Liberal highs and lows of the latter half of the 20th century. -- Susan Delacourt * The Toronto Star *
If John Turner had been elected prime minister, Canada would be an entirely different country ... there would never have been a Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the Bloc Quebecois and Reform parties would likely not have been formed and 'the fiscal base for Canadian social democracy would have been stronger and social programs better preserved under a Turner administration,' according to a new biography on the former prime minister by Carleton University professor Paul Litt. -- Bea Vongdouangchanh * The Hill Times *
A compelling biography of a tragic political figure ... [and] an important history of Canadian politics in the 1970s and 1980s and, most important, chronicled the first years of the decades-long self-immolation of a once-great political party. -- John Ibbitson * The Globe and Mail *
"With the advantage of time and the depth of Litt's book, the accusations that Turner was yesterday's man by the late 1980s seem more accurate than ever, especially given a media environment closer in time and tone to the Kardashian-Humphries wedding than the Kennedy-Nixon debate." -- Dan Rowe * Quill and Quire *
Is it time to revisit the record of John Turner? Thanks to biographer Paul Litt, and his new book on John Turner, the answer is yes. -- Michael Harris * iPolitics *



Book Information
ISBN 9780774822640
Author Paul Litt
Format Hardback
Page Count 536
Imprint University of British Columbia Press
Publisher University of British Columbia Press
Weight(grams) 1000g