I have enjoyed reading M.C. McKillop’s biography of Berton.
Over the years, I have been a fan of the Oracle from Kleinburgh –a Canadian iconoclast as well as a great icon. From his writings in Maclean’s to his columns for the Star; his radio talk show with Charles Templeton on CFRB in the sixties and his TV interview show, I followed him ardently. I read his Canadian history volumes –every one of them, as well as his social commentaries like The Comfortable Pew and The Smug Society. While not an academic historian like Harold A. Innis; Pierre Berton made the reading of Canadian history interesting and alive. I didn’t always agree with his views on religion and politics, and I told him so in a couple of missives (to which he politely replied), but overall, he is one of my favourite Canadians –up there with Lester Pearson and Tommy Douglas.
Pierre Berton was a prolific and wide ranging writer, from the flippant to the ironic to the sublime; from heavy tomes like The War of 1912 and Vimy, to lighter fare like Fast Fast Fast Relief (1962) and Cats I Have Known and Loved (2002). Anyone who loves cats has to be a good man in my books. And who else would have the audacity to define a Canadian as someone who could make love in a canoe?
He spoke his mind, and it was voluminous. In an age of suffocating political correctness, he was a breeze of fresh air.
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