One of the titles in Penguin's Extraordinary Canadians series, this brief portrait offers a useful introduction to Canada's fourteenth prime minister. At under 200 pages, there's not a lot of detail. But Andrew Cohen's engaging account makes it very clear that even had Pearson not become prime minister, his earlier diplomatic achievements would have placed him high on any list of significant Canadians. Add to those the accomplishments of his five years in office and he becomes perhaps the most important Canadian of the twentieth century.

For those who lived through the daily chaos of Pearson's two minority governments, this book provides worthwhile perspective. Those for whom the sixties are only history will find it an excellent introduction to an outstanding man. ( )

Canada's Liberal Internationalist

Arguably, Canada's most accomplished Prime Minister, this biography of Lester B Pearson by Andrew Cohen is the latest in the Extraordinary Canadians Series edited by John Ralston Saul.

Some of the highlights include reading about Pearson's experiences as a WWI veteran. He never played up his military service, preferring instead to criticize the war in retrospect by saying: "For what? King and country? Freedom and democracy? These words sounded hollow now in 1918 and we increasingly rebelled against their hypocrisy" (p 22).

Of course, the most famous memory of the late Pearson was his role in bringing the Suez Crisis to a peaceful end, with his proposal for an international peacekeeping force to police the canal. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts but in typical Pearsonian style he replied to questions about the award by saying: "Saving the world? I was just doing my job" (p. 126).

Finally, what Pearson should be most remembered for are the frantic five years he served as Prime Minister in the turbulent 60s. If you compare what Pearson actually did compared to what LBJ tried to do with his "Great Society", I think Pearson wins out especially when considering Pearson had the courage to stand up to LBJ on the Vietnam war when it was unpopular to do so. Think about the following accomplishments: offical bilingualism, the Order of Canada, a new flag, the Canada Pension Plan, the Canada Assistance Plan, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and last but not least, Medicare. Basically, our entire social security infrastructure in five years. In many ways, it was like Atlee's four years in the British Parliament.

Pearson was always a realist, never much of an ideologue. Where Pierre Trudeau was mostly flash, Pearson was all substance. Cohen describes Pearson as being the middle inning reliever, not the flash of a starter, nor the brashness of a closer, Pearson was the "no-name" Prime Minister who knew how to get things done.

Overall, this is a good overview of a great man. It's not too full of detail but just enough to make it worth your while reading. I definitely recommend the book especially if you are Canadian. ( )