BOOK: Previous Owner Markings/Ex-Library; Repaired; Front, Rear Free Endpapers Pulled From Removal of Pocket, Stickers; Spine Bumped; Heavy Shelf Rub to Boards; Spine Moderately Cocked; Edges Moderately Soiled; Moderate Yellowing Due to Age. DUST JACKET: Repaired; Lightly Creased; Moderately Chipped; Moderate Sticker Pull; Slight Fading Due to Sun Exposure; In Archival Quality Jacket Cover. SUB-TITLE: Canadian Politics in Transition: 1963-1968. SYNOPSIS: This book is a chronicle of five years in a nation's history by a journalist who was close to the political action of the time. Not a bloodless audit but an angry journal, it conjugates the contradictions of the Liberal Government and traces the roots and results of the alienation between the people and the politicians that marked the period. Peter C. Newman's talent in reconstructing the inside story of Canadian politics is unique. His style obliterates the distance that usually separates the non-fiction writer from his subjects. The reader is never in the position of watching Newman watch the politicians. Instead there is a direct rapport and involvement with the action taking place. Here is a breathtakingly frank recreation of the stumbling march of events and the personalities that danced darkly across the Canadian political stage between 1963 and 1968. It is a brilliant journalist's distillation of all the frantic elements - some obvious, some still obscure - that made up the most exciting half-decade in Canada's political history. Peter C. Newman is the reporter and author whose hard-hitting and controversial book on John Diefenbaker made Canadian publishing history. At thirty-nine, Newman has established a formidable reputation in several branches of his craft. He has gained a national following first as Ottawa Editor of Maclean's magazine, then as the syndicated political columnist of the Toronto Daily Star. His book on John Diefenbaker, Renegade In Power, sold a phenomenal 100,000 copies on the way to becoming Canada's all-time political bestseller. The Saturday Review described its U.S. edition as "vigorous, unafraid and in the tradition of the best political writing on this continent." The New York Times called it "a clinical, almost psychiatric analysis of the complex and devious character of the most controversial figure in Canadian politics." Educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto, where he obtained a Master's degree, Newman has worked underground as a gold miner in northern Quebec and served as a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy. Appointed Ottawa Editor of the Toronto Daily Star in 1964, his syndicated column is now carried in twenty-nine Canadian newspapers with a circulation of nearly two and a half million, making him the most widely read commentator in the country. The winner of a National Newspaper Award for feature writing, he was co-author of a ninety-minute television documentary that won the CBC's "Wilderness Award" as the best production of 1967. His wife is Christina McCall Newman, Ottawa Editor of Saturday Night magazine; they have a daughter, Ashley. Newman is now at work on two future books, including a history of the Trudeau period in Canadian politics. Size: 8vo - over 7ž" - 9ž" tall. Seller Inventory # 001307

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Distemper of Our Times, The

Publisher: McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto

Publication Date: 1968

Binding: Hard Cover

Condition: Fair

Dust Jacket Condition: Fair

Book Type: Ex-Library

Store Description

For a good portion of the 1990's, our family was interested in the idea of entering the used book business. We are all avid readers, book lovers, and book collectors who cannot pass a bookstore without popping in. Family trips to the library and our local used bookstore were a regularity while growing up. With each of us having interests in different genres (with a little overlapping here and there), we cover a lot of bases. The thought of having a store of our own was appealing, and the hunt was on - both for stock and a location. We thought to combine under one roof many different things that would appeal to readers and book lovers. Not only used books, but some new items as well. Bookmarks (to ward off dog-eared pages), bookends (to keep those out-of-control collections under control), bookplates (to label books on the "Can I borrow that?" circuit to ensure that they always found their way home), book repair tape (to lend a helping hand to collectors with tattered favourites in their collections), and so on. With an interest in book-themed knick knacks as well, we had two sides to our would-be business: books and knick-knacks. Hence the business was born. In the early part of 1998 we bought a commercial property, and in the summer we first opened our doors in a storefront in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada. With start-up stock consisting of a garage full of books hand-picked for just such a venture that we purchased from someone who changed their plans, we were in business. For several years we operated in this storefront, growing our business and learning about the industry and the backbone of it - the customers. It was very satisfying to be present at the end of someone's book quest, as we were quite often. Many a time we heard shouts of joy from somewhere in the shop as customers happened upon just what they'd been looking for (oftentimes for quite a while). At other times, people would approach us with bits and pieces of information that they remembered from long ago favourites in hopes that we could at least help them come up with an author or title to help in their search, which we often times did, with the book in hand. And when we couldn't come up with anything on our own, we would pick the brains of other customers in conversation, or turn to the internet for help for them. For us, quality and selection of stock go hand-in-hand with customer service. One isn't much good without the other. But times, people, places, and lives change and after several years in our storefront we made a change of our own - in 2004 we relocated to the internet. Now a home-based business in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, we are gradually bringing our inventory online here. We carry used paperbacks, hardbacks, and magazines for both adults and children. We have thousands upon thousands of books that are not yet listed for sale on the internet, but are gradually making their way there.

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