The interviews are informative and revealingly frank. There is much on the enormous difficulties in dealing with the United States, Europe, NATO, the Soviet Union, and Communist China in an era dominated by the Cold War. There are also personal insights into Trudeau himself – a man of great “esprit,” who initially seemed destined to change Canadian policy in a dramatic fashion. Over time, however, this was not to be, and his government policies reverted towards the norm.
A unique resource, Trudeau’s World adds immeasurably to our understanding of the Trudeau era. It also has much to tell us about Canada and the world from 1968 to 1984.
Robert Bothwell is a professor of history at the University of Toronto. He was the director of the International Relations Program there from 1995 to 2011. He is a noted and much-published specialist in Canadian political and foreign policy history. He is the author of Alliance and Illusion: Canada and the World, 1945-84.
J.L. Granatstein is a Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus at York University. He was director and CEO of the Canadian War Museum and has served on government commissions. He has published extensively in Canadian military, political, and foreign policy history for more than fifty years. He is the author, most recently, of The Weight of Command: Voices of Canada’s Second World War Generals and Those Who Knew Them.