Memoirs: 1939-1993

By Brian Mulroney

Book Overview

Politics was always Brian Mulroney's real love. As an undergraduate in Nova Scotia he amazed his friends by getting Prime Minister Diefenbaker on the phone, and he rose fast in the Tory ranks in Quebec as a young Montreal lawyer. He tried for the leadership of the party in 1976, losing to Joe Clark, then returned to win a rematch in 1983. The next year, he ran the most successful election campaign in Canadian history, winning 211 seats, and taking office in September 1984. His first term in office was a stormy one, marked by the launch of the Meech Lake Accord and the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. In 1988, however, he was re-elected after a rollercoaster campaign, and his second term in office was just as controversial, featuring the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords -- still a source of bitter regret for him, as opportunities missed. This book falls into two main sections: first, his rise out of a working-class family in Baie-Comeau. Second, his immersion into the world of Ottawa politics, in opposition and then in power. The years in power are dealt with in fascinating detail, and we receive his candid accounts of backstage dealings with Trudeau, Clark, and other Canadian leaders and on the international scene with Reagan, Thatcher, Mitterrand, Kohl, Gorbachev, Mandela, Clinton, and many more. This big book has a huge cast of major players. Brian Mulroney is determined to make this the best prime minister's memoirs this country has ever seen, and a full-time researcher has been helping him for three years. This account of his career is colourful and forthright, and a number of opponents will be sorry that they caught his attention. The manuscriptis full of personal touches and reflects the fact that he wrote it by hand, reading it aloud for rhythm and impact. Studded with entries from his private journal, this book -- by a son, brother, husband, and father -- is deeply personal, and includes some surprisingly frank admissions. The book establishes the scale of his achievements, and reveals him as a man of great charm. Memoirs will allow that little-known Brian Mulroney to engage directly with the reader. This book is full of surprises, as we fall under the spell of a great storyteller.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0771065361
• ISBN13: 9780771065361
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Douglas Gibson Books
• Length: 1152 Pages
• Weight: 3.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 2.2" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

An absolute must addition to community library biography and memoirs collections

Becoming Prime Minister of Canada is no small feat. "Brian Mulroney Memoirs" are the official memoirs of the eighteenth Canadian Prime Minister, serving from 1984 until 1993. Raised in Quebec, Mulroney lead a long and eventful life, one filled with activism throughout his career and going into his involvement in politics. Covered in detail are his years during his tenure in office as Prime Minister, having a strong partnership with the Reagan administration. The scope of his memoirs ends with his time in office, with a little aftermath of how Mulroney now spends his life, retired from politics. "Brian Mulroney Memoirs" is a riveting read, an absolute must addition to community library biography and memoirs collections, especially those focused on important public figures.

sometimes vindicative

mr mulroney used these pages to settle old feuds with trudeau and others . . somewhat vindicative .

VERY Elegantly Written Autobiography

This autobiography traces Brian Mulroney's rise from modest beginnings in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, a small town on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River. He became a lawyer and corporate executive in Montreal, and rose through the ranks of the Progressive Conservative Party to become Leader of the Opposition in 1983. In September 1984, Mulroney became Canada's eighteenth prime minister in a smashing election win, as the Tories captured the largest number of seats (211) that any party had won in any election in Canadian history. After Mulroney became prime minister, he quickly discovered how abysmal Canada's finances were after 15 years of the ultra-free spending Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Mulroney proved not to be as conservative as his contemporaries Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan--he instituted a national sales tax, and refused to cut spending as drastically as some were calling for him to do. Even though he did not do as much as he could have done, he did manage to pull Canada back from the ledge of near-bankruptcy and put the nation on a more secure economic footing. Mulroney was a staunch ally of Reagan and Thatcher in the fight against Soviet Communism. He negotiated the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, and became a good friend of George H.W. Bush. The two leaders worked together closely following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and during the subsequent Gulf War in 1991. The prime minister also did his utmost to get the Meech Lake Accord ratified to ensure that Canada did not fragment. It seems that the accord did not pass because, given Canada's vastness and diversity, the only way to bring Quebec into the Constitution would have been a messy solution that would have made no region of the country sufficiently happy, and in the end not everyone was prepared to sign off on such a solution. The accord was not ratified, although it seems that Mulroney did everything humanly possible to bring ratification about. Fortunately, the secession plebiscite later held in Quebec in October 1995, more than two years after Mulroney left office, did not pass. Americans will remember Prime Minister Mulroney for his support during the Cold War and during the Gulf War, and for his calm, assured, dignified manner. He also delivered a great eulogy at President Reagan's funeral in June 2004. And as with any great biography, scattered throughout this book are numerous keen insights into the human condition, making this a long, but rewarding, read.