It’s ironic. We’ve just been through an entire month of obsessing over who is The Greatest Canadian. Now that it’s over, the death of an honest-to-goodness great Canadian — someone who leaves an indelible mark on our consciousness — allows us to rid ourselves of all the hyperbole and focus on what truly makes an outstanding citizen of this country.
Pierre Burton was a magical storyteller — magical because the he took the stories of our nation, and presented them as the fascinating, engrossing, exciting & haunting tales that they are. Burton existed to give lie to the claim that Canadian history is boring. Read any of his books, and you will realize what an amazing, astonishing nation Canada was AND is.
I could go on, ad infinitum, with platitudes, but instead, I will offer a recommendation for three of his books — they are the true memorials to his legacy…and if you haven’t read them yet, what are you waiting for?
The Great Depresssion is an all-encompassing, year-by-year chronicle of the darkest period in our nation’s history. Destitute in both wealth and spirit, this book chronicles the dark abyss from which both Canada and the world did not recover, until the advent of World War II. Alternating between intimate accounts of the horrors of everyday existence, and the men who tried and failed to relieve this suffering, it stands as a disturbing, fascinating, mournful reflection on survival. If Pierre Burton’s books are obsessed with character building, then this is the granddaddy of them all. Reading this book will leave you thinking for hours after you put it down.
1967-The Last Good Year is the antidote to the previous book: Canada was 100 years old, confident, partying, hip, and on the cusp of the most enormous social change conceivable. This book is the story of Canada and it’s people on a cliff, overlooking a future that was uncertain, yet full of unimaginable promise. Burton shows us how we jumped off that cliff, unafraid and unconcerned of the destiny that awaited us.
Finally, Marching as to War is THE final, definitive summation on Canada’s role in the great conflicts of the 20th century. Covering the Boer War, WWI, WWII and Korea, there has never been such an amazing account that manages to be both succinct AND deep, and full of Burton’s trademark character moments. It’s astonishing.
He was a giant of a man, a giant of a writer, and a giant of a Canadian. There won’t be anyone to replace him — the hole he leaves in our literary and cultural landscape is just too big. All we can hope to do is to live up to the legacy he leaves us: the desire to revel in and celebrate our Canadian identity. We are all diminished without him…one of the few true icons we have.
