Cosmic truth • Bretton Woods SPUR FESTIVAL 2015 details inside! $6.50 Vol. 23, No. 3 April 2015 Bronwyn Drainie ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Keep in touch Andrew Coyne How (not) to write Why digital connections can’t sustain about Harper health, happiness or politics Molly Peacock An albino memoir Michael Valpy Does multiculturalism fail black Canadians? PLUS: NON-FICTION Paul Knox on war correspondent Matthew Halton + Terry Glavin on policing troubled states + Tom Flanagan on retired politicians + Sharon Batt on Big Activism + John Boyko on black Canadians in the Civil War + Wayson Choy on the pleasures of ink + Jerry Wasserman on Robert Lepage’s genius FICTION Katherine Ashenburg reviews The Jaguar’s Children + Norman Snider reviews The Hunger of the Wolf POETRY John Wall Barger + Alice Major + Elena Johnson + Marsha Barber Publications Mail Agreement #40032362 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to LRC, Circulation Dept., PO Box 8, Station K, Toronto ON M4P 2G1 New from University of Toronto Press Suburban Governance A Global View edited by Pierre Hamel and Apocalypse Delayed Roger Keil The Story of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Suburban Governance presents a Third Edition groundbreaking set of essays by by M. James Penton leading urban scholars on how governance regulates the creation In Apocalypse Delayed, James Penton, of the world’s suburban spaces and a former member of the sect, presents everyday life within them. a fascinating history of Jehovah’s Witnesses and discusses controversies within this religious movement including its opposition to military service and blood transfusions. Leaders in the Shadows The Leadership Qualities of Municipal Chief Administrative Officers University Leadership and by David Siegel Public Policy in the Twenty- In this book, David Siegel presents First Century a well-rounded account of the A President’s Perspective challenges and opportunities faced by public servants at the municipal level by Peter MacKinnon and explores the leadership qualities of Clear, contentious, and effective municipal managers. uncompromising, University Leadership and Public Policy in the Twenty-First Century offers a unique and timely analysis of the key policy issues affecting Canada’s university sector. The “Greening” of Costa Rica Women, Peasants, Indigenous Peoples, A Great Rural Sisterhood and the Remaking of Nature Madge Robertson Watt and the by Ana Isla ACWW Ana Isla analyzes the Arenal-Tilaran by Linda M. Ambrose Conservation Area, created as a In A Great Rural Sisterhood, Linda result of Canada-Costa Rica debt- M. Ambrose tells the story of Madge for-nature swaps, and challenges Robertson Watt’s remarkable life as a claims that ‘green capitalism’ reduces feminist and founder of the Associated poverty, creates equality, and combats Country Women of the World ecological destruction. organization. Also available as e-books at utppublishing.com Literary Review of Canada 170 Bloor St West, Suite 710 Toronto ON M5S 1T9 email: [email protected] reviewcanada.ca T: 416-531-1483 • F: 416-531-1612 Charitable number: 848431490RR0001 To donate, visit reviewcanada.ca/support Vol. 23, No. 3 • April 2015 EDITOR Bronwyn Drainie 3 Writing about Harper 18 The Hunger Game [email protected] A review of Kill The Messengers: Stephen Harper’s A review of The Hunger of the Wolf, by CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Mark Lovewell, Molly Peacock, Robin Assault on Your Right to Know, by Mark Bourrie, Stephen Marche Roger, Michael Stevens, Anthony Westell and Party of One: Stephen Harper and Canada’s Norman Snider ASSOCIATE EDITOR Radical Makeover, by Michael Harris 19 Amid the Alien Corn Judy Stoffman Andrew Coyne A review of The Jaguar’s Children, by John Vaillant POETRY EDITOR 6 A Different Kind of Journalism Katherine Ashenburg Moira MacDougall A review of Dispatches from the Front: Matthew COPY EDITOR 20 The Moving Finger Writes Madeline Koch Halton, Canada’s Voice at War, by David Halton A review of The Social Life of Ink: Culture, Paul Knox ONLINE EDITORS Wonder and Our Relationship with the Written Diana Kuprel, Jack Mitchell, 7 Beautifully Different Word, by Ted Bishop Donald Rickerd, C.M. A review of Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family Wayson Choy PROOFREADERS Heather Schultz, Kristen Scott and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes, 21 Theatrical Superstar by Emily Urquhart RESEARCH A review of The Visual Laboratory of Robert Molly Peacock Rob Tilley Lepage, by Ludovic Fouquet, translated by EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS 8 Some Special Soldiers Rhonda Mullins Mohamed Huque, Kristen Scott, Gina A review of African Canadians in Union Blue: Jerry Wasserman Shin Volunteering for the Cause in the Civil War, by 22 The Half-Life of Politicians DESIGN Richard M. Reid James Harbeck A review of Diplomatic Afterlives, by Andrew F. John Boyko ADVERTISING/SALES Cooper Michael Wile 10 An Outsider Inside Tom Flanagan [email protected] A review of Visitor: My Life in Canada, by 24 Idealists on the Beat DIRECTOR, SPECIAL PROJECTS Anthony Stewart Michael Booth A review of Worth Dying For: Canada’s Mission Michael Valpy DEVELOPMENT MANAGER to Train Police in the World’s Failing States, by Elizabeta Liguri´c 13 Keep in Touch Terry Gould PUBLISHERS A review of Reclaiming the Commons for the Terry Glavin Alastair Cheng Common Good: A Memoir and Manifesto, by 26 Be Careful What You Wish For [email protected] Heather Menzies, Tell Everyone: Why We Share Helen Walsh A review of Forgotten Foundations of Bretton and Why It Matters, by Alfred Hermida, The [email protected] Woods: International Development and the Making Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can BOARD OF DIRECTORS of the Postwar Order, by Eric Helleiner Make Us Healthier and Happier, by Susan Pinker, Mark Lovewell, Don McCutchan, Jack John Hancock Mintz, Trina McQueen and Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship, by Adrienne Clarkson 29 Branding the Barricades ADVISORY COUNCIL Michael Adams, Ronald G. Atkey, P.C., Bronwyn Drainie A review of Protest Inc.: The Corporatization Q.C., Alan Broadbent, C.M., Chris Ellis, 16 Festus, Hansel & Grendel of Activism, by Peter Dauvergne and James Gillies, C.M., Carol Hansell, Genevieve LeBaron Donald Macdonald, P.C., C.C., Susan A poem Sharon Batt Reisler, Grant Reuber, O.C., Don Rickerd, John Wall Barger C.M., Rana Sarkar, Mark Sarner, Bernard An Imperfect Truth Schiff, Reed Scowen 17 The Helium Thoughts 30 A review of The Singular Universe and the Reality POETRY SUBMISSIONS A poem of Time: A Proposal in Natural Philosophy, by For poetry submission guidelines, please see Alice Major reviewcanada.ca. Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin LRC design concept by Jackie Young/INK 17 Silent for the Dry Season David Orrell Founded in 1991 by P.A. Dutil A poem 32 Letters and Responses The LRC is published 10 times a year by the Literary Elena Johnson Review of Canada Charitable Organization. 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Index and is distributed by Disticor and Magazines Canada. an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario April 2015 reviewcanada.ca 1 To all LRC readers, I am gratified by the ever-expanding virtuous circle we’ve managed to create in With the April 2015 issue, I am stepping these pages, where a few excellent writers down from my job at this wonderful attract more and more excellent writers in magazine, which I’ve been editing since ensuing issues. Canada will always remain May 2003. Twelve years feels like a a vast and somewhat lonely place for good long run and I know my publishers writers to ply their craft, and, at its best, are actively involved in a search for my a magazine like the LRC can help alleviate successor. In the meantime, our dedicated that feeling of aloneness and provide a colleague Mark Lovewell has stepped into genuine sense of community for those the position on an interim basis. The whole who truly care about the culture, history, LRC team is made up of extraordinary politics and economics of this odd and often individuals who have been so hard-working frustrating but always fascinating country. and so supportive — I cannot thank them Finally, I must thank you, our readers, enough.