Quote:
Originally Posted by kq76
Yeah, I heard about it last week and was surprisingly intrigued. Question is: is it any good? I don't like the guy's politics, but I think I might be able to put aside those feelings if the book is good. I would like to know more about the early days of hockey. I wouldn't like it if it's focused too much on the Leafs and with its title I fear it might be.
Anyone read it already?
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Haven't read the book. But was also intrigued by the fact it was written by the Canadian Prime Minister. Which begs the question: Where did he find the time to write the book? By the way, it took him 9 years to research the book!
The NY times article, though, puts a good word about the book. To quote the article:
"...the fact remains that Harper has written a finely detailed history of the struggle between professionalism and amateurism in early 20th-century Ontario hockey. Harper, a longtime member of the Society for International Hockey Research, has described his studies as 'an escape from the pressures of the job.'
...It includes insightful examinations of class and religion and the roles they played in a country that still saw itself as a pillar of the British Empire, all viewed through the prism of hockey at the dawn of the pro era...
Harper also makes other observations that will fascinate regular hockey fans. The original Canadiens franchise of 1909, he notes, went dormant in 1910 and was replaced by another Canadiens franchise; the original franchise was sold to Toronto, where it became the progenitor of the Maple Leafs.
'How incomprehensible, then, it would be to the average fan of the Leafs or the Habs to discover that these seemingly eternal adversaries are descended from a common ancestor,' Harper writes."