Dance of the Dialectic

Subtitled "How Pierre Elliot Trudeau went from Philosopher-King to the Incorruptible Robespierre to Philosopher-Queen Marie Antoinette to Canada's Generalissimo and then to Mackenzie King and Even Better," Larry Zolf's book is a vital time capsule of the early 1970s Trudeau-manical hangover.

Dance of the Dialectic is a fast-paced account of Canadian politics in the shadow of the Centennial and Expo, an account of how Pierre Elliot Trudeau's government and the Ottawa press gallery together made and re-made the political mood in the country. Zolf records how the media "discovered" Trudeau and made him leader of the Liberal party, how they gradually turned Robert Stanfield and David Lewis into believable opponents, and how the '72 election produced a markedly different style of Trudeau government.

Zolf's account is an amazing combination of gags, one-liners, puns and sharp-eyed political commentary: a book about Canadian politics like no one has ever written before or since.