#1 national bestseller

When Pierre Elliott Trudeau died in 2000, the outpouring of emotion was extraordinary. Thousands of people across Canada — and all over the world — mourned the loss of one of our greatest prime ministers, a man who touched the hearts and challenged the minds of a nation. In this book, Trudeau’s close friend Nancy Southam has gathered more than 140 reminiscences and anecdotal narratives from journalists, former world leaders, politicians who battled and debated him, his sons’ friends, RCMP bodyguards, girlfriends, canoeing buddies, and household staff. Among the contributors are luminaries as diverse as Conrad Black, Jean Chrétien, Leonard Cohen, John Kenneth Galbraith, Ivan Head, Jacques Hébert, Karen Kain, Margot Kidder, Harrison McCain, Toni Onley, Gordon Pinsent, Christopher Plummer, Roy Romanow, Ed Schreyer, and Barbra Streisand. With the blessing of his sons, Justin and Sacha, Southam has put together a remarkably transparent account of a deeply private person that is funny, honest, affectionate, and illuminating.