J. W. Dafoe Foundation

Five books drawn from across Canada made the shortlist for the 2019 John W. Dafoe Book Prize from an excellent field of thirty-eight entries:

• Fen Osler Hampson, Master of Persuasion: Brian Mulroney’s Global Legacy. McClelland and Stewart/Signal.
• Taylor Hollander, Power, Politics and Principles: Mackenzie King and Labour, 1935-1948. University of Toronto Press.
• D’Arcy Jenish, The Making of the October Crisis: Canada’s Long Nightmare of Terrorism at the Hands of the FLQ. Doubleday Canada.
• Jacques Poitras, Pipe Dreams: The Fight for Canada’s Energy Future. Penguin Canada.
• Joan Sangster, One Hundred Years of Struggle: The History of Women and the Vote in Canada. UBC Press.

The winner will be named later in the spring and collect the award at the J.W. Dafoe Foundation’s Annual Book Prize Dinner. The winner will also give a talk in the Winnipeg community, with details to follow.

The book prize memorializes John Wesley Dafoe, one of the most significant Canadian editors of the 20th century. It is one of the richest book awards for non-fiction excellence about Canada, Canadians and the Canadian nation in international affairs. In his tenure at the Manitoba Free Press, later renamed the Winnipeg Free Press, from 1901-1944, Dafoe was known for his advocacy of western development, free trade, and national independence. His case for adoption of the Statute of Westminster by Britain in 1931 advanced the severance of formal ties with Empire and created the eight dominions, which became the nucleus of the present 54-nation Commonwealth.

For the full press release, click here.