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Showing posts with the label Private Demons- The Tragic Personal Life of John A. Macdonald

Granny Reads: Book Review of "Private Demons"

Private Demons: The Tragic Personal Life of John A. Macdonald by Patricia Phenix My rating: 4 of 5 stars I have set out to review the lives of the 23 Prime Ministerial terms in Canada from 1867 (Confederation) until now. I will need to do a couple each month to complete my project in a year. John A. Macdonald is the first P.M. and the third P.M. following the Confederation of the Dominion of Canada. Yes, there were Prime Ministers before 1867, to oversee Upper Canada and Lower Canada, and Western Canada. As the title explains, this book looks at the "Tragic Personal Life of John A. Macdonald" which is likely not as he envisioned being recorded at any time in posterity. John A. was a brilliant young man, self-made to begin with. Without a formal education apart from the typical one-room schoolhouses in rural Ontario (Upper Canada), he 'apprenticed' to become a lawyer at about 14 years old, learning in a law office during the day about the Law, and studying in the eve