Who is pierre berton

The Dionne Years carried him nearer social history and a smaller canvas. In turning to the War of in The Invasion of Canada and Flames Across the Border Berton again dealt with events large enough to contain his heroic vision of what the past should be, and the smell of gunpowder quickened his pace without leading to narrative excesses.

Other historical works have included My Country and The Wild Frontier , collected sketches of characters and events. Hollywood's Canada examines the way Hollywood films misrepresent Canada. Drifting Home is an unexpected slice of autobiography in the form of an account of a northern rafting trip.

Berton returned to the writing of popular history, with The Promised Land , a history of the settling of the Canadian West, and his hugely successful Vimy , an examination of the WWI battle in which the Canadian Corps took Vimy Ridge in April In Starting Out , he picked up the autobiographical thread again with a memoir that ends in Winter , while not overtly historical, continues one of Berton's overriding themes, that which makes us Canadian.

In glorifying the season Berton is recognizing the strength of character that allows Canada as a nation to overcome its harshness. In he published his 50th book, Pioneers of the North , a collection of biographical sketches on 5 of Canada's northern explorers, enigmatic characters that he felt wrote themselves into the landscape of the North. These were evidently influenced by his upbringing in the region.

In The Great Klondike Gold Rush , Berton conveys stories of the prospectors, the gold seekers and the mineral that drove them mad. He identifies the Klondike veterans Sourdoughs and newcomers the Cheeckakos.

With a dramatically authentic historical backdrop we meet heroes and villains, as well as paupers turned millionaires in this rugged Canadian frontier. When the word of the Klondike gold discovery became known worldwide by the summer of , it initiated a seemingly interminable influx of future fortune hunters.

Pierre Berton chronicles the arduous trek along mountainous trails over indomitable terrain. In , the steamer Portland transported two tonnes of pure Klondike gold reflecting the substantial yield the region reaped.

From dreamers and desperados to dance hall girls and dead horses, all are covered amid the gold mania. She was a former nurse, restaurant manager and became the first female Special Constable in the North West Mounted Police. In The Golden Trail: The Story of the Klondike Rush , there is a vivid depiction of what occurred during and the frenzy that ensued after the gold rush and the golden quest thereof. There was a painstaking process of prospectors working claims.

If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter. And if you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc. The man who taught Canadians how to think of themselves. Share using Email. By Thomas Rogers 28th September Pierre Berton was the historian who shaped Canadian identity more than any other — and taught the nation how to roll up a joint on TV.

A Canadian is someone who knows how to have sex in a canoe — Pierre Berton. The modesty of Canadian history means that historians have to focus on relatively small stories.