“With this book, Boyko has not only shown so many parallels between yesteryear and today, but that R.B. Bennett still has much to teach us — and the man holding the current reins of power — about governing during troubled times.” — The Ottawa Citizen

“Although he has gone down in history as a prig, the portrait that emerges from the rich and abundantly researched Boyko account is a largely favourable one. It is good to see that this much-degraded figure finally gets some credit.” —The Globe and Mail

“At first glance, there is something almost reassuringly Canadian about the fact that R.B. Bennett, who was prime minister during the worst years of the Great Depression, between 1930 and 1935, has mostly avoided the full-length biographical treatment. . . . Boyko tries, with considerable success, to build a case that the one-term prime minister is more significant to the country’s history than his limited legacy suggests.” — Quill and Quire

“‘Franklin Roosevelt was America’s R.B. Bennett.’ John Boyko is playing with our imaginations, of course . . . , but they were alike in the radicalism of their responses to the Great Depression and in their concern for the fate of ordinary people — and this biography, the first serious study of Bennett in half a century, gives us back an extraordinary Canadian.” — Gwynne Dyer, bestselling author of Climate Wars

“Required reading for any Canadian who wants to understand the real roots of modern Conservatism, and for all Conservatives who need to understand why Canadian Conservatism is unique. Wherever one is on the right-left spectrum, this masterful work connects the dots between the forces that opened the door to social innovation — forces unleashed and turbo-charged by the sheer decency and will of R.B. Bennett himself.” — Hugh Segal, author of The Right Balance

“A brilliant and unprecedented portrait of one of Canada’s most important, and least understood, political leaders. Superbly researched and wonderfully written, John Boyko has produced the definitive biography of R.B. Bennett, a transformative prime minister who established important national institutions that remain the cornerstone of Canadian life today.”
— Bob Plamondon, author of Full Circle and Blue Thunder