No Canadian prime minister has a reputation as uncertain as that of R.B. Bennett (1870-1947). The Conservative party leader of the country during the worst years of the Great Depression, Bennett's fortune and ascension to the British House of Lords alienated him from the Canadian people during his lifetime, while his burial in England has kept him aloof from his country even in death. Writing a life of Bennett, who reportedly destroyed his correspondence every seven years, presents challenges for the biographer. Yet P.B. Waite shows that, while many details of Bennett's life may be unknown or disputed, his contributions to Canada are beyond doubt. Waite describes Bennett's bold initiatives, including his attempt to introduce unemployment insurance and the minimum wage, and the foundation of the Bank of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - achieved in the face of staunch opposition from banking and media magnates. He also studies Bennett's personal relationships and his lifelong bachelorhood, sifting through rumours and weighing conflicting opinions to shed new light on his life and personality. A remarkable study of a polarizing figure, In Search of R.B. Bennett uncovers the best and worst of the life and times of a pivotal Canadian leader.

In this revised and updated version of his celebrated Bennett: The Rebel Who Challenged and Changed a Nation, Boyko looks at Bennett?s sometimes controversial and often misunderstood policies through a longer lens. He reveals that Bennett was less of an opportunistic politician attempting to curry popularity than a man who was following through on a life-long dedication to public service. Boyko argues that Bennett?s most notable achievements? unemployment insurance; minimum wage; fair-trade and anti-monopoly legislation; and the creation of the Bank of Canada and the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission? were consistent with the conservative economic and political beliefs he held throughout his life. He also explores the origins and hardening of those beliefs as he details Bennett?s birth into relative poverty in Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick, his stunning success as a corporate lawyer in Calgary, his years in politics, and his eventual retirement in England. Meticulously researched and brilliantly told, Bennett: The Rebel Who Challenged and Changed a Nation stands among other first-class biographies of this country?s political greats. --Publisher's description.