{"product_id":"the-national-dream-isbn-9780385658409","title":"The National Dream","description":"In 1871, a tiny nation, just four years old—it's population well below the 4 million  mark—determined that it would build the world's longest railroad across empty country,  much of it unexplored. This decision—bold to the point of recklessness—was to  change the lives of every man, woman and child in Canada and alter the shape of the  nation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Using primary sources—diaries, letters, unpublished manuscripts, public  documents and newspapers—Pierre Berton has reconstructed the incredible decade  of the 1870s, when Canadians of every stripe—contractors, politicians, financiers,  surveyors, workingmen, journalists and entrepreneurs—fought for the railway, or  against it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe National Dream\u003c\/i\u003e is above all else the story of people. It is the  story of George McMullen, the brash young promoter who tried to blackmail the Prime  Minister; of Marcus Smith, the crusty surveyor, so suspicious of authority he thought  the Governor General was speculating in railway lands; of Sanford Fleming, the great  engineer who invented Standard Time but who couldn't make up his mind about the best  route for the railway. All these figures, and dozens more, including the political  leaders of the era, come to life with all their human ambitions and failings.\"Pierre Berton is a chronicler of the first order who has brought photographic clarity to the great and the corrupt, to the zealots and the dreamers associated with Canada's first great vision of linking steel threads to the nation's fabric.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eMontreal Star\u003c\/i\u003ePIERRE BERTON was one of Canada’s most popular and prolific authors.\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eFrom narrative  histories and popular culture, to picture and coffee table books to anthologies,  to stories for children to readable, historical works for youth, many of his fifty  books are Canadian classics. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Born in 1920 and raised in the Yukon, Pierre Berton  worked in Klondike mining camps during his university years. He spent four years  in the army, rising from private to captain\/instructor at the Royal Military College  in Kingston. He spent his early newspaper career in Vancouver, where at 21 he was  the youngest city editor on any Canadian daily. He wrote columns for and was editor  of \u003ci\u003eMaclean’s \u003c\/i\u003emagazine, appeared on CBC’s public affairs program “Close-Up” and was  a permanent fixture on “Front Page Challenge” for 39 years. He was a columnist and  editor for the \u003ci\u003eToronto Star \u003c\/i\u003eand was a writer and host of a series of CBC programs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Pierre Berton received over 30 literary awards including the Governor General’s  Award for Creative Non-Fiction (three times), the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour,  and the Gabrielle Léger National Heritage Award. He received two Nellies for his  work in broadcasting, two National Newspaper awards and the National History Society’s first award for “distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history.” For  his immense contribution to Canadian literature and history, he was awarded more  than a dozen honourary degrees, was a member of the Newsman’s Hall of Fame, and was  a Companion of the Order of Canada.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Pierre Berton passed away in Toronto on November  30, 2004.","brand":"Anchor Canada","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302173757669,"sku":"NP9780385658409","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780385658409.jpg?v=1767740631","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-national-dream-isbn-9780385658409","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}