A Peter Gzowski Reader

by Gzowski, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780771036958
• ISBN10: 0771036957
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Ltd

Summary

The man who affected the reading habits of millions of Canadians gives us the work of a lifetime Long before he became a radio voice Peter Gzowski was a writer. This book is an anthology of his best writing over a career spanning more than 50 years, starting with pieces from his time writing for The Varsity, and his early days as a young reporter caught in a forest fire. Each entry forms a new chapter and typically begins with an introduction from Peter Gzowski today, setting it in context. When he was a young writer at Maclean's in 1959, he did a piece on Gordie Howe which still stands up today. In the same period, he wrote articles on racism in Saskatchewan ("This Is Our Alabama"), and, in 1961, a profile of an interesting young man named Trudeau. Later, we follow him into the world of his books, with choice excerpts from his best work. From his book on the Edmonton Oilers, The Game of Our Lives, for example, there's his famous piece on skating, and another much-quoted passage on Wayne Gretzky. Look for choice pieces from The Morningside Papers (198495) and three pieces from his autobiography The Private Voice, and many pieces from here and there including "Song for Canada," which he wrote with Ian Tyson. Above all, look for exciting new work never before collected in book form, including a thrilling account of sailing in Antigua in seas so high that the boat is dismasted, at the mercy of the waves. And there is a lovely piece about his earliest boyhood days growing up in what was then Galt, and by contrast, a look at Canada today. This is a cornucopia of Gzowski, selected by Peter himself, that is a tasty blend of the personal and the objective, and always good reading. From the Hardcover edition.

Author Biography

Former host of CBC Radio’s “Morningside,” <b>Peter Gzowski</b> was one of Canada’s pre-eminent journalists. He was a Companion of the Order of Canada, the winner of seven ACTRA awards, as well as the Peabody Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting – the only Canadian ever to have been given the award for work as an individual. He received many lifetime achievement awards and honorary doctorates from twelve Canadian universities, the citation for the University of Calgary describing him as “the cartographer of the Canadian soul.” <br><br>He was the author of many best-selling books, including <i>The Game of Our Lives</i>, his memorable work on hockey (1981), <i>The Private Voice</i>, his memoir from 1988, five collections of <i>Morningside Papers</i>, the retrospective <i>The Morningside Years</i>, and two collections of columns, <i>Canadian Living</i>, and <i>Friends, Moments, Countryside</i>.<i> </i>His most recent book, published last fall, was an anthology of his best work entitled <i>A Peter Gzowski Reader</i>.<br><br>Peter Gzowski passed away on Thursday, January 24, 2002.

Table of Contents

A Perfect Place to Be a Boy	1	(7)
My Grandfather Leacock	8	(4)
Peter Brown's Schooldays	12	(16)
A Taste of the Wild Frontier	28	(10)
First Splashes of Printer's Ink	38	(7)
The Graduation of a Canadian Sex Symbol	45	(5)
The School of Heady Mistakes	50	(3)
The Editorial That Changed My Life	53	(3)
Greenhorn in the Heartland	56	(14)
Portrait of an Intellectual Engage	70	(11)
The October We'll Never Forget	81	(5)
A Prince in the Revolution	86	(11)
And the Man We'll Always Remember	97	(6)
Racism on the Prairies	103	(13)
Gordie	116	(14)
A Hockey Writer's Last Stand at Maclean's	130	(6)
Why Maclean's Still Matters	136	(4)
In the Days of the Seven-Day Hour	140	(5)
And F--- as a Dirty Word	145	(6)
How CBC Radio Made Me a Canadian	151	(6)
And How Being Canadian Helped Make This Country	157	(7)
The Rules of Hopscotch	164	(3)
Why Summer Never Lasts Long Enough	167	(3)
But Winter Can Still Happily Surprise Us	170	(3)
Why All My Teenage Romances Ended in December	173	(3)
The Complete Works of Pete Gzowski, Lyricist, as Recorded by Ian and Sylvia, the Chad Mitchell Trio and --- Seriously --- Bob Dylan	176	(2)
The Abbreviated Memoirs of an Abbreviated Talk-Show Career	178	(5)
Meeting Rhonda	183	(7)
Life in the Big Leagues I: Behind the Bench	190	(4)
Life in the Big Leagues II: How Gretzky Does It	194	(14)
The World of the Racetrack I: The Fans	208	(5)
The World of the Racetrack II: The Backstretch	213	(5)
The City Mouse Moves Back Downtown	218	(4)
Reflections of an Unmade Bed	222	(3)
High Wind Off Antigua	225	(16)
A Couple of Memorable Meals	241	(4)
A Sprinkling of Canadian Living	245	(12)
How to Ruin Your Golf Game --- and Teach a Whole Lot of People to Read	257	(5)
Murray	262	(7)
Life After Smoking	269	(3)
Acknowledgements	272