Raymond B. Blake is a professor of history at the University of Regina and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has held visiting professorships at Philipps-Universität Marburg and University College Dublin, where he has twice held the Craig Dobbin Chair in Canadian Studies. He was formerly the director of the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy and the director of the Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. He has written and edited more than twenty books, most recently Where Once They Stood: Newfoundland's Rocky Road towards Confederation (with Melvin Baker), which won several awards, including the Pierre Savard Award from the International Council for Canadian Studies.

• Foreword / John EnglishPreface Introduction: Building the National Narrative – Words Matter, Leaders Matter1 Postwar Beginnings: W.L. Mackenzie King, 1943–48 2 No Ordinary Nation: Louis St-Laurent, 1948–573 "My Fellow Canadians": John Diefenbaker, 1957–634 Unity through Cooperation: Lester B. Pearson, 1963–685 Toward a Multicultural Just Society: Pierre Trudeau, 1968–846 Weaving the Last Threads: Brian Mulroney, 1984–937 The Canada We Want: Jean Chrétien, 1993–20058 National Values: Stephen Harper, 2006–15Conclusion: Stories and Narratives Build a NationNotes; Bibliography; Index