Patrice Dutil is a professor of politics and public administration at Ryerson University, Toronto. He is the author of many books, including Prime Ministerial Power in Canada: Its Origins under Macdonald, Laurier, and Borden; Embattled Nation: Canada's Wartime Election of 1917 (with David MacKenzie); and Canada, 1911: The Decisive Election That Shaped the Country (also with MacKenzie). He has also edited several collections, including Macdonald at 200: New Reflections and Legacies (with Roger Hall). He was the founding editor of the Literary Review of Canada (1991–96) and the president of the Champlain Society (2010–17).

• Foreword / Robert Bothwell and John EnglishIntroduction: Louis St-Laurent's Leadership in History / Patrice DutilPart 1: Style1 St-Laurent in Government: Realism and Idealism in Action / Patrice Dutil2 Grandpapa: A Portrait of the Man and His Family / Jean Thérèse Riley3 The Predominant Prime Minister: St-Laurent and His Cabinet / Stephen Azzi4 Uncle Lou, Both Old and New: The Marketing of St-Laurent / Paul Litt5 St-Laurent and the Age of Bureaucracy / Robert BothwellPart 2: Structure6 Thinking Confederation: St-Laurent and the Rowell-Sirois Commission / Robert Wardhaugh and Barry Ferguson7 The Liminality of St-Laurent's Intergovernmental Relations Strategy / P.E. Bryden8 St-Laurent: The Last Father of Confederation? / David MacKenzie9 Defence, Development, and Inuit: St-Laurent's Modern Approach to the North / P. Whitney Lackenbauer10 "But There Is Another Source of Liberty and Vitality in Our Country": St-Laurent and Regional Development / Michel S. Beaulieu11 St-Laurent and Modern Provincial Equality / Mary Janigan12 St-Laurent and the Modernization of the State / Luc Juillet and Luc Bernier13 The Cautious Liberal: St-Laurent and National Hospitalization / Gregory P. MarchildonPart 3: Substance14 St-Laurent, Quebec, and the French Fact: Belonging and Ambivalence / Xavier Gélinas15 The Politics of St-Laurent on the Crown, Rituals, and Symbols / Christopher McCreery16 St-Laurent, Judging, Justice, and the Death Penalty in the Shadow of the Cold War / Philip Girard17 In Search of the St-Laurent Voting Coalition / Patrice Dutil18 Winning Words: Party Platforms in the 1949, 1953, and 1957 Elections / Patrice Dutil and Peter M. Ryan19 "The Greatest Period ... Canada Has Had": Immigration and the St-Laurent Years / Abril Liberatori20 The Slow Evolution of Indian Policy during the St-Laurent Years / J.R. Miller21 St-Laurent's Gray Lecture and Canadian Citizenship in History / Adam Chapnick22 A Voyage of Discovery: St-Laurent's World Tour of 1954 / Greg DonaghyPostscript: Eastern Township Thinking / The Honourable Jean CharestContributors; Index

The Unexpected Louis St-Laurent span[s] a wide range of issues surrounding St-Laurent's time as prime minister, making clear his importance as well as that of this oft overlooked period. - Asa McKercher, Royal Military College of Canada (British Journal of Canadian Studies) The Unexpected Louis St-Laurent is a fine volume, one of the few recent edited collections held together by more than the binding. - J.L. Granatstein (Literary Review of Canada) "The Unexpected Louis St-Laurent is a must-read for Canadians of all political stripes. Full of essays that both praise and criticize, it gives a full picture of St. Laurent's policies, successes and failures. Leaders from all walks of life seeking insight on how to build a stronger post-COVID Canada will find examples there that will inspire."- Hugh Segal (The Toronto Star) "… this is a very worthwhile book about one of the most distinguished and successful leaders in Canadian history."- Conrad Black (National Post) "Leaders, like St. Laurent, make being prime minister look easy. It never is, and Dutil's important book shows us how and why that was the case during the mid-twentieth century."- Tim Cook (Canada's History) With this superbly-executed, comprehensive book, [St-Laurent] now gets the tribute he would not have asked for — but nonetheless deserves.- Anthony Wilson-Smith, president & CEO of Historica Canada (Policy Magazine)