Gordon Donaldson is a Canadian author and journalist. He has appeared in television and has also produced television programming.

Donaldson's works include histories such as Battle for a Continent. His biographies on the Prime Ministers of Canada, contained in a single volume, was published in 1969 under the title Fifteen Men. With continual updates starting in 1975, it eventually had to be renamed Sixteen Men and Eighteen Men. It was finally titled The Prime Ministers of Canada after Kim Campbell became Canada's first woman prime minister. As Donaldson said in his 1993 preface, "Twenty Persons didn't have the same ring to it."^[1] The Prime Ministers of Canada While there is a long standard tradition of considering John A. Macdonald Canadas first Prime Minister, since he was prime minister after Canadian Confederation, a number of modern scholars, foremost amongst them John Ralston Saul, argue that Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine are... Avril Phaedra Douglas Campbell, usually known as Kim Campbell (born 10 March 1947), was the nineteenth Prime Minister of Canada from 25 June to 4 November 1993. ...

One critic recommended The Prime Ministers of Canada for students, saying it was "straightforward and thoroughly enjoyable," and "accessible and helpful."^[2] Canadian humourist Will Ferguson, in his book Bastards & Boneheads, cited Donaldson's book on the prime ministers as one of the two "most rewarding" sources on prime ministers, along with Michael Bliss' Right Honourable Men. However, Ferguson gave some criticism, in that Donaldson allegedly used "the word 'squaw'" more than once, which was "somewhat disturbing."^[3] Will Ferguson Will Ferguson is a Canadian writer who is best known for his humorous observations on Canadian history and culture. ... Michael Bliss (born 1941) is a Canadian historian and outspoken public figure. ... Squaw (from Pidgin Massachusett (a Pidginized version of a language belonging to the Algonquian family) squa, meaning young woman) is an English loan-word whose present meaning is (an) American Indian woman, regardless of tribe, and often with a derisive connotation. ...

References

1. ^ Gordon Donaldson, The Prime Ministers of Canada, Doubleday Canada Limited, 1997, vi.
2. ^ Brenda Reed, "The Prime Ministers of Canada," The Manitoba Library Association, URL accessed 3 September 2006.
3. ^ Will Ferguson, Bastards & Boneheads: Our Glorious Leaders, Past and Present, October 1999, page 301.