Anyone interested in Canadian academic affairs, history writing, left-wing politics, or Toronto society will find themselves utterly engaged by the witty and urbane voice behind these memoirs of a man who seemed to know simply everyone. Kenneth McNaught's delightful autobiography mixes acute observations on key political issues with memories of his student days in the 1930s, watercolour painting, and summers on Garden Island.

Born in 1918, Kenneth McNaught attended Upper Canada College, North Toronto Collegiate Institute, and the University of Toronto, where he eventually became a history professor. During McNaught's stay at United College of Winnipeg in the1950s, historian Harry Crowe was dismissed when a private letter critical of the administration found its way into the president's hands. McNaught gives a gripping account of his involvement in this landmark case in the history of academic freedom, which resulted in the development of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, and proved to be his most formative experience. He also discusses his role in the League for Social Reconstruction, the turmoil in the universities in the 1960s, Canada's complicity in Vietnam, the campaign against nuclear war, and his reaction to the growing independence movement in Quebec.

Conscience and History is a thought-provoking personal look at the ethical questions Canadians have faced in the past fifty years written by one of our leading historians.

The late Kenneth McNaught finished his career as a professor of history at the University of Toronto. He was appointed an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1997.

Kenneth McNaught's profile page

Michael Bliss was a Canadian historian and a University Professor Emeritus in the Department of History and the History of Medicine Program at the University of Toronto. He was the author of numerous award-winning books in business and political history as well as the history of medicine, including popular biographies of Sir Frederick Banting, Sir William Osler, and Harvey Cushing. He was an Officer of the Order of Canada, an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the first historian to be inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Michael Bliss' profile page

J. L. GRANATSTEIN is the author of over 60 books, including the bestsellersWho Killed The Canadian Military? and Whose War Is It?, along withYankee Go Home?, Victory 1945 and The Generals, which won the J. W. Dafoe Prize and the UBC Medal for Canadian Biography. A distinguished research professor of history emeritus at York University, he was a member of the RMC Board of Governors and is chair of the Advisory Council of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute. He lives in Toronto. Visit Granatstein atwww.whosewar.ca.

J.L. Granatstein's profile page