The image of the scrum – a beleaguered politican surrounded by jockeying reporters – is central to our perception of Ottawa. The modern scrum began with the arrival of television, but even in Sir John A. Macdonald’s day, a century earlier, reporters in the parliamentary press gallery had waited outside the prime minister’s office, pen in hand, hoping for a quote for the next edition.

The scrum represents the test of wills, the contest of wits, and the battle for control that have characterized the relationship between Canadian prime ministers and journalists for more than 125 years. Scrum Wars chronicles this relationship. It is an anecdotal as well as analytical account, showing how earlier prime ministers like Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier were able to exercise control over what was written about their administrators, while more recent leaders like John Diefenbaker, Joe Clark, John Turner, and Brian Mulroney often found themselves at the mercy of intense media scrutiny and comment.

Allan Levine is an award-winning internationally selling author and historian based in Winnipeg, Canada.
He has written thirteen books including the Sam Klein historical mystery trilogy.
Winner of the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction, the McNally-Robinson Book of the Year, the Best History Book Award at the Canadian Jewish Book Awards, and the co-winner of the J.I. Segal Prize in Canadian Jewish History.
A freelance writer since the early 1980s, his work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Maclean's, Toronto Star, the National Post, and Saturday Night. A columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press since 2010, he explains the history behind current events.

Allan Levine's profile page

"Allan Levine's Scrum Wars documents our long history of slanted, manipulated political views. If journalism is 'the first rough draft of history,' it sort of makes you want to take another look at the final draft."

Books in Canada