A portrait in words of Lester Pearson, this volume contains his own selection of his speeches and writings from 1924 to 1968 on a wide variety of topics – serious and frivolous, political and non-political – with introductions which serve as an autobiographical and interpretative link carrying the reader forward through his career. His humour and modesty, his honesty and directness, infuse the work as they have in his public life.

Lester B. Pearson (1897–1972) was Canada’s fourteenth prime minister.

Lester B. Pearson's profile page

‘Mr Pearson has the gift of saying serious things in an entertaining style, and his book is a rarity of its kind: it may be read purely for pleasure.’ New Yorker

‘Words and Occasions…is not only fascinating but highly important as the study of a man and a nation….the collection – sparkling with wry humour and jokes against himself, yet coloured with melancholy and sometimes almost despair – offers the first reliable sketch, if not the complete portrait of the man and his times. And any reader will see that both man and times are quite different from the accepted version….Words and Occasions contains enough of both to satisfy the most demanding reader. It must be read by an Canadian who seeks a sane perspective not only on the times of Mr Pearson but on the times of Mr Trudeau, too.’ Bruce Hutchison, Winnipeg Free Press