I've occasionally puzzled about the scarcity of histories of the October Crisis of 1970, even mused about writing one myself. Where did that bright idea go?
Anyway, now there is a new one. D'Arcy Jenish, former Maclean's journalist and more recently biographer of David Thompson and historian of the Plains Cree, has written The Making of the October Crisis.
It's an odd title --surely the crisis itself is more deserving of attention than the "making" of it -- and the subtitle is worse. Canada's Long Nightmare of Terrorism at the Hands of the FLQ reflects the mindset of our foreign owned publishers: that even the most Canadian of works must now be marketed to foreign audiences who will never read it. D'Arcy Jenish should not be held responsible for that. I have not seen the book, and hope it is true that it cannot be judged by its cover.
