Valerie Knowles

This biography is about the life of Sir William C. Van Horne. There is a lot in it about the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, but it is primarily the story of the man. As such, it is a great success. Having read many biographies, I would say that I "know" Sir William better than I do others whom I've read about, such as Sir Alexander Graham Bell. In this way, the book is enormously successful.

On the other hand, the author often appears to be copying what she's read in source material without fully understanding it herself. There are references to issues which are left unexplained and often out-dated terminology is used. At times, the writing is very difficult to follow because it doesn't make sense out of context. I often felt I was reading a high school term paper, where the student didn't appreciate the siginificance of what s/he was reporting. Unreliable narrators have a place in fiction, but not in biography.… (meer)