Stephen Leacock’s satiric masterpiece Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town captures “the Empire forever” mentality that marked Anglo-Canadian life in the early decades of the 20th century. Historian Margaret Macmillan – whose books Women of the Raj and Paris 1919 cast fresh light on the colonial legacy – has great affection for Leacock’s gentle wit and sharp-eyed insight. The renowned historian examines Leacock’s life as a poor but ambitious student who rose to become an economist, celebrated academic and, most importantly, the beloved humorist who taught Canadians to laugh at themselves.

Margaret MacMillan is the author of Women of the Raj and the international bestsellers Nixon in China and Paris 1919, and winner of the 2003 Governor General's Award and several prestigious international prizes. The past provost of Trinity College at the University of Toronto, she is the warden of St. Antony's College at Oxford University. Her most recent book, The Uses and Abuses of History, will be published by Penguin in April 2008.

"Canadians are a modest people. We don't like self-importance or boasting so sometimes we are slow to recognize greatness in our compatriots. This series rightly reminds us to be proud of the explorers, writers, politicians, and the generally talented and stubborn Canadians who made this country what it is."

– Margaret MacMillan