50 Canadians Who Changed The World

Using the successful format of How the Scots Invented Canada, Ken McGoogan takes the reader on a compelling journey through the lives of 50 accomplished Canadians born in the 20th century who have changed-and often continue to change-the great wide world.

McGoogan profiles an astonishing array of activists, humanitarians, musicians, writers, comedians, visionaries, scientists and inventors, all of them transformative figures who have made an impact internationally. From Jane Jacobs, Deepa Mehta, Marshall McLuhan, Stephen Lewis and Romeo Dallaire to Samantha Nutt, David Suzuki, Margaret Atwood, Oscar Peterson, Leonard Cohen and forty others, McGoogan shows us why and how Canadians have made their mark globally as initiators and agents of progressive change.

Cutting-edge Canada, the focus of this book, is uniquely pluralistic-multicultural, multi-ethnic, and multinational. The diversity that emerges in these pages defines who we are as citizens, enabling and encouraging individuals to make a difference. Two thirds of the people celebrated in this spirited, accessible work are alive and thriving today, a demonstration of how 20th-century Canada continues to transform the 21st century.
Say hello to 50 Canadians who are shaping the future.

"McGoogan's list is diverse, with a particular effort made to include native Canadians, and it is nice to see artists and scientists treated as equals to humanitarians and activists." -Quill & Quire

"He hits you right in the face with their world-changing accomplishments. You may know some of these Canadians already-Michael J. Fox, Wayne Gretzky-but McGoogan tells you something about them you didn't know. He includes little-known facts; Tommy Douglas brought health care to Canada, but did you know that it was all because of a miracle leg surgery that he experienced as a young boy? Or what about the lawsuit behind the board game Trivial Pursuit, invented by Chris Haney? Or that Superman was actually created by Canadian comic book artist Joe Shuster?" -Convergence Magazine

". . . this book should be required reading for every Canadian. Ken McGoogan's 50 Canadians Who Changed the World is an inspirational look at some remarkable people who have built our present and are shaping our tomorrow. . . . I enjoyed the format because you can easily choose which people you want to read about without having to read the book cover to cover. I tended to skip over the well-known names like Pierre Trudeau and Terry Fox in favour of reading about those I'd never heard of, like Kemojuak Ashevak, an Inuit artist; or Joy Kogawa, a Japanese-Canadian author." -Melissa Legacy, Oceanside Star