Pierre Berton

Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton CC OOnt (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a noted Canadian author of non-fiction, especially Canadiana and Canadian history, and was a television personality and journalist. He won many honours and awards for his books.

An accomplished storyteller, Berton was one of Canada’s most prolific and popular authors. He wrote on popular culture, Canadian history, critiques of mainstream religion, anthologies, children’s books, and historical works for youth. He was also a founder of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada’s writing community. Berton’s 50 books became popular in part due to his light and fast-paced writing style.

Books in order of publication:

Year of publication and title

  1. 1953 The Royal Family
  2. 1954 The Golden Trail: The Story of the Klondike Rush (Young Reader)
  3. 1956 The Mysterious North: Encounters with the Canadian Frontier, 1947-1954
  4. 1958 The Klondike Fever: The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush
  5. 1959 Just Add Water and Stir
  6. 1960 Adventures of a Columnist
  7. 1961 The Secret World of Og (Young Reader)
  8. 1961 The New City : a prejudiced view of Toronto (Picture Book)
  9. 1962 Fast, Fast, Fast Relief
  10. 1963 The Big Sell
  11. 1965 My War with the Twentieth Century (Anthology)
  12. 1965 The Comfortable Pew
  13. 1965 Remember Yesterday (Picture Book)
  14. 1966 Pierre & Janet Berton’s Canadian Food Guide (Anthology)
  15. 1966 The Cool, Crazy, Committed World of the Sixties
  16. 1968 The Smug Minority
  17. 1970 The National Dream: The Great Railway, 1871-1881
  18. 1971 The Last Spike: The Great Railway, 1881-1885
  19. 1972 Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899 (Revised and information added to 1958 Edition)
  20. 1972 The Great Railway: The Building of the Canadian Pacific Illustrated (Picture Book)
  21. 1973 Drifting Home
  22. 1975 Hollywood’s Canada: The Americanization of the National Image
  23. 1976 My Country: The Remarkable Past
  24. 1977 The Dionne Years: A Thirties Melodrama
  25. 1978 The Wild Frontier: more tales from the remarkable past
  26. 1980 The Invasion of Canada: 1812-1813
  27. 1981 Flames Across the Border: 1813-1814
  28. 1982 Why We Act Like Canadians: A Personal Exploration of Our National Character
  29. 1983 The Klondike Quest (Picture Book)
  30. 1984 The Promised Land: Settling the West 1896-1914
  31. 1985 Masquerade (as “Lisa Kroniuk”) (Fiction)
  32. 1986 Vimy
  33. 1987 Starting Out: 1920-1947
  34. 1988 The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the North West Passage and the North Pole, 1818-1909
  35. 1990 The Great Depression: 1929-1939
  36. 1992 Niagara: A History of the Falls
  37. 1993 Niagara: Picture Book (Picture Book)
  38. 1994 Winter (Picture Book)
  39. 1995 My Times: Living With History, 1947-1995
  40. 1996 Farewell to the Twentieth Century (Anthology)
  41. 1996 The Great Lakes (Picture Book)
  42. 1997 1967: The Last Good Year
  43. 1998 Worth Repeating: A Literary Resurrection (Anthology)
  44. 1999 Seacoasts (Picture Book)
  45. 1999 Welcome To The 21st Century: More Absurdities From Our Time (Anthology)
  46. 1999 Pierre Berton’s Canada: The Land and the People (Picture Book)
  47. 2001 Marching as to War: Canada’s Turbulent Years
  48. 2002 Cats I Have Known and Loved
  49. 2003 The Joy of Writing: A Guide for Writers Disguised as a Literary Memoir
  50. 2004 Prisoners of the North

History for Young Canadians

The Battles of the War of 1812

  1. 1991 The Capture of Detroit
  2. 1991 The Death of Isaac Brock
  3. 1991 Revenge of the Tribes
  4. 1991 Canada Under Siege
  5. 1994 The Battle of Lake Erie
  6. 1994 The Death of Tecumseh
  7. 1995 Attack on Montreal

Exploring the Frozen North

  1. 1992 Parry of the Arctic
  2. 1992 Jane Franklin’s Obsession
  3. 1993 Dr. Kane of the Arctic Seas
  4. 1993 Trapped in the Arctic

Canada Moves West

  1. 1992 The Railway Pathfinders
  2. 1992 The Men in Sheepskin Coats
  3. 1992 A Prairie Nightmare
  4. 1992 Steel Across the Plains
  5. 1994 Steel Across the Shield

The Great Klondike Gold Rush

  1. 1991 Bonanza Gold
  2. 1991 The Klondike Stampede
  3. 1992 Trails of ’98, City of Gold
  4. 1992 City of Gold
  5. 1993 Kings of the Klondike
  6. 1993 Before the Gold Rush
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