Canada's Voice: The Public Life of John Wendell Holmes

It is hard to imagine a person who embodied the ideals of postwar Canadian foreign policy more than diplomat and scholar John Wendell Holmes. Holmes joined the foreign service in 1943, headed the Canadian Institute of International Affairs from 1960 to 1973, and, as a professor of international relations at York University and the University of Toronto, mentored a generation of students, scholars, and policy-makers.

Canada’s Voice draws upon family letters, archival records, and more than 150 personal interviews to chronicle this influential policy-maker and intellectual’s friendships, public service record, and teaching and writing career. More than any individual of his generation, Holmes influenced how diplomats, scholars, and statespeople abroad understood Canada and its citizens and how Canadians saw themselves on the world stage. For students and practitioners of international affairs at home and elsewhere, Holmes was indeed "Canada’s voice."

Accessible and engrossing, this is the only comprehensive biography of a man whose tireless work ethic, commitment to peaceful forms of conflict resolution, and unyielding desire to make a difference in the world helped shape foreign policy during Canada’s golden age as a middle power. It will be of interest to students and practitioners of international affairs and foreignpolicy and anyone interested in Canada’s role in the world.