Customer Reviews

The Politics of Passion: Norman Bethune's Writing and Art

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"The true artist lets himself go .... He rises to the light of every day like a giant leviathon of the deep ...." Bethune was a gifted writer as well as an artist and this book has ample evidence of both. It also shows his main strength was as a surgeon -- an innovative, battlefront, MASH surgeon. Imagine Hawkeye Pierce if he could write as well as he could gab and you have Bethune with the original Mobile Army Support Hospital. Who would not love this book? Anti-communists, anti-artists, anti-Maoists, and those who judge Bethune as more of a sinner than a saint. That would be a lot of people! But I come from Norman Bethune's hometown, I teach at Norman Bethune's high school, and I have been inspired by Bethune the artist and humanitarian. This book, The Politics Of Passion, gives great evidence of the Bethune we all love -- his writing and painting. This non-fiction book by Larry Hannant should serve as a good source for new artistic works inspired by the man who was the most famous whiteman in the world and who remains the most famous Canadian. Reading this book makes you want to do something for Bethune, to erect some kind of monument to his memory. They should name the high school in his old hometown after him!