Volume 18    Number 10    November 1988

Now on the Shelf

They were legends in their own time. Often controversial, often flamboyant but, more than anything else, they were the larger-than-life men who built and controlled the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.
 
Theirs is more than a story of the presidents of the CPR from 1881 to the present. And its more than a story about the birth and evolution of a huge corporation. It's really a story about the birth and evolution of a nation.
 
Vancouver authors David Cruise and Alison Griffiths have captured the essence of these great and influential men and the company they led in a 486-page book entitled "Lords of the Line".
 
The authors spent two years poring over thousands of documents and photographs at CP Rail's Windsor Station archives as well as searching through volumes of additional material from private collections. They also recorded hours of interviews with former chairman Ian d. Sinclair, N.R. Crump, F.S. Burbidge, and Canadian Pacific President W.W. Stinson.
 
Equally important, they interviewed the people behind the men; those who had personal recollection of their dealings with the company's leaders.
 
"Unmasking these men became a passion", the authors said.
 
"As we did the research for this book, we found the company unfailingly cooperative and helpful - often as curious to find out about their past as we were", the authors wrote in the book's acknowledgements.
 
"The company officers weren't always happy with our line of questioning but never tried to influence us".
 
The book includes maps, editorial cartoons, and photographs that help trace the sentiments of the day as the company grew from a dream into a major national driving force.
 
The book's publishers have made special arrangements to make "Lords of the Line" available to Canadian Pacific employees and pensioners at a special price of $20. a copy, including postage and handling. The bookstore price is $24.95.
 
Orders should be sent to "The Business Bookshelf", 538 Gordon Baker Road, Willowdale, ON, M2H 3B4. Checks should be made payable to The Business Bookshelf. VISA card orders may be placed by calling ( 416 ) 499-8227. Foreign orders please add $3. Please allow three weeks for delivery. Please include your employee/pensioner number.