Award-winning Globe and Mail journalist Sandra Martin captures the life and times of 50 extraordinary Canadians, whose achievements, follies, and dreams have shaped the country we call home.

Martin’s witty essays on the cult and craft of obituary writing, from the ancient Greeks to a wired up 24/7 world, explode the myths and celebrate the art of our oldest biographical form.

Great Canadian Lives tells the political, social, and cultural history of modern Canada from WW1 to the Charter, from Pierre Trudeau to Jack Layton — one fascinating life at a time.