About the Book Duncan´s novel The Imperialist is about an adolescent nation seeking to define its own identity, "We are at the making of a nation": the narrator tells us at one point. Lorne Murchison, the imperialist of the title, thinks Canada is at a crucial moment in her political destiny, and seeks ardently to convert others to his vision of Canada as a leading force in an imperial partnership. In the small Ontario city of Elgin, obsessed with politics at all times, tensions mount as a hard-fought by-election takes place. As Lorne says in his fiery concluding speech, "The question that underlies this decision for Canada is that of the whole stamp and character of her future existence." When asked by the Globe and Mail "What book would you recommend to a foreigner who wants to understand Canada," Carol Shields picked The Imperialist: "It deals with how Canadians think in the moderate sense of being Canadian. What it means to be liberal, for example. Having been written during the early part of the century, you wouldn´t have thought The Imperialist would have been so prophetic. Her book is charming as well as intelligent." This edition includes extensive explanatory notes and the complete texts of Duncan´s letters about The Imperialist. Reprints essays or extracts from published books by: Peter Allen, Carl Berger, Carole Gerson, Ajay Heble, Michael Peterman, Clara Thomas, and Francis Zichy; as well as essays written specifically for it by: Terrence L. Craig, Frank Davey, Teresa Hubel, Elisabeth Köster, and Thomas E. Tausky

About the Authors Sara Jeannette Duncan
Sara Jeannette Duncan (1861-1922), a ground-breaking journalist with "The Washington Post" and "The Toronto Globe," travelled around the world with a female friend, unthinkable for women then. In India she met her husband Everard Cotes. The Brantford, Ontario-born Duncan began producing novels, plays, essays and more, including "An American Girl in London" (1891), and her best-known work, "The Imperialist" (original 1904; edited version by Thomas E. Tausky, 1996, Tecumseh).

Thomas E. Tausky
Thomas E. Tausky (1942- ) has edited several books about Canadian writer Sara Jeanette Duncan: "Sara Jeanette Duncan: Selected Journalism" (1978 Borealis), Sara Jeannette Duncan: Novelist of Empire (1980), and also "Sara Jeannette Duncan" (1988) in the "Canadian Writers and Their Works" series. He has also edited several of Duncan's books "The Simple Adventures of a Memsahib" and "The Imperialist." He has taught Canadian and post-colonial literature at the University of Western Ontario.

Also by the Authors Sara Jeannette Duncan
A Social Departure: How Orthodocia and I Went Round the World by Ourselves (2019)
Cousin Cinderella (1994)
Simple Adventures of a Memsahib (1994)
Daughter of Today (1988)