About this item
Highlights
- The bestseller from James Raffan, Emperor of the North tells the story of Sir George Simpson, whose extraordinary life coincided with the success of one of the greatest commercial empires in history: the Hudson's Bay Company, a vast trading venture that became the world's oldest continuous commercial enterprise.
- Author(s): James Raffan
- 496 Pages
- Biography + Autobiography, Adventurers & Explorers
- Series Name: Phyllis Bruce Books
Description
About the Book
The bestseller from James Raffan, Emperor of the North tells the story of Sir George Simpson, whose extraordinary life coincided with the success of one of the greatest commercial empires in history: the Hudson's Bay Company, a vast trading venture that became the world's oldest continuous commercial enterprise.Book Synopsis
The bestseller from James Raffan, Emperor of the North tells the story of Sir George Simpson, whose extraordinary life coincided with the success of one of the greatest commercial empires in history: the Hudson's Bay Company, a vast trading venture that became the world's oldest continuous commercial enterprise.
From the Back Cover
At its height in the nineteenth century, the Hudson's Bay Company's trading territory covered three million square miles and spanned the continent. And no one person was more responsible for its success than its larger-than-life governor, the remarkable George Simpson. The illegitimate son of a ne'er-do-well Scottish lawyer, Simpson was a master planner who laid the foundations for the greatest business enterprise of its day, a pompous dandy who was most at home in a canoe, and a man who, while ashamed of his out-of-wedlock birth, sired at least thirteen children with eight different women.
A wide cast of characters strides through the pages of this gripping story--frontier entrepreneurs, hardy voyageurs, skilled native trappers, intrepid explorers, impoverished settlers, and lords and ladies of the realm--and George Simpson was at home with all of them. The history of the Bay is that of a country in the making, but it is also a history of the clash between different ways of life in a vast, sparsely populated land far from the crowded cities, counting-houses and imperial ambitions of the British Empire.
Review Quotes
"Raffan has made a significant contribution to the ever-evolving saga of 19th-century North America." -- The Globe and Mail
"Raffan handles his history admirably. . .an unflinching yet sympathetic look at an important nation-builder." -- The Walrus
With this book, James Raffan joins the ranks of Pierre Berton and Peter C. Newman. -- Farley Mowat
Raffan has spun the fetid straw of [George Simpson's] life into a golden book. -- Ken McGoogan
A significant contribution to the ever-evolving saga of nineteenth-century North America. -- Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Raffan handles his history admirably . . . . An unflinching yet sympathetic look at an important nation-builder. -- The Walrus
A balanced, well-documented, yet engaging and colourful story. -- The Beaver
. . . A wonderful read to be treasured . . . one of those rare books you don't want to finish. -- Peter C. Newman, The Literary Review of Canada