Lester Pearson (1897-1972) was not only Canada's prime minister for five turbulent years but made significant contributions on the world stage. As Canada's foreign minister from 1948 to 1956 he achieved international recognition for his participation at the United Nations in a variety of major crises- Palestine, Korea, and Suez. For his peacekeeping efforts in the Suez crisis he received the international community's supreme accolade, the Nobel Peace Prize. Though this is not a definite biography (such a book cannot be written until more of his contemporaries have provided their own record of events and until official documents are made available), it is a clear and readable account of Pearson's life that is also a useful summary of much recent history, both Canadian and international.