Pierre Berton has traveled far from his boyhood on the periphery of the Canadian frontier to the heart of establishment Toronto, where, as media guru and popular historian, he has been credited with "creating a new Canadian mythology." What strikes an observer initially is Berton's prodigious physical energy and creative virtuosity. Since publication of his first book in 1954, he has produced nearly one a year to become Canada's best-selling author; in addition he has written newspaper and magazine articles, radio, television, and film scripts, songs, musical revue sketches and librettos and has appeared regularly as panelist and host on television and radio. His seemingly boundless resources have occasioned countless jibes from reviewers. Margaret Atwood, reviewing Berton's 1977 book, The Dionne Years: A Thirties Melodrama, wittily suggested that Berton's fascination with the Canadian-born Dionne quintuplets was aroused by the unknown fact that he is a "set" of five Bertons, for...