In the preface to his autobiography In My Time (1976), Thomas Raddall clearly and honestly describes his own writing: "In my novels and short stories I never sought to teach or to preach. My aim was intelligent entertainment, and if the reader got some information along the way I made sure that it was true. When I wrote history as such I sought to make the truth as interesting to the reader as it was to me." He adds two more statements about his place in Canadian literature: "Whatever the merit of my published works now or in the future, I may be remembered as a Canadian author who chose to stay at home, writing entirely about his own country and its people, and offering his wares in the open market of the world. I may be remembered also as one who never asked a penny of subsidy from...