Michael Bliss
Encyclopedia
John William Michael Bliss, CM
, FRSC (born January 18, 1941) is a Canadian
historian and award-winning author. Though his early works focused on business and political history, he has written several important medical biographies, including of Sir William Osler. Bliss is also a frequent commentator on political events and issues, and has been called Canada's "leading public intellectual." He is a member of the Order of Canada.
, Ontario
. His father was a physician who encouraged him to enter the medical field. In an autobiographical essay, Bliss explained that his aspirations were shattered when watching his father suture a drunk's face.:
in 1958, and received his BA
, MA
, and Ph.D.
degrees there. He was appointed to the faculty in 1968 and by the time of his retirement in 2006 had attained the elite rank of University Professor.
His doctoral dissertation, which was supervised by Ramsay Cook, was a social history
of Canadian business, an analysis of the "thoughts and dreams" of businessmen in Canada during the National Policy
years. It was published under the title A Living Profit. In 1978 he published a major biography of Sir Joseph Flavelle, "A Canadian Millionaire", and in 1987 the first history of business in Canada, "Northern Enterprise."
In 1982 he began a mid-career transition to medical history with his book "The Discovery of Insulin". He has published biographies of two Canadians, the discoverer of insulin Sir Frederick Banting
and the famous physician Sir William Osler
. In 2005 he published a biography of the American neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing
, himself also a biographer of Osler.
Like J.L. Granatstein, his criticism of excessively specialized social history
has made him a controversial figure in Canadian historiography
.
Bliss has been a frequent commentator on Canadian politics for newspapers, magazines, and television, and has lectured widely in North America and Europe.
In a 2005 profile for the National Post, former student John Turley-Ewart writes: "In the 1990s, when I worked as his teaching assistant, it was not unusual to see 300 people from all walks of life – full-time students, business people, civil servants, journalists – packed into his evening lectures."
. His books have won various prizes, including the Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine, the Tyrrell Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, three Jason Hannah Medals of the Royal Society of Canada, the Garneau, Macdonald, and Ferguson prizes of the Canadian Historical Association, and the National Business Book Award. His book on Osler was shorted for the Governor General's Award. He is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and holds honorary degrees from McMaster University, McGill, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Toronto. In 2008 his students published a festschrift
, "Essays in Honour of Michael Bliss: Figuring the Social".
. He opposed the Meech Lake and Charlottetown constitutional accords and the 1999 NATO bombing of Kosovo
and continues to advocate the abolition of the Canadian monarchy. He also strongly criticized Stephen Harper
's 2006 move to recognize the Québécois
as a nation.
created the current system by effectively outlawing private medical and hospital services.” - "The great myths of medicare", by Michael Bliss in the National Post
, September 7, 2004.
“Recently, for example, the calls for a reconsideration of Canada's health care problems welled up...Some day, some how, the efforts of the brave souls trying to revive Canadian Conservatism have to be rewarded. Their cause simply can't be abandoned.” - "Seeking renewal for a one-party state", by Michael Bliss, May 29, 2001, The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS).
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, FRSC (born January 18, 1941) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
historian and award-winning author. Though his early works focused on business and political history, he has written several important medical biographies, including of Sir William Osler. Bliss is also a frequent commentator on political events and issues, and has been called Canada's "leading public intellectual." He is a member of the Order of Canada.
Early life
Bliss was born in LeamingtonLeamington, Ontario
Leamington is a municipality in Essex County, southern Ontario, Canada, and has a population of 31,113. It includes Point Pelee, the southernmost point of mainland Canada. It has a large H. J. Heinz Company factory and is known as the "Tomato Capital of Canada", with 4 km² of this crop in the...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. His father was a physician who encouraged him to enter the medical field. In an autobiographical essay, Bliss explained that his aspirations were shattered when watching his father suture a drunk's face.:
Academic pursuits
Bliss entered the University of TorontoUniversity of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
in 1958, and received his BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
, MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
, and Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
degrees there. He was appointed to the faculty in 1968 and by the time of his retirement in 2006 had attained the elite rank of University Professor.
His doctoral dissertation, which was supervised by Ramsay Cook, was a social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
of Canadian business, an analysis of the "thoughts and dreams" of businessmen in Canada during the National Policy
National Policy
The National Policy was a Canadian economic program introduced by John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party in 1876 and put into action in 1879. It called for high tariffs on imported manufactured items to protect the manufacturing industry...
years. It was published under the title A Living Profit. In 1978 he published a major biography of Sir Joseph Flavelle, "A Canadian Millionaire", and in 1987 the first history of business in Canada, "Northern Enterprise."
In 1982 he began a mid-career transition to medical history with his book "The Discovery of Insulin". He has published biographies of two Canadians, the discoverer of insulin Sir Frederick Banting
Frederick Banting
Sir Frederick Grant Banting, KBE, MC, FRS, FRSC was a Canadian medical scientist, doctor and Nobel laureate noted as one of the main discoverers of insulin....
and the famous physician Sir William Osler
William Osler
Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet was a physician. He was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at Johns Hopkins Hospital as the first Professor of Medicine and founder of the Medical Service there. Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet (July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a physician. He was...
. In 2005 he published a biography of the American neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing
Harvey Cushing
Harvey Williams Cushing, M.D. , was an American neurosurgeon and a pioneer of brain surgery, and the first to describe Cushing's syndrome...
, himself also a biographer of Osler.
Like J.L. Granatstein, his criticism of excessively specialized social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
has made him a controversial figure in Canadian historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
.
Bliss has been a frequent commentator on Canadian politics for newspapers, magazines, and television, and has lectured widely in North America and Europe.
In a 2005 profile for the National Post, former student John Turley-Ewart writes: "In the 1990s, when I worked as his teaching assistant, it was not unusual to see 300 people from all walks of life – full-time students, business people, civil servants, journalists – packed into his evening lectures."
Awards and distinctions
In 1998, he was made a Member of the Order of CanadaOrder of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
. His books have won various prizes, including the Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine, the Tyrrell Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, three Jason Hannah Medals of the Royal Society of Canada, the Garneau, Macdonald, and Ferguson prizes of the Canadian Historical Association, and the National Business Book Award. His book on Osler was shorted for the Governor General's Award. He is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and holds honorary degrees from McMaster University, McGill, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Toronto. In 2008 his students published a festschrift
Festschrift
In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...
, "Essays in Honour of Michael Bliss: Figuring the Social".
Political commentary
Prof. Bliss frequently comments on current events, contributing essays to various magazine and newspapers, including The Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
. He opposed the Meech Lake and Charlottetown constitutional accords and the 1999 NATO bombing of Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
and continues to advocate the abolition of the Canadian monarchy. He also strongly criticized Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
's 2006 move to recognize the Québécois
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
as a nation.
Quotations
“This equation of health care with the Canadian identity is unhistorical and untrue. We can’t begin to have a serious, adult debate about the future of health care until we abandon the mantra that our national identity is somehow tied up in a state monopoly of health insurance.... The country was 117 years old in 1984 when the Canada Health ActCanada Health Act
The Canada Health Act is a piece of Canadian federal legislation, adopted in 1984, which specifies the conditions and criteria with which the provincial and territorial health insurance programs must conform in order to receive federal transfer payments under the Canada Health Transfer...
created the current system by effectively outlawing private medical and hospital services.” - "The great myths of medicare", by Michael Bliss in the National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
, September 7, 2004.
“Recently, for example, the calls for a reconsideration of Canada's health care problems welled up...Some day, some how, the efforts of the brave souls trying to revive Canadian Conservatism have to be rewarded. Their cause simply can't be abandoned.” - "Seeking renewal for a one-party state", by Michael Bliss, May 29, 2001, The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS).
External links
Works
- A Living Profit: studies in the social history of Canadian business 1883-1911 - 1974.
- Confederation, 1867: The Creation of the Dominion of Canada - 1975
- A Canadian Millionaire: The Life and Business Times for Sir Joseph FlavelleJoseph FlavelleSir Joseph Wesley Flavelle, 1st Baronet was a Canadian businessman.Born in Peterborough, Canada West, he married Clara Ellsworth in 1882. Flavelle made his fortune in the meatpacking business as president of William Davies Company, which was the British Empire's largest pork packing firm...
- 1978 - The Discovery of Insulin - 1982
- Banting: A Biography - 1984
- Northern Enterprise: Five Centuries of Canadian Business - 1987
- Plague: A Story of Smallpox in Montreal - 1991 (nominated for Governor General's Award1992 Governor General's AwardsEach winner of the 1992 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $10,000 and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners were selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.-Fiction:Winner:...
) - William Osler: a Life in Medicine - 1999 (nominated for Governor General's Award1999 Governor General's AwardsThe winners of the 1999 Canadian Governor General's Literary Awards were announced by Jean-Louis Roux, Chairman, and Shirley L. Thomson, Director of the Canada Council for the Arts, at a press conference held on November 16 at the National Library of Canada...
) - Harvey Cushing: a Life in Surgery - 2005
- The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease - 2010