A Great Restlessness

“This book is a captivating and exemplary rendition of the life of Neilsen. The explicit uses of varied sources, the detailed political analysis, as well as the keen attention to personal relations, collective solidarity, and social injustice, are praiseworthy and original contributions to historical scholarship.”

– Kathleen Lord, Mount Allison University, Left History, 14.1

A Great Restlessness“ provides us with a superb portrait of the making of a radical, female politician.”

– Great Plains Quarterly, Summer 2008

“… a thought-provoking book about a courageous woman hitherto neglected by our historians.”

– Herizons, Spring 2008

“A Great Restlessness is a humbling experience for those of us who thought we knew all about Canadian history (but really don’t). It is a very good reference for anyone wanting to know more about socialist beginnings in Canada, and especially Western Canada. But, much more that this, A Great Restlessness is a well-written story of a tenacious feminist, a fascinating woman, and an engaged life.”

– Our Times , March 2008

“This is a particularly fine example of the biographer’s art and a worthwhile contribution to the literature on 20th century feminism and radicalism, as well as to the political history of Canada and China. It is a truly outstanding achievement.”

– North Dakota Quarterly, Spring 2007

“Johnston has made a valuable contribution to the history of gender and political belief in twentieth-century Canada, a subject recently neglected by historians of women and the left, and written the life of a powerful, flawed, and fascinating woman.”

– Esyllt Jones, H-Net Canada, Fall 2007

“Faith Johnston has made a valuable contribution to various streams in Canadian historiography. This book informs us on aspects of women, the left, the west, and on Canada’s place in international communism. And, not least, it introduces us to a fascinating character, one whose restless life is worth telling, in and of itself.”

– Labour/Le Travail, Fall 2007

“A Great Restlessness is not only an excellent account of Nielsen’s political career but also of her personal life and all it’s turmoil. An enjoyable read, this is a valuable book that helps fill in the gaps left by mainstream accounts of history that minimize or ignore the important role that Communists such as Dorise Nielsen played.”

– People’s Weekly World, Oct. 5, 2007

“Well-researched and with keen attention to detail, A Great Restlessness brings to life the story of a fascinating personality on the move during a tumultuous period of our history.”

– Briarpatch Magazine, August 2007

“Faith Johnston has produced a well-researched, nuanced, balanced biography of an ambivalent figure, showing both her strengths and her shortcomings.”

– Prairie Fire, Winter 2006/07

“Faith Johnston’s extensive interviews and research, much of which only recently became available through the Access to Information Act, give readers an unflinchingly intimate portrait of Nielsen. Her writing style at times reads like a novel, at other times like a research paper, but always at the right times. She creates the momentum of drama without losing her focus or veering into melodrama. Johnston goes beyond recounting the facts of Nielsen’s life, weaving a rich and elegant narrative with a captivating rhythm.”

– The Beaver

“Faith Johnston has written a comprehensive biography of Nielsen that offers an astonishing look at the politics of the Canadian Prairies in the 1930s and 40s.”

– Winnipeg Free Press

“From a rural school house in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, to burial in a hero’s cemetery at Babaoshan, China, Dorise Nielsen was an extraordinary person, champion of women’s rights, a trailblazer, a communist, and the only woman elected to Canada’s House of Commons in 1940. A commanding stage presence, she never backed down and never gave up. “

“‘Let us light the torch of our anger,’ she said, ‘and by its light see the way ahead.’”

“This is a finely crafted, well-researched biography. The author presents a moving picture of a Joan of Arc figure in Canadian political life while providing a critical view that allows readers to make up their own minds about a woman who took unusual risks and who, in spite of devastating rebuffs, remained committed to her vision of a socialist future.”

– Stephen Endicott, Senior Scholar, York University

“A fascinating account not only of Nielsen’s political activities, both in Canada and China, but of her personal life and all its turmoil.”

– Bill Waiser, author of Saskatchewan: A New History and All Hell Can’t Stop Us: The On to Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot

“A sympathetic biography that is not afraid to ask the difficult questions or ponder the contradictions posed by the extraordinary life of an exceptional woman on the left.”

– Franca Iacovetta, University of Toronto, author of Gatekeepers: Remaking Refugee and Immigrant Lives in Cold War Canada