"Patrician Liberal is an excellent biography and an enjoyable read. J.I. Little not only tells a great story in this book, but also uses it to discuss larger issues about Canadian and Quebec society, politics, and culture. Very well researched and nicely contextualized, Patrician Liberal will be an important book that contributes to significant historiographical debates." -- Michel Ducharme, Department of History, University of British Columbia "Patrician Liberal is a groundbreaking biography of a fascinating individual, Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbiniere, who broke many of the stereotypes of his time. In this very significant contribution to research, J.I Little weaves together the various facets of Joly de Lotbiniere's life and career - no easy undertaking given the breadth of his fields of endeavour. His life is also well-integrated within the social, intellectual, economic, and political framework of this era, allowing him to emerge as a very real, empathetic person." -- Ken Munro, Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta

Patrician Liberal examines the life and career of a neglected figure in Canadian history, Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière. This book provides a detailed account of Joly’s political career as Quebec premier, Cabinet minister in the Laurier government, and lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, as well as his public role as a French-speaking Protestant promoter of national unity, a leading spokesperson for the Canadian forest conservation movement, a Quebec seigneur, and father to a large and devoted family.

Joly’s life serves as a prism through which author J.I. Little elucidates important themes in Quebec and Canadian society, economy, politics, and culture during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. As Little reveals, Joly’s story is particularly fascinating for how closely the conflicting forces in his life – religious, cultural, and social – mirrored those of a Canadian society straining to forge a cohesive and distinctive national identity.

"‘The book is social history of highest order, written by one of our best practitioners in the field.’" - Canadian Historical Review, vol 95:02:2014