My 9th book, In Pursuit of Tomorrow: The Inventive Life of Sandford Fleming, will be published on June 2, by Sutherland House Books.

Born in Scotland, Fleming settled in Peterborough, enjoyed success as a surveyor, architect, city planner, map designer, and creator of Canada’s first postage stamp and the Canadian Institute that gathered the nation’s brightest minds, all before his 23rd birthday. He would go on to build the country as the chief engineer of the Northern Railway, Intercolonial Railway, and then the Canadian Pacific Railway that linked the young country from ocean to ocean. Fleming then changed the world with his invention of universal standard time and with the laying of a communications cable linking Canada to Australia and New Zealand. This only scratches the surface of his incredible life.

Fleming is a 19th-century man with much to teach us about our 21st-century world. What is the role of government? How do we handle new technologies that offer enormous opportunities while threatening our way of life? Must we always be wary of American avarice? What do we say of advances that benefit some but visit irreparable harm on others? Can we celebrate people of the past even if their thoughts and actions offend current sensibilities? Fleming’s life offers us a chance and a challenge to consider those questions and more.

In Pursuit of Tomorrow: The Inventive Life of Sandford Fleming is available now for pre-order at bookstores and online through Amazon and Chapters. Please check my website for the list of the many dates and places at which I will be presenting the book. I hope you enjoy it and that I get a chance to meet you to discuss this amazing Canadian.

Praise for In Pursuit of Tomorrow

“Would Canada even exist if it hadn’t been for the self-educated Scottish engineer Sandford Fleming? John Boyko has given us a lively and long-overdue portrait of this polymath, who successfully navigated both extraordinary geophysical challenges and vicious political roadblocks. Carefully researched and sensitively written, In Pursuit of Tomorrow reveals a brilliant, tenacious, endearing but frequently exasperating visionary. Boyko subtly layers into the Fleming story some of the perennial issues in Canadian history. Must we rely on governments to maintain national unity? Are our political systems up to the job? How should Canada deal with its southern neighour? Can we still celebrate the heroes of yesterday even when some of their values offend readers today? A thoughtful and provocative biography.”

—Charlotte Gray, author of the award-winning Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell.

“Sir Sandford Fleming wasn’t perfect. Far from it. But Canada without Sandford Fleming would be far from the Canada we know and cherish today. Fleming’s achievements helped define us, and John Boyko is a master at walking us through those moments that made history.”

—Peter Mansbridge, journalist and author of How Canada Works: The People Who Make Our Nation Thrive

“This is a remarkable biography of a Canadian who deserves to be better known, not just as an engineer, surveyor, reformer, philanthropist, and thinker, but for his sheer demonstration of courage and appetite for adventure that led to contributions that were integral to the founding of the nation. John Boyko has done a fabulous job of bringing Fleming’s inspiring, gripping, and dramatic story to a new generation.”

—J. D. M. Stewart, historian and author of The Prime Ministers: Canada’s Leaders and the Nation They Shaped

“Like many Canadians, I’d heard of Sir Sandford Fleming but knew almost nothing about him. Thankfully, John Boyko, as he has so often done, has taken on the task of diving deep into a subject we all should know more about, and as a result, we’re better for it. I’ve read all of John’s books, and he has a wonderful talent for plucking an event or person from history and bringing them back to life. Well done.”

—Steve Paikin, journalist and author of John Turner: An Intimate Portrait of Canada’s 17^th Prime Minister

“Once again Canadians are in John Boyko’s debt. Following in the footsteps of his seminal biography of the long-maligned prime minister that was R.B. Bennett, he has again performed a public service by reminding us of a foundational presence from Confederation’s earliest days. Boyko’s portrayal of the ever-controversial Sir Sandford Fleming illustrates that our nation required then, as it does today, leaders of courage and vision in perilous times. An impressive biography that will stand, like its subject, history’s test. Outstanding.”

—Arthur Milnes, editor of Canada Always: The Defining Speeches of Sir Wilfrid Laurier

“John has captured the drive and essence of Sir Sandford’s desire to build a country. This is the best book I have read about the life and many accomplishments of my great, great-grandfather.”

—Jock Fleming, chair of the Royal Canadian Institute for Science, founded by Sandford Fleming in 1849