John William Michael Bliss (1941–2017) was a Canadian historian and author. Though his early works focused on business and political history, he subsequently authored several important medical biographies, including of
Sir William Osler
Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of phys ...
. Bliss was also a frequent commentator on political events and issues. He was an Officer of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
.
Early life
Born on January 18, 1941, in
Leamington,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Bliss was raised in nearby
Kingsville, Ontario. His father, Quartus Bliss, was a Kingsville-based physician who encouraged Michael 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 Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
in 1958, and received his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
,
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
, and
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
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
George Ramsay Cook (28 November 1931 – 14 July 2016) was a Canadian historian and general editor of the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography''. He was professor of history at the University of Toronto, 1958–1968; York University, 1969–1 ...
, was a
social history of Canadian business, an analysis of the "thoughts and dreams" of businessmen in Canada during the
National Policy
The National Policy was a Canadian economic program introduced by John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party in 1876. After Macdonald led the Conservatives to victory in the 1878 Canadian federal election, he began implementing his policy in 1879. Th ...
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
Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of phys ...
. In 2005, he published a biography of the American neurosurgeon
Harvey Cushing
Harvey Williams Cushing (April 8, 1869 – October 7, 1939) was an American neurosurgeon, pathologist, writer, and draftsman. A pioneer of brain surgery, he was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cushing's disease. ...
, 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
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
.
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
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'', 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." He was nominated by Turley-Ewart as Canada's "leading public intellectual", part of a series that ran in ''National Post''.
Awards and distinctions
In 1998, he was made a Member of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
and was promoted to Officer in 2013. 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
The Canadian Historical Association (CHA; French ''Société historique du Canada'', SHC) is a Canadian organization founded in 1922 for the purposes of promoting historical research and scholarship. It is a bilingual, not-for-profit, charitable o ...
, and the
National Business Book Award. His book on Osler was shorted for the
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
Th ...
. He was an honorary member of the
Harvey Club of London, the oldest medical club in Canada, for his historical biographical contributions on
Banting, another honorary member of the Harvey Club. He is an honorary fellow of the
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (french: Collège royal des médecins et chirurgiens du Canada) is a regulatory college which acts as a national, Non-profit organization, nonprofit organization established in 1929 by a speci ...
and holds honorary degrees from the University of Prince Edward Island,
McMaster University
McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...
,
McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to:
People
* McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname)
* McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...
, the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...
, and the University of Toronto. In 2008 his students published a
festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
, "Essays in Honour of Michael Bliss: Figuring the Social". In 2016 he became the first historian inducted into the
Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.
In 2011, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the
American Osler Society in 2010
Political commentary
Bliss frequently commented on current events, contributing essays to various magazine and newspapers, including ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
''. He opposed the
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord (french: Accord du lac Meech) was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the gov ...
and the
Charlottetown Accord
The Charlottetown Accord (french: Accord de Charlottetown) was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October ...
and the 1999
NATO bombing of Kosovo and he advocated for the abolition of the
Canadian monarchy
The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The monarchy is the founda ...
. He also strongly criticized
Stephen Harper's 2006 move to recognize the
Québécois as a nation.
Death
Michael Bliss died on May 18, 2017, in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, Ontario, at the age of 76.
In memoriam: University Professor Emeritus Michael Bliss
/ref>
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 Flavelle
Sir Joseph Wesley Flavelle, 1st Baronet (February 15, 1858 – March 7, 1939) was a Canadian businessman.
Life and career
Joseph Wesley Flavelle was born on February 15, 1858, in Peterbough, Canada West, to John and Dorothea (Dundas) Flavelle. ...
'' - 1978
*''The Discovery of Insulin'' - 1982
*''Frederick Banting
Sir Frederick Grant Banting (November 14, 1891 – February 21, 1941) was a Canadian medical scientist, physician, painter, and Nobel laureate noted as the co-discoverer of insulin and its therapeutic potential.
In 1923, Banting and Joh ...
: A Biography'' - 1984
*''Northern Enterprise: Five Centuries of Canadian Business'' - 1987
*''Plague: A Story of Smallpox in Montreal'' - 1991 (nominated for Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
Th ...
)
*
*''William Osler
Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of phys ...
: a Life in Medicine'' - 1999 (nominated for Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
Th ...
)
*''Harvey Cushing
Harvey Williams Cushing (April 8, 1869 – October 7, 1939) was an American neurosurgeon, pathologist, writer, and draftsman. A pioneer of brain surgery, he was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cushing's disease. ...
: a Life in Surgery'' - 2005
*''The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease'' - 2010
*''Writing History: A Professor's Life'' - 2011 (a first-person memoir)
References
Sources
* E.A. Heaman, Alison Li, and Shelley McKellar (2008) ''Essays in Honour of Michael Bliss: Figuring the Social'', University of Toronto Press
The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911.
The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...
*
*
*
* Bliss, Michael (2011) ''Writing History: A Professor's Life'', Dundur
External links
Michael Bliss entry in Canadian Who's Who
Video History of Medicine in Canada Project: The Friends of CIHR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bliss, Michael
1941 births
2017 deaths
Historians of Canada
Canadian male non-fiction writers
Canadian biographers
Male biographers
Canadian medical historians
Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
Officers of the Order of Canada
Writers from Toronto
University of Toronto alumni
People from Leamington, Ontario