Reviews for Kill or Cure: How Canadians Can Remake Their Health Care System

The average rating for Kill or Cure: How Canadians Can Remake Their Health Care System based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-09-25 00:00:00 Gwen Mccann This is the biography of the Arctic explorer, discoverer of the final link in the Northwest passage and that of the fate of Sir John Franklin's failed expedition, Dr. John Rae. Author Ken McGoogan brings Rae's character to life by describing his incredible feats of exploration in detail, including many passages from Arctic historians, illustrations of landscapes, maps and characters, and many quotes taken from the journals of Rae himself. The man was an expert hunter, geographer, leader, outdoorsman and traveler, by land or sea. He traveled more than 23,000 miles and surveyed 1,751 miles of uncharted territory (nearly all of it arctic coastline), all in the span of nine years (1846 to 1854). Rae personified endurance, integrity and achievement. John Rae was ahead of his time in many ways - he was open-minded and eager to work with the Inuit, Metis and other First Nations people, learning survival skills from them and counting on them during his expeditions. He refused to accept the unconditional superiority of the British people, and was dutifully honest and openly critical of their exploratory outcomes. These were critically taboo behaviours in the 1800s and they ultimately cost Rae his much-deserved glory from his greatest achievements. As incredible as his physical feats were, Rae's greatest feat was the discovery of the fate of Sir John Franklin and his failed expedition - information he had acquired and verified from the dependable Inuit of the area. After learning that Franklin and his men had all died, with some resorting to cannibalism, Rae dutifully shared the details with his superiors in England. (he had also purchased items from the Inuit which were recovered from Franklin's wreck, further validating the story). When his confidential report of Sir Franklin's failure got out to the public and were published in the national newspaper, the romanticized image of British arctic exploration was shattered. Such revelations attacked the character of the deceased Franklin and his widowed wife, the British Navy who launched the expedition, and the superiority complex of the entire British empire. Rather than accepting the horrible truth, the elitist class, Crown and navy all turned against Rae, with the widowed and politically powerful Lady Jane Franklin leading the campaign. So powerful was her influence, and so imperative was the nation's need to save face, that Rae's character and accomplishments (most importantly his discovery of the final link in the Northwest passage) were denied, distorted and discredited. Thus, history would go down as Sir John Franklin being the discoverer of the final Northwest passage link, and all major arctic explorers except Rae being knighted. But the truth remained, and has been verified time and time again (albeit after Rae's passing in 1893), that it was Dr. Rae who solved the Franklin mystery and completed the Northwest passage. In short, Fatal Passage is a restoration of the incredible Dr. John Rae, "The Arctic Hero time forgot". It's a must-read for anyone interested in arctic exploration, the Northwest passage, the politics of exploration, and historical personifications of endurance and integrity.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-01-31 00:00:00 Milo Milic The story of John Rae ... wait, who's John Rae? When one thinks of Arctic travel, the names that probably come to your mind first are Scott, Peary, Shackleton, Amundsen, Henry Hudson, Davis and, of course, Sir John Franklin. Wait a minute ... what about John Rae? "John Rae?" you say ... "Who's John Rae?" Well, exactly! One might say that this is precisely the point of the book. Ken McGoogan's Fatal Passage is a thrilling biography of John Rae who is probably the least known, least understood and least respected Arctic explorer in history but he is also arguably the finest, the strongest, most accomplished, most extraordinary and most skilled white man to ever set foot into Canada's far north! The list of his accomplishments, frankly, beggars the imagination. Endowed with almost superhuman physical strength and endurance, he led four major Arctic expeditions traveling more than 23,000 miles. Educated in Orkney as a medical man, he essentially taught himself the mechanics of surveying and cartography. Having done so, he then proceeded to accurately survey over 1,700 miles of unexplored territory including more than 1,500 miles of Canada's northern coastline. Demonstrating unparalleled stamina, resourcefulness and resilience, he trekked over 6,500 miles in the Arctic alone, most of it on snowshoes with a fully loaded pack and sledge, and he traveled an additional 6,600 miles in canoe and small boats. Whether alone or leading a group of men, he traveled light and fast often walking 30 to 40 miles per day (on snowshoes, in frigid temperatures with that fully loaded pack, mind you!). In a career of exploration spanning almost twenty years as a doctor in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, he lost but one man during his travels and that was due to accident - nary a single fatality due to illness, malnutrition or starvation, murder, hypothermia or mismanagement. True to his character, he regretted the loss of that single man to his dying day. But that wasn't enough. In the course of these travels, he also solved the two greatest Arctic mysteries of the day - the fate of the doomed Franklin expedition and the location of the final navigable link in the fabled Northwest Passage. Despite this unmatched record of accomplishment, John Rae passed away in England never having been truly acknowledged, recognized and rewarded by his peers. He received no knighthood. He had to fight and struggle to receive even the Hudson's Bay Company compensation that was his due. He struggled against the lifelong bitter animosity and unreasoning hatred of Lady Jane Franklin. He was even soundly criticized for living "like a savage - in snow houses and so forth. This behaviour did not seem cricket to the British public ... the object of polar exploration was to explore properly and not to evade the hazards of the game through the vulgar subterfuge of going native." Fatal Passage is exciting history written with an enthusiasm and a flair that easily rivals the style of Pierre Berton, one of Canada's favourite home grown historians. I certainly hope that Ken will direct his writing skill to further subjects in the pantheon of Canadian history. Goodness knows, we could stand to applaud ourselves and our past much more loudly than we are typically wont to do. Count me a fan, Mr McGoogan. Well done and highly recommended. Paul Weiss