Based on interviews with former B.C. Premier Bill Bennett and others in his Social Credit administration, Bob Plecas' Bill Bennett: A Mandarin's View (D&M, 2006) provides an insider's view of the enigmatic son of W.A.C. Bennett, focussing upon Bill Bennett's ten years in power. A civil servant under 25 cabinet ministers and six premiers, Plecas later represented the B.C. forest industry in softwood lumber negotiations with the United States. He provides Bennett with a platform for his side of the controversial Restraint program that gave rise to Operation Solidarity in the B.C. union movement, as well as his thoughts on the "Gracie's finger" electoral reform scandal, difficulties in handling Clifford Olson as a mass murderer and his fractious relationship with Pierre Trudeau.

[BCBW 2006] "Politics"