In this unusual biography of one of Canada's most well-known public figures, author Frank Milligan traces the intellectual foundations on which Eugene Forsey's worldview was constructed. Starting with his middle-class Ottawa upbringing, Forsey's philosophical pilgrimage was the product of a deep allegiance to a Christian social gospel, exposure to the radical politics of the labour movement and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), and a profound reverence for British Tory constitutionalism.

Milligan weaves these threads together with skill and dexterity. By studying Forsey's beliefs, both religious and political, Milligan unearths the philosophical underpinnings of many of Canada's early twentieth-century political, economic, religious, and social reform movements.