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Rick Helms-Hayes Measuring the Mosaic: An Intellectual Biography of John Porter Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010
Reviewed by Howard A. Doughty
In 1977, when he was a young doctoral student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada Rick Helmes-Hayes turned down an invitation to meet John Porter (1921-1979). The occasion was the presentation of an Honorary Doctorate to Professor Porter, a permanent fixture at Carleton University in Ottawa. The event was to be a private reception after the ceremony. At the time, Helms-Hayes considered the most famous sociologist in Canadian history to be "a liberal apologist for the system" (Langlois, 2011: 229). He later acknowledged that his decision to snub Porter had been "idiotic," and he appears to have been making up for that missed opportunity ever since. By the time he wrote his "intellectual biography" of the great man, Helms-Hayes was able confidently to say: "I know more about John Porter than probably anybody in the world, including members of his own family" (Helmes-Hayes, 2010). He was probably right. Still, he never did meet his main subject and primary research interest in person.
Helmes-Hayes has taken on a formidable task. It's hard enough to write a good biography but, in Measuring the Mosaic, he not only analyses Porter's thought and work, but he also takes some time to discuss and to assess Porter's personal background, his intimate relationships and the consequences of both for an undoubtedly troubling and yet an exceptionally fruitful academic life. And even then he wasn't done.
In the end, Helmes-Hayes has contributed a substantial inquiry into Porter the man, Porter the sociologist, the history of sociology in Canada and Porter's place in it. These are difficult balls to keep in the air. Some have suggested that they are too many for Helmes-Hayes to have handled deftly (Tough, 2012, October). I will refrain from judgement on that matter. Indeed, apart a few brief comments on John Porter's childhood (he grew up in challenging economic circumstances), unusual career (he became the Canadian sociologist of his time, yet a Bachelor of Arts was the only earned degree on his academic résumé), and personal emotional travails and career disappointments (he coveted a university presidency, but he was thwarted), I am going to...