Volume 1: The Magnificent Obsession Winner of the Governor General’s Award This volume examines the formative influences on Pierre Trudeau’s childhood, his knight-errant youth and early manhood, his charismatic ascent to the Liberal Party leadership, and his dramatic first decade as prime minister. It concludes with his bittersweet triumphs in fighting off the separatists in the 1980 referendum campaign and his battle with provincial premiers to patriate the Canadian constitution.