THE REBEL IN THE HOUSE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A.A. HEAPS, M.P. Heaps, Leo. rev.ed. Markham (Ont.), Fitzhenry & Whiteside, c1984. 168pp, cloth, $12.95, ISBN 0-88902-747-1. CIP Grades 10 and up Reviewed by Allan S. Evans Volume 13 Number 5 1985 September This is not so much a dispassionate biography as a loving and respectful ode by an eldest son to a father whose political accomplishments, while significant, have not attracted the attention given to such contemporary peers as Mackenzie King, Richard Bennett, and J.S. Woodsworth. Born into a working-class background in the industrial city of Leeds, England in 1889, Abraham Heaps emigrated to Canada as a young man, seeking escape from the limitations which convention-conscious British society placed on an impoverished, uneducated Jew. Settling in Winnipeg, "Abe" Heaps became involved in labour issues and ultimately in politics. He crusaded for the rights of the poor, the aged, the unemployed, and other disadvantaged groups, first in municipal politics and later as a federal MP (1926-1940). The author is at his best describing the depth of his father's commitment, particularly to the causes of old age pensions and unemployment insurance. The deep frustrations of the struggle against the Establishment and even against the ignorance and apathy of the working class are clearly depicted. Abraham Heaps deserves as much credit for the cornerstones of our present social welfare system as any other individual Canadian and the fact that his name is little known is the principal raison d'etre for this informative if uncritical book about his public life. Being a re-issue of a 1970 publication, this work will already be familiar to senior academics in the field of labour history. It is recommended to secondary school teachers and their students of Canadian history as a valuable source on Canadian society between the two world wars. It is especially interesting in its description of the cynical and rather ruthless machinations of the power structure as it crushed the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919. Allan S. Evans, Emery C.I., North York, Ont.