MALICE IN BLUNDERLAND OR HOW THE GRITS STOLE CHRISTMAS Allan Fotheringham. Toronto, Key Porter Books, c1982. Distributed by Clarke, Irwin. 223pp, cloth, $16.95. ISBN 0-919493-01-7. Grades 12 and up. Reviewed by Mary Fallis. Volume 11 Number 3. 1983 May. If there is such a thing as "pure" Fotheringham, this must be it. And where would you shelve it? Well, the cataloguer suggests: 1. Canada - Politics and government -Anecdotes, facetiae, satire, etc.* (Cataloguer's asterisk.) The material covers 1968 to 1979, 1979 to 1980, 1981 to late 1982. The author acknowledges his debt to Southam Press and Maclean's magazine in whose employ he has gathered "the evidence in the diatribe." Most of us are familiar with his stance from reading his columns in a local paper or in Maclean's, and some of his statements may sound familiar. But in many cases, subsequent events in national life, especially in politics, give his remarks an extra edge. There is his usual blend of arrogance and perception. Frequently charged with being arrogant (he deals with this charge amusingly in a digression called "Confessions of a Closet Enthusiast: Doesn't Fotheringham like anything?"), it must be granted that he is extremely perceptive, with his encyclopedic knowledge of Canadian politics and his great skill in playing with words and ideas, for example, in the very appropriate title of this work. He treats the provinces of Canada in sequence, breaking the progression with four digressions on personalities, including his own as "closet enthusiast." Saskatchewan, his native province, comes off rather well in his political review; his British Columbia revelations are ruthless. Trudeau is one of his constant targets. Recommended for adult libraries, and for journalism, social, and political science collections. Mary Fallis, Prince George, BC.