Michael Bliss is University Professor of History at the University of Toronto and one of Canada's most distinguished historians. His eleven books include Plague: How Smallpox Devastated Montreal, which was shortlisted for a Governor General's Award, and William Osler: A Life in Medicine. He has won numerous Canadian and international awards, is a Member of the Order of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has received Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from McGill and McMaster universities.