This article has three objectives. First, it provides an overview of the
literature in the research tradition of women and political ambition to
illustrate how it differs from mainstream ambition theory. Second, it
provides a brief overview of the criticisms of auto/biographies as reliable
sources for academic research. The third and concluding section examines
a collection of auto/biographical works written by and about a number of
the Canadian women who have served in federal and provincial politics
since the Second World War, and assesses what these works contribute to
our understanding of women and political ambition.