English has written many books and articles, and was the official biographer of former Canadian prime minister Lester Pearson; this work was published in two volumes. At the request of the Trudeau family, he wrote the biography of Pierre Trudeau. In October 2006, the first volume, Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Volume One: 1919–1968 (ISBN0-676-97521-6), was published. The second volume, entitled Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau Vol. 2 1968–2000, was published in October 2009. His most recent book is "Ice and Water: Politics, Peoples, and the Arctic Council," for which he won the John Lyman Book Award for maritime history.
He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Honorary Senior Fellow of Renison University College, member of numerous editorial boards, and a recipient of many literary awards. He has won the John A. Macdonald Prize of the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Authors Association Non-Fiction Prize, the University of British Columbia Biography Prize, and twice-won the Dafoe Prize. Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Volume One was shortlisted for the Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction in February 2007, and in January 2010, Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Volume Two received the same honour. Volume One was also chosen as a Best Book of the Decade by Chapters. Both volumes were also short-listed for the Governor-General's Non-Fiction Prize. Volume Two won the 2009 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. He is the recipient of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
On June 30, 2016, English was promoted to an Officer of the Order of Canada from member by Governor GeneralDavid Johnston for "his contributions as a historian, author and administrator who has expanded our knowledge and understanding of Canada's rich political heritage."[1]
The Decline of Politics: The Conservatives and the Party System, 1901–20 (1977)
Arthur Meighen (1977)
Robert Borden, His Life and World (1977)
Mackenzie King: Widening the Debate (1977), editor with J. O. Stubbs
Kitchener: An Illustrated History (1983), with Kenneth McLaughlin
Years of Growth (1986)
The Life of Lester B. Pearson
Volume I: Shadow of Heaven, 1897–1948 (1989)
Volume II: The Worldly Years, 1949–1972 (1993)
Mackenzie King: Citizenship and Community: Essays Marking the 125th Anniversary of the Birth of William Lyon Mackenzie King (2002), editor with Kenneth McLaughlin and P. Whitney Lackenbauer
The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Volume I: Citizen of the World, 1919–1968 (2006)
Volume II: Just Watch Me, 1968–2000 (2009)
Ice and Water: Politics, Peoples, and the Arctic Council (2013)