It is with much disappointment that I must make this my final post on The Cannon's Mouth. Researching and writing this blog has been a great experience for me. However, increasing work and family committments and responsibilities make it obvious that I no longer have the time available to give to this blog. I truly wish it were otherwise. Thank you for reading.
New Books at Library and Archives Canada (November and December 2008)
1 comments Published by Ken on 23 December 2008 at 12:55 PMBenn, Carl, Mohawks on the Niles: Natives Among the Canadian Voyageurs in Egypt, 1884-1885 (Toronto, 2009);
Duff, R.L. Duane, Waskesiu: Canada's First Frigate (Surrey, BC, 2008);
Mark C. Hunter, To Employ and Uplift Them: The Newfoundland Naval Reserve, 1899-1926 (St. John's, NL, 2009);
McGeer, Eric, The Canadian Battlefields in Italy: Sicily & Southern Italy (Waterloo, ON, 2008);
Tibbs, Brian, They Did Not Return [war dead of St. Catharines, ON] (St. Catharines, ON, 2008); and
Wyse, Robert, Bamboo Cage: The POW Diary of Flight Lieutenant Robert Wyse, 1942-1943 (Fredericton, NB, 2009).
MA theses and PhD dissertations - part 29
0 comments Published by Ken on 14 December 2008 at 7:20 PM
The latest issue of the journal War in History - vol.16, no.1 (2009) - is out and includes the following item of interest to readers of Canadian military history: Erica M. Charters, "Disease, Wilderness Warfare, and Imperial Relations: The Battle for Quebec, 1759-1760". The abstract for the article reads as follows:
"During the siege at Quebec, 1759—60, which followed the battle on the Plains of Abraham, high rates of disease contributed to the British defeat by French forces in April 1760. While historians have not previously discussed military medical preventative measures, a detailed examination of the siege demonstrates sophisticated attempts to adapt to a foreign environment and its disease, as well as how disease contributed to the development of American provincial and British antagonism and perceptions of difference."
I went back to work today after nearly three weeks on post-deployment leave and thought it's also about time I resumed posting on The Cannon's Mouth. While on leave I finished a couple of books on Canadian military history - both on First World War subjects, which I freely admit is my favourite period of study.
The first book I finished was Mark Zuehlke's Brave Battalion: The Remarkable Saga of the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) in the First World War (Mississauga, ON, 2008). Although a useful introduction to the story of the 16th Battalion, CEF, during the war - and a well written text to boot (as Zuehlke's books are) - I came away wondering what it actually added to the story of the 16th Battalion not already covered in more detail in H.M. Urquhart's The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian 
Scottish), Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914-1919 (Toronto, 1932).
Next, I finished reading Andrew Iarocci's Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-1915 (Toronto, 2008). I found this to be a very fresh view of the subject (based on his doctoral dissertation), the author openly wondering whether there was more to the 1st Canadian Division than traditionally it has been credited with during the first year of its existence. The text reflects indepth research and many newer approaches to the study of military history. I'd like to see Iarocci continue with his study of the division, carrying its story forward from late 1915 through to the end of the war.
I'm going to be taking a bit of a hiatus for awhile from posting on The Cannon's Mouth. The truth is, for more than three months now the posts I've written were either written in the late spring and scheduled to post or e-mailed in when I had a chance. I've just returned from a deployment as an historian with NATO's International Security Assistance Force at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. I need a rest and time to reconnect with my family. Many thanks for your patience.
