New Books at Library and Archives Canada (November and December 2008)

Library and Archives Canada (www.collectionscanada.ca) has released its new books lists for November and December 2008. The lists includes the following items of interest (including some not yet released for sale and some which seem to have been out for sale for a while now) with respect to Canadian military history:

Benn, 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).

New books (July 2008) at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada (www.collectionscanada.ca) has released its new books list for July 2008. The list includes the following items of interest (including some not yet released for sale and some which seem to have been out for sale for a while now) with respect to Canadian military history:

Robert A. Darlington and Fraser McKee, Three Princes Armed: Luxury Liners to Warships (Victoria, BC: Darlington/McKee Publishing Team, 2008);

Simon Falconer, Canada's Black Watch: An Illustrated History of the Regular Force Battalions, 1951-1970 (Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions, 2008);

Éva Lucie Gagné, Les Canadiens à l'assaut : journal de la 13e Batterie, 1914-1918 (Ottawa: CEF Books, 2008); and

William D. Naftel, Halifax at War: Searchlights, Squadrons and Submaries, 1939-1945 (Halifax, NS: Formac Publishing, 2008).

New books (June 2008) at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada (www.collectionscanada.ca) has released its new books list for June 2008. The list includes the following items of interest (including some not yet released for sale and some which seem to have been out for sale for a while now) with respect to Canadian military history:

Thomas J. Bennett, Canadian Airborne Wings and Parachute Badges (Calgary: Bunker to Bunker Books, 2008);

Richard H. Gimblett and Richard O. Mayne (Eds.), People, Policy and Programmes: Proceedings of the 7th Maritime Command (MARCOM) Historical Conference (2005) (Winnipeg: Canadian Naval Heritage Press, 2008);

Ian Hope, Dancing with the Dushman: Command Imperatives for the Counter-Insurgency Fight in Afghanistan (Winnipeg: Canadian Defence Academy, 2008);

Colonel Bernd Horn, Le responsible, c'est moi : le commandants militaires supérieurs durant les opérations (Winnipeg : Presse de l'Académie canadienne de la défense, 2008);

Lewis MacKenzie, Soldiers made me look good: A Life in the Shadow of War (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2008);

Marial M. Mosher, Remembering: One Woman's World War II Story (Halifax: Glen Haven Press, 2008);

James W. Paxton, Joseph Brant and his World: Eighteenth-Century Statesman and Warrior (Toronto: J. Lorimer & Co., 2008);

Amy J. Shaw, Crisis of Conscience: Conscientious Objection in Canada during the First World War (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008);

Emily Spencer (Ed.), Grassroots: Perspectives of Senior Non-Commissioned Officers on Operations (Winnipeg: Canadian Defence Academy Press, 2008); and

Lee Windsor, Kandahar Tour: The Turning Point in Canada's Afghan Mission (Mississauga: J. Wiley & Sons, 2008).

New history of The Royal Canadian Regiment

The Kingston Whig-Standard newspaper recently ran a story on a new history of The Royal Canadian Regiment. Colonel Bernd Horn (not Horne as in the newspaper story) has written Establishing a Legacy: The History of the Royal Canadian Regiment, 1883-1953, published by Dundurn Press. Colonel Horn, deputy commander of Canadian Forces Special Operations Forces Command, an adjunct professor at The Royal Military College of Canada, and prolific author. The intention of this book is reportedly not to produce a dry, regimental history, but, in the author's words:

"From the start, this was going to be a soldier's history. The generals are important, but I didn't want to write another top-down book that is given away as a gift at regimental functions but never actually read. I wanted to write something that a soldier of today could pick up and be interested in." He also writes: "The history of a regiment is really the story of its members - their trials, challenges, disappointments and achievements. [...] For these reasons, when recounting the history of a regiment, it is necessary to tell the stories of its members."

New historical fiction on Canada in the First World War

I recently received an e-mail from a reader of this blog, retired Canadian Forces' officer Michael J. Goodspeed, mentioning that he'd recently published his latest book through Blue Butterfly Books, an historical novel called Three to a Loaf: A Novel of the Great War. As the publisher's website notes:

Three to a Loaf is the First World War story of Rory Ferrall, a young Canadian officer of Anglo-German descent who, after being wounded and disfigured at Ypres, comes to the attention of British military intelligence. Ferrall's German background is valuable to the war's planners. Hundreds of German-Americans had returned to the Fatherland to fight for the Kaiser at the outbreak of war in August 1914 and the British captured one. Cleverly trained to impersonate the captured German-American officer, Ferrall is smuggled into wartime Germany to infiltrate the German General Staff and discover their top-secret plan to break the stalemate on the Western Front.

A page-turning novel of war and espionage, Three to a Loaf is also a portrait of societies and individuals pushed to the breaking point, and in some cases, beyond. Michael Goodspeed artfully blends the tension of a thriller with period detail, the detached commentary of a nitty-gritty travelogue, and psychological understanding of a harried man facing soul-destroying ethical decisions.

Copies of the novel can be purchased from the publisher's website or at bookstores such as Chapters.

New Books (May 2008) at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada (www.collectionscanada.ca) has released its new books list for May 2008. The list includes the following items of interest (including some not yet released for sale and some which seem to have been out for sale for a while now) with respect to Canadian military history:

William Booth, Remarks and Rough Memorandums: Captain William Booth, Corps of Royal Engineers, Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 1787, 1789, ed. Eleanor Robertson Smith (Shelburne, NS: Shelburne County Archives & Genealogical Society, 2008);

Tim Cook, Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917-1918 (Toronto: Viking Canada, 2008);

Jane Dewar (comp.), Lest We Forget: Stories of Canada at War (published in 1986 as True Canadian War Stories) (Toronto: Prospero Books, 2008);

John Johnson, Service in Three Centuries (Bowmanville, ON: Lynn Michael-John Associates, 2008) [Bowmanville, Ontario];

Gladys Osmond, Dear Gladys: Letters from Over There (Kingston, ON: School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, 2008);

James M. Pitsula, For All We Have and Are: Regina and the Experience of the Great War (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2008);

Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lang, The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar (Toronto: Penguin, 2008);

Chris Wattie, Contact Charlie: C Company, 1st PPCLI and the Battle of Panjaway, May 17 - August 3, 2006 (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2008); and

Mark Zuehlke, Brave Battalion: The Remarkable Sage of the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) in the First World War (Mississauga, ON: J. Wiley & Sons Canada, 2008).

Articles on Canadian Aboriginal Military History

I was recently able to get copies of a couple of recent publications from the Canadian Defence Academy Press, both concerning Aboriginal Canadians in Canadian military history.

Aboriginal Peoples and Military Participation: Canadian and International Perspectives (2007), edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer, R. Scott Sheffield and Craig Leslie Mantle, contains the following Canadian (as well as several non-Canadian subject) articles:

Robert Alexander Innes, "'I'm on Home Ground Now. I'm Safe': Saskatchewan Aboriginal Veterans in the Immediate Postwar Years, 1945-1946";

P. Whitney Lackenbauer, "Teaching Canada's Indigenous Sovereignty Soldiers...and Vice Versa: 'Lessons Learned' from Ranger Instructors";

Jaime Mishibinijima, "Aboriginal Identity, Leadership and Values in the Profession of Arms"; and

R. Scott Sheffield, "Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and the Veterans Charter after the Second World War".

Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian Military: Historical Perspectives (2007), was edited by P. Whitney Lackenbauer and Craig Leslie Mantle and contains the following articles:

Philip H. Godsell, "Red Men Dig Up the Hatchet (1941)";

Donald E. Graves, "His Majesty's Aboriginal Allies: The Contribution of the Indigenous Peoples of North America to the Defence of Canada during the War of 1812";

Bernd Horn, "'A Necessary Evil?': Indians as Allies in the Struggle for North America, 1754-1760";

P. Whitney Lackenbauer, "Canada's Northern Defenders: Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Rangers, 1947-2005";

P. Whitney Lackenbauer and Katharine McGowan, "Competing Loyalties in a Complex Community: Enlisting the Six Nations in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1917";

P. Whitney Lackenbauer and R. Scott Sheffield, "Moving Beyond 'Forgotten': The Historiography on Canadian Native Peoples and the World Wars";

John Moses, "The Return of the Native: Six Nations Veterans and Political Change at the Grand River Reserve, 1917-1924";

Grace Poulin, "Invisible Women: Aboriginal Servicewomen in Canada's Second World War Military";

D.C. Scott, "The Indians and the Great War (1919)"; and

R. Scott Sheffield, "Indifference, Difference and Assimilation: Aboriginal People in Canadian Military Practice, 1900-1945".

Last two issues of the Journal of Military and Strategic Studies

The Centre of Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary continues to produce its online Journal of Military and Strategic Studies. The focus of this periodical is, typically, oriented to current or future studies. However, sometimes it contains articles specifically directed at subjects in Canadian military history. This includes the following pair of articles from the summer 2007 and winter 2008 issues:

Ryan Flavelle, University of Calgary, "Help or Harm: Battle Exhaustion and the RCAMC during the Second World War" [direct PDF link]; and

P. Whitney Lackenbauer, "Carrying the Burden of Peace: The Mohawks, the Canadian Forces, and the Oka Crisis" [direct PDF link].

Latest issue of Canadian Historical Review

I've had a chance to look through the latest issue (vol.88, no.4, Dec 2007) of The Canadian Historical Review. No articles in this issue on Canadian military history subjects, but Donald R. Hickey's Don't Give Up the Ship: Myths of the War of 1812, Yves Tremblay's Volontaires : Des Québécois en guerre (1939-1945) and James A. Wood's We Move Only Forward: Canada, the United States, and the First Special Service Force 1942-1944 are the subjects of book reviews.

Michael D. Stevenson's "Recent Publications Relating to Canada", as usual, reveals several books and articles in Canadian military history recently published, including:

Tim Cook, "The Politics of Surrender: Canadian Soldiers and the Killing of Prisoners in the Great War", Journal of Military History, vol.70, no.3 (2006): 637-665;

Paul Dickson, "The Tragedy at Puys", MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, vol.18, no.2 (2006): 70-80;

Phil Giffin, "A Family Memoir: The Men of #2 Company, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, 1915", Manitoba History, vol.53 (2006): 45-49;

Joseph T. Jockel, Canada in NORAD, 1957-2007 (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2007);

Paul Morley, "An Air Gunner's Story", Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, vol.44, no.2 (2006): 54-59 and 72-73; and

Jon Parmenter and Mark Power Robison, "The Perils and Possibilities of Wartime Neutrality on the Edges of Empire: Iroquois and Acadians between the French and British in North America, 1744-1760", Diplomatic History, vol.31, no.2 (2007): 167-206.

Upcoming book on Sir Arthur Currie

Mark Humphries, a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario, sent me a message to let me know about an upcoming publication of his about to hit the streets. Mark has edited The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie: Diaries, Letters, and Report to the Ministry, 1917-33 (Waterloo: Laurier Centre of Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, 2008). As the press release notes:

Sir Arthur Currie is Canada's most famous military commander. Probably the best corps commander of the Great War, Currie was also paranoid, insecure, and aloof. His personality won him few friends and many enemies. At the same time he was a devoted husband and father and protective of the reputation of the men who had fought under his command. Introduced and edited by Mark Humphries, this collection brings together selections from Currie's private diary (1917-1919), his correspondence (1917-1933), and his complete final Report to the Ministry.

This is the first time that Currie's papers have been published together in a single collection. What emerges is a vivid, human portrait of Sir Arthur Currie the individual and the troubled times in which he lived. Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook), Robert Borden, Harry Crerar, A.F. Duguid, Douglas Haif, Arthur Meighen, Edward Kemp, J.H. MacBrien, Mackenzie King, Victor Odlum, and George Perley are just some of the important figures with whom Currie maintained a voluminous correspondence. Currie's letters to them as well as various provincial premiers, religious, and political figures illuminate not only events at the front, but also Canada's war at home and the legacy of the Great War for Canadian society.

The book will be available for the LCMSDS Press of Wilfrid Laurier University and definitely looks like a must read.

Latest issue of The War of 1812 Magazine

The latest issue (no.8, February 2008) of The War of 1812 Magazine has been published online. The contents include:

Donald E. Graves, "Some Additions to Donald Hickey's List of 'The Top 25 Books on the War of 1812'" and "'For want of this precaution ... so many Men lost their Arms': Official, Semi-Official and Unofficial American Artillery Texts, 1775-1815", Part 4: "'Rouges et bleus': The French Artillery and its Literature, 1700-1800";

John R. Grodzinski, "Reproduction American Colours in the Great Hall at the Royal Hospital Chelsea";

Jon Latimer, "Smuggling and Contraband in the War of 1812";

Chris Wattie, "The War of 1812 Revisited"; and

a book review of Dianne Graves, In the Midst of Alarms: The Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812.

New Books (February 2008) at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada has released its new books list for February 2008. The list includes the following items of interest (including some that had not yet been released for sale) with respect to Canadian military history:

Peter Anderson, I, that's me: Escape for a German Prisoner-of-War Camp, 1915 (Reprint) (Ottawa: CEF Books, 2008);

Karen D. Davis, Women and Leadership in the Canadian Forces: Perspectives and Experience (Winnipeg: Canadian Defence Academy, 2007);

Robert Malcomson, Capital in Flames: The American Attack on York, 1813 (Montreal: Robin Brass Studio, 2008);

John Ernest Skuce, CSEF: Canada's Soldiers in Siberia, 1918-1919 (Reprint) (Ottawa: CEF Books, 2008); and

Andrew Theobald, The Bitter Harvest of War: New Brunswick and the Conscription Crisis of 1917 (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2008).

New book on the Broken Arrow story

Calgary historian Norman Leach has sent me a press release for his latest book, Broken Arrow: America's First Lost Nuclear Weapon, published by Red Deer Press in February 2008. The press release asks: "Did an atomic bomb lie undetected for years in coastal British Columbia?" The story Leach tells concerns the crash in northern British Columbia of an American B-36 bomber on a flight from Alaska to San Francisco in February 1950. Questions surround the presence of a nuclear weapon onboard the aircraft, its fate, the fate of the crew, and what actually happened during the flight and crash of the B-36. For further information on the book contact Val Burke-Harland, Associate Publisher, Red Deer Press, at val@reddeerpress.com or (403) 509-0803.

New Book on the Military History of Quebec City

A presentation was held this week at the Artillery Park Heritage Site in Quebec City by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Josée Verner, to launch a new book, Québec, ville militaire, 1608-2008 / The Military History of Quebec City, 1608-2008. A collaborative effort by Parks Canada (André Charbonneau, Yvon Desloges and Larry Ostola) and Department of National Defence (Serge Bernier and Jacques Castonguay) historians, the book was published by Art Global out of Montreal. Its launch comes as part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City.

University of British Columbia Press catalogue for Spring 2008

The University of British Columbia Press has released its Spring 2008 catalogue. As usual it contains some new publications of specific interest to readers of Canadian military history, including:

Stephanie Bangarth, Voices Raised in Protest: Defending North American Citizens of Japanese Ancestry, 1942-49;

Kurt Jensen, Cautious Beginnings: Canadian Foreign Intelligence, 1939-51 (to be released June 2008);

Michael Petrou, Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War (to be released March 2008); and

Cynthia Toman, An Officer and a Lady: Canadian Military Nursing and the Second World War.

Latest Issue of Legion Magazine

The January/February 2008 issue of Legion Magazine has been published, and contains the following items of specific interest to Canadian military history:

Sharon Adams, "Shaped by Sacrifice";

David J. Bercuson, "Regimental Traditions in Times of War";

John Boileau, "Battle Honours of the Canadian Forces", Part 1: "War of 1812";

Terry Copp, "Advancing on the Hitler Line";

Adam Day, "The Circle of Remembrance";

Adam Day, "Operation Medusa: The Battle for Panjwai", Part 3: "The Fall of Objective Rugby";

Hugh A. Halliday, "Canadians Against the Bolsheviks";

Tom MacGregor, "Maintaining the Silent 'Cities of Stone'";

Marc Milner, "The Threat Becomes Real";

Master Corporal Matthew Parsons, "The Battle of Panjwai: A Soldier's Story: Ambush at the White School";

as well as a handful of book reviews by J.L. Granatstein.

The Canada at War Books List

Recently, while doing a search for a particular new publication I'd heard about, I came across CanadaAtWar.com: A Books List, a website listing many, many, many publications in Canadian military history. Don (no last name provided), notes on the site that he started it after he "became frustrated with trying to locate books about Canada's military history using keyword searches on the online book sellers. By using key word, isbn, title, author searches and relying heavily on The Canadian Military Experience, 1867-1995: A Bibliography, this list has been created. I hope this site helps others to locate the books they want."

The site is divided into two major parts: the first providing an overall "Booklogue" for the years 1993 to present, each containing all listed titles published in that particular year. The second part divides the booklists into pre-First World War, First World War, Second World War, and post-Second World War categories for easy viewing.

Don explicitly asks visitors to his site to let him know if books listed are no longer available for purchase, to let him know of new titles and where they can be purchased, and to tell others about the site. He closes his "about" page with: "I realize that this site isn't a 'high tech' site, but I do hope it is useful." The Canada at Wars Book List is extremely useful, and proof that substance is still more important than glamour.

New books (December) at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada has released its new books list for December 2007. The list includes the following items of interest (including some that had not yet been released for sale) with respect to Canadian military history:

Leonard J. Gamble, So Far from Home: The Story of Armstrong's Fallen in the Great War, 1914-1919 (Armstrong, BC: LJ Gamble Pub., 2008);

Bernd Horn, Establishing a Legacy: The History of The Royal Canadian Regiment, 1881-1953 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008);

Andrew Iarocci, Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-15 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008);

Mac Johnston, Corvettes Canada: Convoy Veterans of World War II tell their True Stories (Mississauga, ON: J. Wiley and Sons Canada, 2008);

George Burdon McKean, Scouting Thrills: The Memoir of a Scout Officer in the Great War, 2nd rev. ed. [1919] (Ottawa: CEF Books, 2007); and

Francis M. Wafer, A Surgeon in the Army of the Potomac, ed. by Cheryl A. Wells (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008).

Book launch for new biography of General HDG Crerar

The University of Toronto Press will be conducting a book launch for Paul Douglas Dickson's much awaited A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G. Crerar on Thursday, 25 October, at Nicholas Hoare Books, 419 Sussex Street, in Ottawa, Ontario. Attendees are asked to RSVP to awilson@utpress.utoronto.ca.

The catalogue entry for the book notes:

General H.D.G. 'Harry' Crerar (1888-1965) was involved in or directly responsible for many of the defining moments of Canadian military history in the twentieth century. In the First World War, Crerar was nearly killed at the second battle of Ypres, was a gunner who helped to secure victory at Vimy Ridge, and was a senior staff officer during the pivotal battles of the last Hundred Days. During the Second World War, he occupied and often defined the Canadian army's senior staff and operational appointments, including his tenure as commander of First Canadian Army through the northwest European campaign.

Despite his pivotal role in shaping the Canadian army, however, General Crerar has been long overlooked as a subject of biography. In A Thoroughly Canadian General, Paul Douglas Dickson examines the man and his controversial place in Canadian military history, arguing that Crerar was a nationalist who saw the army as an instrument to promote Canadian identity and civic responsibility. From his days as a student at the Royal Military College in Kingston, to his role as primary architect of First Canadian Army, the career of General H.D.G. Crerar is thoroughly examined with a view to considering and reinforcing his place in the history of Canada and its armed forces."

Henry Roper, with The Chronicle Herald (Halifax), has published a review in that paper of Dickson's biography of Crerar.

University of Toronto Press catalogue for Spring Summer 2008

The Spring Summer 2008 catalogue for the University of Toronto Press is out and contains a couple of items with respect to Canadian military history:

Deborah Cowan, Military Workfare: The Soldier and Social Citizenship in Canada (to be published 18 April 2008) [I'm not sure how much this qualifies as military history without seeing it]; and

Andrew Iarocci, Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-1915 (to be published 29 June 2008).