Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. 14: 1911-1920

J.L. Granatstein, distinguished research professor emeritus of history
at York University, is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and
co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Influential Canadians of the
20th Century and Prime Ministers: Ranking

The DCB, as it is generally known, is one of the great monuments of
Canadian scholarship. In 14 volumes to date, it spans all Canadian
history from the beginnings to 1920, using the organizing principle that
individuals are treated in the year they died. This volume, one of the
best, covers only a decade, but the second 10 years of the 20th century
saw a huge number of important Canadians die. There was the Great War,
which killed 60,000 Canadians, many of them important figures and,
tragically, many more who were might-have-beens. Consider Talbot
Papineau, a lawyer and the scion of a great line, who served with the
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in France and Flanders,
greatly distinguishing himself until he was killed at Passchendaele in
October 1917.

There are dozens of other soldiers, generals, and privates alike,
examined here. There are politicians too, the most notable being Sir
Wilfrid Laurier, whose biography by Réal Bélanger is long, thorough,
and carefully nuanced. The great physician Sir William Osler, the
subject of a new book-length biography by Michael Bliss, is examined
here by medical historian Charles Roland. A page away is Tip O’Neill,
the baseball player and restaurateur who was born in Woodstock, Ontario,
and several pages on is Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona. The DCB is a
wondrous compilation of the life of every notable Canadian. The research
is thorough, the writing clear.

These volumes are indispensable for every library.