Canada and the Two World Wars

Tim Cook is the World War I historian at the Canadian War Museum. He is
the author of No Place to Run: The Canadian Corps and Gas Warfare in the
First World War.

If I had to pick only one book to read on Canada and the world wars,
this would be it. J.L. Granatstein and Desmond Morton are the two
leading military historians in Canada, and between them they have
published more than 70 books. Canada and the Two World Wars, which
combines two earlier works—Marching to Armageddon: Canadians and the
Great War, 1914–1919 and A Nation Forged in Fire: Canadians and the
Second World War, 1939–1945—offers an excellent introduction to
these wars, which forever changed our nation.

The measured, clear prose is a pleasure to read, especially since it is
underpinned by decades of knowledge and scholarship. The authors explore
the sharp end of combat, where Canadian men and women served on land,
sea, and air. But this history covers more than just operations: the
impact of the war on Canadian society is woven expertly through the
text. Industrialization, inflation, rationing, and the steady loss of
loved ones are thoroughly covered, showing that almost all Canadians
were affected by the wars. If there is one criticism for this otherwise
fine book, it is that although the introduction is new, the authors were
not given the opportunity to update their two earlier works, now 15
years old.

Canada and the Two World Wars is an important book about Canada’s
wartime experience, the story of ordinary Canadians pushed to do the
extraordinary in the Armageddon of war. It is a book that all Canadians
should own.