The Halifax Citadel

Alison Mews is co-ordinator of the Centre for Instructional Services at
Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Designed to attract a readership of young people who generally avoid
history books, this book uses cartoons and breezy historical tidbits to
give the “dreadful truth” about the Halifax Citadel. Grant does
indeed present many dreadful facts about living conditions in the 19th
century, and these will especially amuse young boys, who have a
propensity for bathroom humour. The illustrator, Graham Pilsworth,
graduated from an art college, but his cartoons are heavy-handed and
their humour seems off the mark.

The book is divided into nine topical chapters, and the information is
organized into short paragraphs with flippant headings. For instance,
the “Demon Rum” chapter has a section called “Soldiering Is
Thirsty Work,” which describes the high number of taverns in the
mid-1800s despite the lack of a single public urinal, while the
accompanying cartoon depicts a soldier relieving himself against the
side of a building. This will undoubtedly be distasteful to adults, as
will the emphasis on the lack of personal hygiene, by today’s
standards. Altogether, this combination of bizarre facts and crudely
executed cartoons will have limited appeal. Not recommended for schools
or libraries.