Review: At the Sharp End, Shock Troops, Vimy Ridge

Date01 March 2009
DOI10.1177/002070200906400124
Published date01 March 2009
Subject MatterReview
| Reviews |
| 286 | Winter 2008-09 | International Journal |
AT THE SHARP END
Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1914-1916
Tim Cook
Toronto: Viking Canada, 2007. 600pp, $40.00 cloth (ISBN 0-670-06734-2)
SHOCK TROOPS
Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917-1918
Tim Cook
Toronto: Viking Canada, 2008. 728pp, $40.00 cloth (ISBN 978-0-670-
06735-0)
VIMY RIDGE
A Canadian Reassessment
Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci, and Mike Bechthold, editors
Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2007. 368pp, $38.95 cloth (ISBN
978-0-88920-508-6)
After two generations of peace, Canadians are rediscovering what it means
to be a nation at war. More than 100 Canadian soldiers have passed into
honoured memory while fighting in Kandahar’s dusty deserts. Upon their
arrival home, they are met by thousands of ordinary citizen s and patriots,
who line the windy overpasses of Ontario’s Highway 401 to watch the
repatriation convoys travel from the air base in Trenton to the coroner’s office
in Toronto. Whatever one’s political beliefs or opinion on NATO’s mission
in Afghanistan, it is undeniable that the sacrifices made by Canadian forces
personnel have reawakened a passion for the country’s military heritage.
In light of this res urgence, it is no surprise t hat a new generation of
Canadian historians are following in George Stanley’s and Jack Granatstein’s
proud foots teps. The First World War, Canada’s lar gest for ay into
international affairs, has come in for particular scrutiny, both for its military
significance and for its enormous role in the ongoing search for a Canadian
national character.
Tim Cook, a research professor at Carleton University and historian at
the Canadian War Museum, recently pu blished his massive t wo-volume
study of the Canadian Corps in that conflict. The first volume,
At the Sharp
End,
appeared in 2007, and the second volume,
Shock Troops
, the following
year. Together they comprise an epic work of history, totalling over 1100
pages, and cover the entire war from the perspective of the individual

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