Description
This book examines Canada’s collective memory of the First World War through the 1920s and 1930s. It is a cultural history, considering art, music, and literature. Thematically organized into such subjects as the symbolism of the soldier, the implications of war memory for Canadian nationalism, and the idea of a just war, the book draws on military records, memoirs, war memorials, newspaper reports, fiction, popular songs, and films. It takes an unorthodox view of the Canadian war experience as a cultural and philosophical force rather than as a political and military event.
Awards
- Short-listed, Lionel Gelber Prize, Munk Centre for International Studies (Trinity College) 1997
- Winner, Charles P. Stacey Award 1998
- Commended, Francois-Xavier Garneau Prize, Canadian Historical Association 2000
- Winner, Dafoe Book Prize, J.W. Dafoe Foundation 1997
- Winner, Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, Canadian Historical Association 1998
Reviews
Jonathan Vance … is to be congratulated on his fine achievement in spelling out how Canadians met this collective need to commemorate their war-time participation, suffering and death … His success in pulling together the previous Canadian writings and sources, including his splendid use of illustrations … is altogether admirable, excellently researched, finely published.
- John S. Conway
One attractive feature of this book is the illustrations, more than 80 of them, accompanied by excellent captions.
- Paul Fussell