Tim Cook

A ‘bomb girl’ and a battlefield hero are among the people honoured in a Canadian War Museum exhibition.

The Second World War led to fundamental changes to Canada, ushering in a new country forged by a generation’s service and sacrifice.

From the home front to the front lines, Canadians everywhere did their bit to help the Allies win the Second World War.

The things that kept the common fighting man from cracking in the trenches were sometimes very small.

The Americans have their MacArthur and Patton, the British, their “Monty.” Canadians, whether they know it or not, have Sir Arthur Currie.

Military historian Tim Cook explores the history of shell shock, also known as the "storm centre" of military medicine.

Q&A: Alison Nagy speaks with Tim Cook about how life in the trenches provoked a variety of creative impulses which helped Canadian soldiers cope with and endure the horrors of war.

I am always reading four or five books at a time, which seems neurotic but allows me to read for pleasure and to do research for upcoming writing projects.

In 2015, the author-historian dropped by Canada's History offices to tell us about his latest book.

Book review: In this evocative history, Kristen den Hartog explores the legacy of Canada’s wounded Great War soldiers and Toronto’s Christie Street Hospital.

Book Review: In his fast-paced Battle of Britain, popular military historian Ted Barris draws out the stories of airmen who flew with the “Canada” shoulder flashes.

Book review: Canada’s Air Force provides tremendous insight into the growth of the RAF’s Fighter, Coastal and Bomber commands, connecting the Canadian war effort to the international one.

Book review: The capture of Vimy Ridge in April 1917 is the defining battle of Canada’s Great War. The erection of the country’s national memorial on those shell-cratered heights, unveiled in 1936 before thousands of veterans, contributed to the legend of Vimy as a critical moment in the country’s history.

Book review: After the crushing defeat of France in June 1940, Nazi Germany’s armed forces were poised to invade the island kingdom of Britain. In that summer of fear, some three thousand British children were temporarily evacuated to Canada, where they were known as “war guests.”

Book review: In Gregory Kennedy’s fine new book on Acadian soldiers’ experiences of the war, he does not elaborate on whether the angry man was an English patriot furious at the French-speaking Catholic Acadians who were thought not to be “doing their bit” in the war against Germany.

Book Review: Cyclists were an important component of operations during the First World War.

Book review: Lezlie Lowe, a Halifax-based journalist, tells the story of Halifax as it throbbed with tens of thousands of service personnel who brought both excitement and trouble in their wake.

Book Review: Alan Gordon’s fine book Time Travel explores the rise of living history museums in Canada from the mid-twentieth century. Through animators and reconstructed historical sites, these new museums hoped to bring life to dead history.

Book Review: Museums are in a constant state of change. They have moved from the Victorian cabinets of curiosities to more sophisticated sites that offer storylines, reconstructions, and films.

Book Review: Official commemoration without conflict is rare. Struggling over how best to know ourselves is not unique to the twenty-first century. Cecilia Morgan, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, recounts in Commemorating Canada how Canadians have always grappled with making meaning of their shared and divisive history.

Book Review: Journalist Henri Bourassa was the most hated man in Canada during the First World War — or, to clarify, the most despised public figure in English Canada.

Book Review: In Civilians at the Sharp End, David Borys, an academic historian and the host of the podcast Cool Canadian History, tells for the first time the story of the Civil Affairs branch of the First Canadian Army.

Book Review: In Monty and the Canadian Army, John A. English, a former officer in the Canadian Forces and the author of several books of military history, explores Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery’s interactions with the Canadian military.

Book Review: John F. Kennedy knew little about Canada before becoming the United States president in 1960, other than that his northern neighbour was a loyal ally.

Book Review: The book Recipes for Victory is a strong collection of historical essays illustrated with rare images.

Book review: As part of their work, Canada’s prime ministers weave stories and forge narratives regarding national identity. From John A. Macdonald to Justin Trudeau, the country’s leaders have been both a mirror to reflect Canadian values and a means by which new ideals are advanced.

Book Review: In the Company of Sisters explores the First World War’s impact on women.

Book Review: To visit the First Word War cemeteries along the Western Front, or in the hundreds of other locations around the world, is to feel the grief of silenced and shattered dreams. 

Book Review: Being Prime Minister brings together multiple stories of how the country’s political leaders spent their days and nights in the relentless grind they all loved so dearly.

Book Review: The history of the long political duel between John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson is recounted by veteran journalist John Ibbitson, who chronicles present day political battles in his position at the Globe and Mail.

Book Review: The Great War of 1914 to 1918 continues to haunt Canadians more than one hundred years later, but it’s the stories of individuals, their personal struggles and strains, that help us to better connect with the people and events of that time. This fine book chronicles a four-legged hero — a purebred spitz named Muggins.

Book Review: Military historian Terry Copp, along with researcher Alexander Maavara, has drawn upon the city’s eight major newspapers as a means to understand how Montreal experienced the war.