NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A masterful telling of the way World War Two has been remembered,
forgotten, and remade by Canada over seventy-five years.
The Second World War shaped modern Canada. It led to the country's
emergence as a middle power on the world stage; the rise of the welfare
state; industrialization, urbanization, and population growth. After the
war, Canada increasingly turned toward the United States in matters of
trade, security, and popular culture, which then sparked a desire to
strengthen Canadian nationalism from the threat of American hegemony.
The Fight for History examines how Canadians framed and reframed the
war experience over time. Just as the importance of the battle of Vimy
Ridge to Canadians rose, fell, and rose again over a 100-year period,
the meaning of Canada's Second World War followed a similar pattern. But
the Second World War's relevance to Canada led to conflict between
veterans and others in society--more so than in the previous war--as
well as a more rapid diminishment of its significance.
The Fight for History is about the efforts to restore a more balanced
portrait of Canada's contribution in the global conflict. This is the
story of how Canada has talked about the war in the past, how we tried
to bury it, and how it was restored. This is the history of a
constellation of changing ideas, with many historical twists and turns,
and a series of fascinating actors and events.
