Climbing Down from Vimy Ridge

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War, and efforts to reflect on the Canadian wartime experience are well under way across the country. The government of Canada is committing tens of millions of dollars to remember our national achievements and sacrifices, and countless new books will undoubtedly be released to do the same.

Some Canadians, and even some historians, will find these commemorations excessive. Indeed, many have already suggested that the money Ottawa has allocated to memorialize Canadian participation in the First World War could be better spent on services for living veterans. Others, scanning the book shelves in their local bookstore, or the titles offered by their favourite online seller, will inevitably wonder how anything new could possibly be written about a conflict that has been the focus of such extensive historical scholarship for...