The Fog of War: Censorship of Canada's Media in World War II

by Mark Bourrie

The Canadian government censored the news during World War II for two main to keep military and economic secrets out of enemy hands and to prevent civilian morale from breaking down. But in those tumultuous times - with Nazi spies landing on our shores by raft, U-boat attacks in the St. Lawrence, army mutinies in British Columbia and Ontario and pro-Hitler propaganda in the mainstream Quebec press - censors had a hard time keeping news events contained.

Now, with freshly unsealed World War II press-censor files, many of the undocumented events that occurred in wartime Canada are finally revealed. In Mark Bourrie 's illuminating and well-researched account, we learn about the capture of a Nazi spy-turned-double agent, the Japanese-Canadian editor who would one day help develop Canada's medicare system, the curious chiropractor from Saskatchewan who spilled atomic bomb secrets to a roomful of people and the use of censorship to stop balloon bomb attacks from Japan. The Fog of War investigates the realities of media censorship through the experiences of those deputized to act on behalf of the public and reveals why press censorship in wartime Canada was, at best, a hit-and-miss game.

Genres: Nonfiction, Canada, History, Politics

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[M.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bourrie's "The Fog of War" explores the little examined records of the small cadre of government censors during World War II and discovers an overworked group of men that resisted the desire of politicians and the military to overuse censorship and was concerned about the complacency of the press. It is not a war book, per se, but provides valuable insight into the rarely discussed Canadian home front.

[Barth Siemens · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting, historical account of the challenges of censorship during World World II. The author does a great job of presenting the many perspectives and sides of this difficult topic; his description of the internal and external conflict for the censors themselves breathes life into this book.

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book that contained much detail about how the release of information during the wars that Canada had participated.It was a lot of research on the authors part and also showed how the information imparted to the nation was censored to provoke patriotism.