The Fight for History: 75 Years of Forgetting, Remembering, and Remaking Canada's Second World War

by Tim Cook

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.

By the end of the 20th century, Canada's experiences in the war were largely framed as a series of disasters. Canadians seemed to want to talk only of the defeats at Hong Kong and Dieppe or the racially driven policy of the forced relocation of Japanese-Canadians. In the history books and media, there was little discussion of Canada's crucial role in the Battle of the Atlantic, the success of its armies in Italy and other parts of Europe, or the massive contribution of war materials made on the home front. No other victorious nation underwent this bizarre reframing of the war, remaking victories into defeats.

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Canada, World War II, Military Fiction, Audiobook, War

512 pages, Hardcover

Published April 21, 2020

About the author

Tim Cook (1971 in Kingston - October 26, 2025) was a Canadian military historian and author.
Dr. Tim Cook was the Chief Historian & Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, and a part-time history professor at Carleton University. He has also published several books about the military history of Canada during World War I.

Dr. Cook is a member of the Order of Canada.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Cook...

Reviews

[KB · Rating 4 out of 5]

How did Canada remember its own place in the Second World War in the years and decades after 1945? Apparently not very well. While the First World War made a massive mark on our small country, the Second seemed to fade quickly from public memory. People moved on. Soldiers integrated back into society. Little was done by the government to keep the memory alive. Canada was essentially letting itself to be left out of histories of the war, allowing the British and Americans to take centre stage.

This book was quite eye-opening for me in some ways. When I was in high school and university, it was World War II that everybody cared about. World War I was seen as boring in comparison, and a war that us younger people had a huge disconnect from. (I feel like that hasn't changed much since then, except for maybe when the centenary rolled around and people cared about it for four years.) So I was surprised to read that Canadians were apparently fairly apathetic about the Second World War. But what Tim Cook means by that is not the war as a whole, but Canada's role in the war.

Cook moves chronologically through the post-war years, highlighting the near-lack of anything done to commemorate, celebrate or remember Canada's contributions. The Second World War saw no centralized memorial in Ottawa; our generals did not seem to care about writing memoirs; our historians were slow to produce much of note. When we did talk about that war, focus seemed to be on failures such as Dieppe, and problems on the home front like the internment of Japanese-Canadians. With the popularity of British and, especially, American books and media, Canada was being left out of the history of the conflict - something that was its own fault.

Cook balances the negatives with all the work veterans and veterans' organizations did after the war to have their voices heard and their war experience remembered. He also highlights the important relationship between Canadians and the Dutch, even to this day. Cook spends quite a bit of time at the end of the book discussing the planning for the new Canadian War Museum, which was really fascinating. This was a potent example of how we interpret history, and how it's interpreted between those that were there for the events and professional historians who were not. Cook also cites the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings as a major turning point in getting the war back into the public consciousness.

Everything in The Fight for History was interesting, but if I have a criticism it's that I'm not sure it all quite gelled. Some of the things Cook brings up, while related, only feel tangentially so. And there were times I wasn't sure I agreed with his conclusions. He spends time, for example, talking about the growing image of Canadians as peacekeepers and how that was another way the country couldn't come to terms with its role during WWII. I didn't feel like that was a particularly strong argument, because it doesn't seem to have affected how we view WWI. And Cook even says at one point that the soldiers of WWII were often seen only in the shadow of those of WWI. So clearly Canadians were aware of the country's successful martial history, at least in a general sense, if that's the case.

Like any book by Tim Cook, this was a breeze to read. It's extremely accessible history, but that doesn't come at the expense of good scholarship and research. This is still absolutely quality history, but the benefit is that anyone can pick it up and work their way through it. The Fight for History was incredibly interesting, and also something that I was surprised to learn about.

Cook has such a beautiful way of covering Canadian military history. It's not in-your-face or jingoistic, and he's not afraid to talk about the failures and the negatives. I'll readily admit that I got choked up a few times while reading this. I'd give The Fight for History a 4.5 or 5 for enjoyment, but because I'm not sure everything that's in here really needed to be included, I'm settling on a 4.

[T. Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

What did the men and women of the Canadian army, navy and air force do in the Second World War? According to historian Tim Cook, in the years following 1945, this question was difficult to answer. While Canada had made a significant contribution of its wealth and manpower to the war, it seemed that both veterans and the government just wanted to forget about what they had been through and only look to the future. Even the senior Canadian commanders declined to publish their memoirs, while military leaders in the major Allied combatant countries quickly set out to do so, to establish their reputations in future history books. As a result, Canada’s successes in the war got little recognition. As the post-war years passed on, some junior officers and other ranks began to write of their experiences but not to the extent that veterans in Britain, the United States and even Germany did. To make matters worse, the story of Canada’s contribution to the war was not sufficiently taught in schools, and public turnout and at Remembrance Day ceremonies dwindled. It seemed that the war and the sacrifices made by so many Canadians would be lost as the veterans began dying off and young people took up other interests. Because of these above reasons, Tim Cook writes, Canadians’ understanding of their military history faded for fifty years after the war; but then this decline turned around with the anniversaries of both D-Day and the liberation of the Netherlands in the 1990s.

Still, throughout this post-1945 period, unresolved issues did not disappear. Cook highlights the long procession of these concerns that kept appearing, as interested citizens would not let them be forgotten. Immediately after the end of the war, the first to arise was the possibility that an official history of Canada’s participation would not even be written as the government proposed to close down its military research unit. Cook writes that historian Col. C.P. Stacey stubbornly fought back against the bureaucracy to keep this from happening. Even after these histories were published, Cook shows that most Canadians still knew little about the war, as media producers largely ignored the Canadian experience while televisions and theatres were fed a stream of American productions. Canadians were more likely to know only about the disaster of Dieppe but nothing about the Canadian successes in Italy or on the Scheldt..

Over the years, some of the groups that felt they needed to fight to correct historical issues included the surviving veterans of the battle for Hong Kong whose suffering from captivity by the Japanese was not sufficiently recognized by the government. Then there were the air force veterans who were outraged when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation presented the film The Valour and the Horror which tarnished the sacrifices they had made in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Even civilians in Canada needed to right the injustice done to them during the war – Japanese Canadians sought compensation for being forcibly removed from their west coast homes and relocated to inland internment camps. Veterans from Canadian First Nations, who had volunteered to fight overseas, also had grievances when, upon returning home, they failed to receive benefits to which they were entitled. One particular issue that caused widespread anger was the trial of SS general Kurt Meyer for his responsibility in the execution of Canadian prisoners of war in Normandy. When Meyer was placed before a military tribunal, veterans felt that some justice would finally be obtained for their murdered comrades; but they were ultimately outraged by the results of the convoluted legal process. Tim Cook deals thoroughly and clearly with these complex issues, as well as the others that arose in what he calls Canada’s 75-year “fight for history”.

Cook concludes his book by describing the struggle by veterans to establish a museum that would ensure Canada’s military history would be preserved and appropriately displayed. This was finally achieved in 2005 when a new museum with a unique architectural design was opened in Ottawa. This story of creating a museum could be a dull read, but even here Cook makes it interesting by his flowing style of writing which brings out the elements of drama that accompanied the museum’s drawn-out genesis and conclusion.

Canadians have been called an “unmilitary people.” Tim Cook’s book shows how, despite this accepted epithet, a strong military sense exists within Canadian society and, within this society, many voices are ready to make sure its military history is recognized when needed.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

“..as this book will show, the past rarely lies still in its grave; it is continually dug up, reanimated and occasionally even weaponized.”

Following the conclusion of WWII, there had been some skepticism on the part of the government about whether or not Canadians would ever want to learn about it.  With The Fight for History, Cook’s goal is to “track and untangle the complicated, contested, and ever-shifting meaning of that war over the past seventy-five years.”

While this is the first of his books I’ve read, Tim Cook has been writing about war for years.  In fact, he’s certainly no stranger to the Second World War itself having previously written two large volumes covering Canada’s contributions to the conflict.  This time around, he examines the effect of the war on Canadian life following Germany’s defeat.   What would the government do with the tens of thousands of returning veterans?  With monuments and museums dedicated to The Great War, where would World War Two fall in history?  What about the thousands of Canada’s fallen overseas?  How would we honor them?

One of the many shocking things I had learned reading Cook’s book was that Canadians just didn’t want to talk about the war.  In fact, even many of those who had returned from the front had no interest in digging up horrors of war, choosing instead to bury it and move on with their lives.  It wasn’t until we were able to put some time between ourselves and the end of the war that we became interested in examining it at all.

I was blown away by the apathy on the part of Canadians both at the public and government level.  By the time we had shown any interest in the actions of our armed forces, our allies in the United States and Britain had already gone full-steam ahead with telling their own stories through books, movies and television.  By focusing heavily on themselves and having those stories make up the backbone of the official accounts of the war, it left Canada under-represented in history.  I found this the most interesting.  While the war could not possibly have been won without the Americans, their complete disregard for Canada’s role in the battle against The Third Reich has been a constant point of contention among Canadian veterans over the years.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this would take me a few days...but the fluid writing style and the concise, straightforward analysis resulted in an hours-long evening session of reading, as I didn't want the enjoyable experience to end. This book is the first of its kind in examining Canada's treatment of the memory of its WW2 participation, and it offers any number of new perspectives and ideas on the matter. I might not quite agree with every possible theory/speculation/insinuation, but it left my history-teaching-mind reeling with new & useful material.

[Daniel Zadravec · Rating 5 out of 5]

How did the nation remember the Second World War? This is the question Cook asks and answers in his book. Unfortunately, the answer, at least for most of the decades after the end of the war, has been that the nation did not remember.

Compared to the days of the Great War, where we began as a colony and grow into a country, forging a nation wide identify (albeit bearing scars of conscription and loss from overseas wars) found on the battlefields of Europe, the Second World War had no similar commemoration.

For a large portion of the post war history, the focus was on the wrongs Canada did in the war. For example, the Japanese internment camps and the failed Raid of Dieppe. That is not to say it is wrong to acknowledge, recognize, and understand the wrongs and failings that occurred, but I believe, as Cook acknowledges, that you can recognize the bad that occurred in the war, while still honouring our veterans who served. They helped shape the world we live in today, both in fighting in the Second World War, and by advocating for Canada and Canadians, through organizations as the Royal Canadian Legion. For it to have taken so long for Canada to remember is disappointing from past governments and peoples, but there is hope. As Cook says, the history is there, waiting to be remembered and shared, and I hope that my generation and future ones do remember, and honour, those who fought for us in the Second World War.

[Emerson Stokes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does a lot to explain the reason why Canada’s WW2 experience seems so unremembered up until the 21st century. I like this book as a sort of history of history itself, detailing how memory is kept alive through books, movies, events and people with Canada’s memory of WW2 as an example.

[John Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story how Canada remembers its participation in World War II is really the story of Canada in a microcosm. During the War Canada played a pivotal role punching way above its weight class, but, as the book points out in the 75 years since Canada has focused mainly on the mistakes and failures, rather than Canadian exceptionalism.

Tim Cook does an excellent job of making the points in a very engaging manner.  Still, it's a history book reflecting on how history is precieved, so naturally there were sections that I found myself slogging through.

Canada, and our allies are well served to remember the necessary war that saw over a million Canadians in uniform. There were tragedies like the defense of Hong Kong and Diepe. There were spectacular successes like Normandy, the liberation of Holland and the final push to end the Third Riech. Also little known hard fought, deadly, long protected theaters like the battle for the North Atlantic, the air war and the Italian campaign. Finally there was the home front where sacrifices were made by the entire country. Remembered or not, lessons learned or not, Canada has still emerged from the necessary war as a very much envied middle power on the world stage.

[Norman Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cook writes on page 5: "The past may not change, but how we view it does." This book provides an excellent history about history, the history of the Second World War, and he shows us how history is continuously revised as the society that views it changes.

Cook is an excellent writer, and he provides a fair and balanced and very easy-to-read account of the evolution of history on this topic in Canada.

If you are looking for an actual history of the Second World War, Cook has a couple of volumes about that as well. This book is for those who want to understand how we remember.

[Phillip Sawyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fine history of how Canada has remembered WW2 and the efforts of many people to remind the people of Canada of the sacrifices and bravery of the Canadian armed forces in World War Two. Read this book!

[Michael Koch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not what I expected, at least partially my fault. I got hooked by the big print, short pithy title and skimmed through the fine print, long, boring sub-title. Tim Cook who works for the Canadian War Museum wrote this book in 2020. He has written a number of very readable books on Canada’s war history covering the Great War, Second World War, War Leaders, etc. He has also broadened into topics such as the wars’ impacts on Canada’s soldiers, and Canada’s social development. While he will never be a Margaret MacMillan, he seems to have covered his topic completely with lots of accurate research and footnotes. In my opinion, he has covered some topics ad nauseum and omitted other opportunities, but more on that later. Unlike other authors and books where the footnotes can take a hundred pages or more, and be as interesting as the book, Cook only identifies the book and page number in an appendix. This leaves readers to hunt interested references themselves.

Cook’s contention is that first, this was an unambiguously necessary war against the Fascists, and second, we punched over our weight both on the battlefield (land, water and air) and in the production of: weapons, manufacturing, and food. With more than 1,000,000 men and women in uniform, the country was transformed before and after, much more than with the Great War. Yet, its significance and relevance were minimized. Canada’s contribution was never celebrated, especially by ourselves.

Cook himself does not overstate Canada’s contribution so I will. We were the only consistent winner in Italy although it was never easy, nor was the price low. Montgomery would not acknowledge our successes that until he and Crerar were both out of theatre. The Italy campaign tied up over 20 German divisions even after D-day, although the Americans never acknowledged that. As the allies approached Germany, they ground to a halt as the vehicles carrying fuel from the Normandy beaches used it all getting supplies to the vast, and disparate battle areas. Montgomery, Patton and Bradley were squabbling, but Eisenhower gave first priority to 1st CDN Army for supplies and fuel for the battle of the Scheldt to open Antwerp; the need for Antwerp for supplies was his first priority. If you think that was not really important, you might think about why Hitler really initiated the Battle of the Bulge; it was not simply to severe the American and the British armies, but to retake and shut down Antwerp. Despite the allies stopping before Berlin, the 1st CDN Army risked its right flank and roared up the coast of Germany to seal off the entrance to Denmark preventing the Russians from turning it into another Poland. The Danes, Swedes, Finns and NATO should have thanked Canada for that action, every day after NATO was created. I must admit I believe the Canadians got a little nudge from Winston Churchill; a little outside the chain of command.

Besides the army, the RCAF flew some 20% of bomber command sorties and Canadians filled many other RAF positions, flying and non-flying. Canada built and manned about a third of convoy escort ships as well as building many of Britain’s four engine bombers. These were flown over the ocean at some risk The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was almost 100% built, paid and staffed by Canada. It trained almost all allied air and non-air crew, except American, from 1941 until the end of the war. Canada built and shipped almost everything that Britain needed to fight the war and feed her people, except US sourced, though out the war. Certainly, other Commonwealth countries provided and shipped other materials. However, none of the others could supply the breadth or depth of what was supplied by Canada or the speed that we were able to make things available. Also, we were closer that many and richer than most and Britain certainly needed our financial help also.

As a historian, Cook is quite thorough. He documents how we ignored commemorating all these feats. He even goes on at length at how we turned our accomplishments into failures by celebrating the doomed battle for Hong Kong and the Dieppe bloodbath. Its objectives are still uncertain; they might have been a four wheel German Enigma coding machine. And the efforts by Bomber Command have been made controversial over questions related to targeting. He puts this down to an anti-war generation and good press by people with agendas. We have no Second World War Memorial unlike most countries who fought in that war. We turned our Great War Memorial into a “War” memorial for all wars. We have no overseas Second World War memorial unlike the famous Vimy memorial; we do not even know where to put it.

Our memory has been saved by a number of recent activities. The D-day ceremonies and parades have brought out a host of positive memories and celebrations by the French: the nation, towns, villages and individual people have all celebrated Canadian troops joyously, including, maybe especially, from Dieppe. The Dutch especially have celebrated Canadian soldiers. 2500 or so are buried on Dutch soil. These are looked after perhaps better than by the CWGC. Random Dutch go into the cemeteries and visit the graves, place flowers on them, place candles on every one on Christmas Eve. We are awed at this continued memorial. A private NGO has placed a museum and monument on Juno Beach with the continuing support of local people and Canadian citizens. All of this is helping us remember and to place the Second World War in its right context. There is still no place to go to visit the “No Known Graves” in Europe, no Vimy, no Menin Gate. There is now a Juno Beach Museum memorial. This is proving a magnetic location although no government assistance has been requested or offered. Veterans, family and visitors seem to have chosen this place as a focus for their recognition of Canadian efforts in this war in Europe.

There are a few things that Cook states as general positive actions that contribute to the positive memory that should be mentioned. The work of the Royal Canadian Legion has been ongoing and focused on the veterans and their needs. Continuing to position the positive aspects of the Necessary War as being necessary for remembrance and proper treatment of our veterans has been a difficult but enduring and successful activity of the Legion. However, structures and monuments endure and need to be built. In the 1940s and ‘50s lots of “Memorial” auditoriums and arenas were build as a living memorial to our lost. They are now all gone. These are not good memorial structures. Most of the Great War memorials remain. What is also sorely missing is the telling of our stories. After the Great War it might have been poetry, books and memoirs. After the Second War movies, cinema and TV movies should have been added. After all the strength we showed in the war were we not strong enough to show what we did on the screen? We watched US and British movies, we could not get enough of them, and we still watch them. We also watched their shows on TV. Where are ours?

If the War Museum’s mandate stopped at war history, “tell our story and be done”, I would say to Mr. Cook “Well Done” 3½ or four stars, carry on. However, since the museum seems to want a political, forward going mandate, I would have hoped that Cook would have provided recommendations covering the museum and the government. Not necessarily on this war but on other, maybe future wars. Maybe Afghanistan. Maybe that was not major enough to merit what he has learned. Although, I believe as many served in Afghanistan as Korea, far fewer were killed. The results might not be viewed as successful within the same time period as Korea. However, a recommendation such as “A war in which more than 20,000 served and in which more than 100 died should have its own war memorial funded by the federal government.” should be stated if he thinks this will help the nation remember its future wars. Maybe if these are scattered around Parliament Hill, it would help parliamentarians focus on what they are getting themselves into. Other recommendations he might have come up with include Council of the Arts consider funding stories coming from sources highlighting recognizable Canadian contributions to these conflicts. Of all the things he saw that caused poor teaching of our role in this war, did he see anything that caused good teaching that should be funded and broadened out to other teachers and future wars.

Given that in my opinion Cook was really light in identifying improvement in how we should remember, teach, memorialize, and celebrate what is worth celebrating, Three Stars

[John Matthew IV]

p. 5: "The past may not change, but how we view it does."
p. 6: Viet Thanh Nguyen: "All wars are fought twice, the first on the battlefield, the second time in memory."
p. 78: Groesbeek Memorial in the Netherlands, Brookfield 1939-1945 Memorial in Surrey, Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede
p. 78: Ottawa Memorial
p. 81: Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery
p. 82: Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery
p. 82: Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery near Juno Beach
p. 86: "Canadians killed in the Second Word War are buried in more than seventy countries"
p. 113: Gauntlet To Overlord: The Story Of The Canadian Army
p. 120: The Canadian Army, 1939-1945: An Official Histroical Summary
p. 146-7: "No wonder some believed that many victims of the Nazis were abandoned in the Cold War, sacrificed on the alter of defence--part of a process whereby old enemies become new allies against the old allies turned new enemies."
p. 148: Panzermeyer: Grenadiere
p. 163: Typo: "surrendered" should be "surrounded"
p. 181: Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War (Volume I) Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific
p. 182: Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War (Volume II) The Canadians in Italy 1943-1945
p. 183: Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War (Volume III) The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe 1944-1945
p. 200: The Canadians at War 1939/45 Volume 1
p. 207: May 5, an official day of thanks
P. 214: "To wear a military uniform in Canadian society was to risk being verbally abused, even spat upon."
p. 228: "Mountbatten was a member of the Royal Family with a less than stellar military career that included the loss of two warships under his command in the first years of the war. Churchill quipped that he might have had the good grace to go down with at least one of them."
p. 232: "These are lessons in how the memory of war is constructed: fighting on identifiable terrain is often the first step; the second is building memorials on that same ground, elevating it in comparison to other battles or significant sites."
p. 235: "Even decades after the defeat, it is difficult to understand the Dieppe plan. It was so fundamentally flawed, and so devastating for the invading force, that we continue to look for a hidden meaning, or we seek lessons in the operation's entrails."
p. 242: North Atlantic Run: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle for the Convoys
p. 242: The U-Boat Hunters: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Offensive Against Germany's Submarines, 1943-1945
p. 243: No Higher Purpose: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939-1943 Volume II, Part I
p. 243: A Blue Water Navy, Volume II, Part 2: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1943-1945
p. 245: "Decades later, it seemed as if there had been an invasion on June 6, some muddled combat for eleven months, and then the surrender in May 1945."
p. 252: "Veterans were particularily incensed about the stories of a brash Trudeau riding his motorcycle though Montreal during the war years, adorned with German First World War military regalia."
p. 264: Pierre Trudeau: "I do not think it's the purpose of government to right the past. It cannot rewrite history. It is our purpose to be just in our time."
p. 269: "Three narratives dominated the story of Canada's Second World War: the forced relocation of Japanese Canadians, the controversy around conscription in French Canada, and the failed Dieppe Raid."
p. 323: Canadian Airmen and the First World War: The Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force
p. 339: Battle Diary: From D-Day and Normandy to the Zuider Zee and VE
p. 344: Canada Memorial in London near Buckingham Palace at Green Park's Canada Gate
p. 352: Maple Leaf Against the Axis
p. 353: The Guns of Normandy: A Soldier's Eye View, France 1944
p. 354: And No Birds Sang
p. 356: Maple Leaf Route: Antwerp
p. 356: Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy
p. 356: Cinderella Army: The Canadians in Northwest Europe 1944-1945
p. 357: Canadian Battlefields Foundation: https://www.cbf-fccb.ca/

[Loraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was born 7 years after the end if the Second World War. I grew up thinking that those 7 years were enough to make the war ancient history. It had nothing to do with my generation. I saw my dad’s RCAF locker in the basement and slept under blankets he brought home with him, knowing they were military issue. And yet it was not my war. It was over and done. Best forgotten. I never even questioned that. Those wars happened to the rest of the world, we were spared. But thats just not true. I was deprived of my history, of Canada’s role, my dad’s role, my godfather’s role, the role my best friend’s dad played, and so on for the millions of Canadians whose lives were changed and often ended with that war. And i Know i am not alone. What the hell happened here?

This is the best book of 2020, possibly the most important Canadian history book i will ever read. Now I understand

[Mike Balsom · Rating 5 out of 5]

My published Review of this book:

According to Canadian War Museum historian and author Tim Cook, though the current climate honouring soldiers who fought in the Second World War is quite positive, it hasn’t always been that way.

His latest, The Fight for History: 75 Years of Forgetting, Remembering and Remaking Canada’s Second World War, looks at the struggle of veterans, often through organizations such as the Royal Canadian Legion and the War Amps, to be recognized and honoured for fighting for their country. Through a number of government administrations, it continued for years to be a difficult fight.

Throughout the exhaustively researched book, Cook points out the differences between the country’s post-war reaction to the two World Wars. Though the importance of Vimy Ridge rose and fell in the public eye following the First World War, Cook posits that for the most part, the Great War, as it is often called, has usually been seen as a watershed moment in Canadian history.

The formation of the Canadian Legion (the ‘Royal’ was added in 1962) was in an effort to provide a voice for First World War veterans. As well, the National War Memorial in Ottawa, dedicated by King George VI in 1939, still stands today mainly as a monument to those that fought and lost their lives in the Great War.

Conversely, Cook says for years there was a push to erect a similar poignant tribute to the many lost in the Second World War, which he terms the Necessary War. A plot of land in the nation’s capital was chosen, and sketches for a National Shrine to honour these veterans were released, but the Diefenbaker government did not follow through on promises to prioritize the construction.

Later, under Lester B. Pearson, the Prime Minister’s focus on a new flag pushed the National Shrine discussion to the back pages. Through the many administrations that followed, veterans would often hear some renewed talk of a memorial to the Second World War, but nothing ever came of it.

Cook adds that influence from our neighbours to the south may have at times devalued Canada’s contributions to the Allied win over Germany and Japan. A powerful, deep-pocketed Hollywood film industry, through Oscar-nominated movies such as The Great Escape and The Longest Day, left many with the impression that the Americans won the war completely on their own. There was little to no mention of Canadian troops of any kind in these blockbusters.


At the same time, he points out, Canada’s film industry, including the CBC and the National Film Board, did very little to herald the Second World War efforts of the country’s armed forces. In fact, when the CBC finally financed the three-part series The Valour and the Horror, it was justifiably panned, as Cook says, for painting the Canadian effort in a less-than-flattering light.

Events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War, amidst the anti-war activism of the ’60s generation, created a generation gap. Younger people during that time were reluctant to honour the fighting of their forebears. Later, in the ’70s and ’80s, Japanese Canadians who were interned during the war continued to push for redress. In 1988, that finally resulted in the Mulroney government’s payment of $21,000 to each survivor, and more than $12 million invested in a community fund and human rights projects. During that same time, Cook speculates that the importance of Japan’s standing on the world’s economy made successive Canadian administrations reluctant to push that country for an official apology for the mistreatment of Canadian POWs at the hands of Japanese soldiers.

On the positive side, the 40th and 50th anniversaries of D-Day were high points in bringing the accomplishments of Canadians into light. As well, the inauguration in June, 2003, of the Juno Beach Centre in Normandy, France, finally shed light on the Canadian Second World War effort on the world stage. It stands today, along with the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, as reminders of Canada’s important roles in the two World Wars. Cook, though, points out how the museum began as a grassroots effort by Canadian Second World War veteran Garth Webb, and that the Mulroney government was almost reluctant in getting involved in the project.

Cook’s 11 books on Canada’s military history have earned him numerous awards, as well as a membership in both the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Canada. His dedication to research and his work at the Canadian War Museum make him the country’s most important military historian since J. L. Granatstein.

Through the entire timeline of this important work, Cook weaves in stories of heroic efforts by soldiers and veterans both during and after the Second World War. Its 436 pages are highly readable and engaging. The 56 pages of endnotes give proof to the fact that Cook has done his homework in creating this definitive history of how Canada has treated the survivors and those not so lucky to have survived the Necessary War.

On this Remembrance Day, which marks the 75th anniversary of the end of that conflict, it’s a work that will remind all Canadians how important it is to remember.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fight for History is an outstanding book that exceeded my expectations. It tells the story of how Canada has remembered WWII and its veterans from the 1945 to today. It is a story every Canadian should know and it is not a story we should be proud of. I actually got angry reading this book in several places when it described how indifferent Canadians had been towards our WWII veterans. It was not until 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, that the tide began to turn and Canadians began to properly remember the war. Seeing pictures on TV of how the Dutch treated our veterans like the heroes they were seemed to be a key factor in waking up Canadians. Thankfully things have improved steadily since 1995. However, I was greatly saddened thinking about the vets who died before 1995, likely believing that Canadians really did not care about what they did for us. As I read the book, I found it explained many of my own experiences with WWII history. In high school history class I was confused by how little time we spent on WWII. I asked my parents to buy a set of 10 books on WWII and I read them cover to cover because school did not provide enough information. Then in university, as a history major, I was stunned that we only discussed conscription and the Japanese internment; what Canadians actually contributed to defeating the evil of fascism was not even mentioned. This book explains why all that happened. It is a sad story and maddening to read about how Canada did the worst job of any country in the war remembering what out veterans did. The author, Tim Cook, does a great job explaining the multiple, complex reasons why Canadians neglected our WWII history. Much of it comes down to Canadians failing to keep current events in a reasonable historical perspective; time and again we overreacted to current events and failed to see them in a broader historical context. A certain level of such presentism is inevitable, but in the case of our WWII history it was truly excessive. This book demonstrates that historical ignorance has a substantial cost. Until Canadians begin to take the teaching of history seriously, we will continue to pay a price on many issues. Imagine how much better off we would be today if most Canadians really understood the history of vaccines, instead of too many forming their anti-vaccine opinions from a few misleading articles on Facebook. Also, if more people understood the history of how the Nazi's changed Germany from a democracy to a barbaric dictatorship, fewer would support current right-wing extremists like Trump. We have reached the point where historical ignorance is endangering our future. The Fight for History is an important book to show how this ignorance can have terrible negative consequences.

[Doug Adamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a number of Cook's books and find them well-researched and highly readable. This book did not disappoint. One, to me, glaring flawback is the lack of a bibliography. Yes, they are extensive endnotes but a bibliography would have been beneficial.
At several points in the book Cook opines about the need for doing history. For example, The past may not change, but how we view it does. – p. 5.
Each generation has new heroes, icons, and symbols, with its own reconfigured meanings. The malleable past is reflected through the ever-shifting present. - p. 17.
The unfolding of Canada’s social memory of war also reminds us that if we do not embrace our history, it will be forgotten. And without our own history, we run the risk of becoming unmoored and ungrounded. – Tim Cook, The Fight for History, p. 17.
Without attention and persistence, history will fade and flicker away. There must be guardians of memory who struggle, build, and sacrifice to keep the memory alive. – p. 380.
In the fight for our history, this book has shown the necessity of guardians of the past. Cultivating meaningful memory, engaging in acts of remembrance, ensuring that events, deeds, and individuals are not forgotten—all of this takes work. The dykes of memory are always crumbling and there are too few involved in the spadework to shore them up. The work is hard and not always appreciated in broader society, and yet amateur and professional historians are still doing their bit: researching, writing, and telling stories. Often they uncover acts of heroism, self-sacrifice, and courage that go hand in hand with hurt, loss, and trauma…–p. 436
History is messy, tangled, and complex; it is unsettled and contradictory. It takes efforts to understand, and its meaning changes from generation to generation. But we must push back against apathy and indifference. We must tell our stories, truthfully and bravely. For if we do not embrace our history, no one else will. – p. 436.

This is a well-written work that deserves to be widely read.

[Scott Dempsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author seems primarily interested in inspiring celebration of veterans above all else. This is seen more than anything by the regular diminishing of the experience of the forced relocation of Japanese Canadians, where the author goes as far as to state:
“The forced relocation of Japanese Canadians took on an oversized role in the narrative of the Second World War.”

This experience is also regularly compared to the experience of POWs in Hong Kong. Not only does measuring oppression of one group versus another never provide value, but the author doesn’t seem to acknowledge the difference of oppression committed BY Canada ON Canadians from oppression committed against Canadian Soldiers by enemy combatants during war. To suggest the reconciliation efforts towards Japanese Canadians went too far because of how they compared to the treatment of (mostly white men) veterans seems to have racist undertones, regardless of how careful the author was attempting to be.

Though racism is covered by the author when he states in discussing Sikh veterans having been disallowed in legion halls because of a traditional no hat rule, “A few offered intemperate—some would say racist—queries”. Some would say? If you can’t call racism out when it’s blatantly apparent it’s likely because you are contributing to it.

This is all without even getting into the regular diminishing of the value of Holocaust education as an important part of the legacy of the Second World War.

I give two stars because I certainly learned a lot, but the authors obvious support for a variety of problematic perspectives that have historically been put forward largely by the Legion (who seem to be able to do no wrong in the authors eyes, even when refusing to allow critical thought about if bombing civilians was a good idea or not...) really put me off this book entirely.

[Myles Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so thought provoking. The history of the remembrance of the second world war in Canada is fraught with, ironically, conflict. This book lays out the history of this political and social battles over how the war should be remembered and how we should honor those that sacrificed. I found myself growing exasperated over some of the fights, like why Veterans Associations would not want a holocaust section in a museum about the Canadian in world war 2. Or the refusal to differentiate between a baseball cap and religious headwear in veterans club policies. The author sometimes provides his own opinion which did not always align with how I felt about the issue being discussed. I question the authors use of the loaded term "activist history". He leaves this term vague and unexplained as to why he thinks activism and history are incompatable.

Those things aside, I really got a lot out of this one. I've read a lot about the second world war and I found I got a lot of insight from the book about Canada's post war history. I found it fascinating that many Canadian leaders involved with the war never wrote about their experiences leading to a lack of stories about Canada's contribution. The idea that the memory of the first world war over shadows the second world war in terms of remembrance symbolism and imagery is striking although I would like to move toward a time when those two wars are seen as a single long war with a 20 year armistice. I think that is the only real useful way of learning from why the second world war occurred in the first place. It is heartening to read about and witness Canada's contribution to the war generating more interest among Canadians today. I hope that it continues to be told in diverse ways, reaching to find untold experiences and new voices.

[spike marlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional book. It details the fight by veterans and others, who after the Second World War, had to fight for the memory of their participation and commemoration in that war. It was a surprising book, because I had always thought, that like the First World War, that we had always commemorated our veterans. That was not the case, as for many years commemoration and memory took a back burner in Canadian society. No national memorial to Second World War memory and commemoration was ever built, and the National War Memorial, which was unveiled in 1936, was not considered, by veterans of the Second World War, as suitable to memorialize and commemorate there fight against Nazi Germany.
There was also very few programs, and books, to help the Canadian public understand Canada’s role in the war. The flaws CBC production of The Valour and the Horror, from the 1980’s, seemed to dwell on the negative aspects of the war, rather than teach about the Victories Canada was involved in, like Ortona, The Battle of the Schelt, the breaking of the Gothic line, the Liberation of the Netherland, and other areas of success by the Canadians.
It is a complex book with many layers and understandings not readily known. It was a revelation to me of the history of memorializing and commemoration in Canada.
The only thing that irked me was his constant reference of the Second World War as “The Necessary War”. This is his own title for the war, and he wrote another book under that title. Yes, it was a necessary war, but to me it appeared to be a one person crusade to change the war’s nomenclature.

[Jeff Swystun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canada has never had a revolution or civil war. It has had a series of conflicts that have helped forged the nation but few Canadians know, acknowledge or converse on the subject. Nearly 10% of the country donned a uniform in World War Two which is staggering. One in three adult males in the 1950's were veterans but few of these men trumpeted their experiences. Cook basically asks the question, "how could WW2 not impact the nation then and now?"

Termed in Canada, "The Necessary War", robs the conflict of its scale and impact. "Necessary" diminishes the war but speaks to the nation's simple niceness. It is more stereotypical than accurate. It is certainly not rousing. Perhaps it was because Canadians do not see themselves as warriors and that more of its people died in WW1 than WW2.

Cook makes the point that novelists, playwrights, and filmmakers ignored the war so the citizenry did not benefit from the proud efforts of the Canadian forces and those who worked hard on the home front. Apparently, many vets did not want to be defined solely by their wartime experiences. And when the war was covered or remembered, the disaster at Dieppe, the contentious air war over Europe, and Hong Kong's fall were constantly recycled. Then when it was covered, as in The Valour and the Horror, it was demonized. Cook's coverage of this documentary series may boil many people's blood.

This history should be required reading in Canada'a high schools and universities. It makes several points but chief among them is, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

[Schvenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whiney and apologetic.

While the authour attempts to be fair and balanced, he fails miserably. His obvious political slants are flagrant. The entire tone of the book is one of whining and complaining and while there is no doubt that veterans have not received adequate support in any regard, the repetitious tirade throughout the book gets tiresome very quickly.

Then, there are the near racist apologetic aspects. The authour downplays the mistreatment of Japanese citizens and their incarceration at internment camps in Canada, by justifying it in relationship to the same treatment of Canadians overseas, but seemingly glosses over the Ukrainian internment camps. Apparently, he was never raised to believe that two wrongs don't make a right.

He doesn't stop there however, because he also downplays the 593 thousand German citizens who were killed in allied air raids, and once again makes a "but they did it first!" comparison. Near the end of the book he portends to appear as the being on a more balanced view, but only after the damage was done earlier.

Finally, his overwhelming support for war in general is apparent by his refusal to reference the war as "the second world war" or "world war 2", but continually calls it "the just and necessary war."

As such, I cannot support this authour's approach. However, the book does have redeeming qualities. It provides useful, chronological history from military, political and personal standpoints and as such, is an interesting read. It's too bad there are so many negative aspects to the approach.

[Clint Coffey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating journey into history, in a way that is fresh and eye-opening: the author doesn’t teach history so much as explore our society’s attitudes towards and relationship with history, specifically Canada’s participation in the Second World War.
As an amateur student of WW2 history, there was much here of interest, and some of it (I am a bit embarrassed to admit!) I knew very little about before reading the book. I found the chapter on Canada’s post-victory dealings with German war criminals, specifically the SS thug Kurt Meyer, especially interesting. The author takes us through Canadian society's changing attitudes towards WW2 as they shifted and evolved over the course of some 80 years. As my father was a Bomber Command pilot who completed two combat tours, some of the material hit very close to home: I can recall my disgust the first time I saw the film The Valour and the Horror, a publicly funded hatchet job which portrayed Canada’s heroic veterans in a very poor light. Mr. Cook’s fine book takes on this subject (and many others) with passion and insight. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in both the facts of history and how those facts are perceived and interpreted over time. The book left me feeling even more proud of Canada’s contribution to victory in WW2, and of her brave veterans, who have mostly left us, but still need to be defended and advocated for.

[Maxwell Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The war ended in victory in 1945; but the fight for history has raged for seventy-five years. And it is not over yet.'

Tim Cook, Military Historian at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, proves once again he is a master of Canadian military history with 'The Fight for History.' In his work, he details the Canadian historiography of WWII and how we—as Canadians—remembered it since 1945. To demonstrate, Cook told the historiography of Canada in WWII, the views of Japanese internment camp victims and First Nations veterans, the efforts to build monuments, the influence of the Legion, global politics, societal change, and more, using great and easy-to-understand writing.

If I have to say anything, I think this is one of the most meaningful Canadian military hiatory books I have read to date. Learning about the neglect snd plight of veterans based on branch and race, the efforts to document (both fairly and poorly) about Canada in the war, and the campaigns to honour our veterans through memorials and media made me feel strongly about my passion, as a history major, historical reenactor, and military buff. I was shocked to hear about the toils and fights for compensations, appalled by the lack of Canadian storytelling of the conflict after the war through media, and motivated to know the importance of remembrance of our veterans and their deeds, simply put.

I recommend all Canadians, military and WWII buffs, and historiography learners to read Cook's work.

[Mark Adkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opens with a quote by the Minister of National Defence, Brooke Claxton at the end of the Second World War “Nobody would be interested in reading about the Second World War after 1948” sums up both the Canadian Government’s and Canadian public’s opinion on the war. This book by famed Canadian military historian examines this, explains why this was true, and what was done to rectify the issue.

This book was quite educational as it brought up issues with which I had never heard of before or if I had I did not know the full picture. Some of the controversies that are explored in the book are the lack of a national Second World War memorial, the lack of recognition for Merchant Navy sailors who for the longest time did not get and support from the Government for their efforts during the War, and the general lack of education about the war by the average Canadian citizen.

The author does a great job of explaining how and why those issues came to be, everything from indifference from government officials, the changing of Canadian Society, being overshadowed by American books, movies, and television, and also the reluctance of veterans to talk about the war.

If you have an interest in Canadian history then I recommend this book. I think you will find it to be an enlightening read.

[Eric Leeson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was born in 1985 and live in Canada. It is shocking to read a book that details the country wide effort to to erase the Second World War from the history of Canada. I grew up reading anything I could get my hands on concerning the events leading up the War, the efforts both at home and abroad to support our allies and the ultimate goal of defeating Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

History is part of a country's identity and even though I have read thousands of pages concerning both World Wars, I have never felt the need to join the military or fight in a foreign land. The desire to erase the War from the collective consciousness by politicians, academics and many other leading citizens was disappointing. If it were not for the collective efforts of Veterans and their organizations, they might have succeeded.

Canada should be proud of our efforts World War Two, we have and must continue to acknowledge our crimes during that same period, but it is part of our past and should never be erased. Looking forward and forgetting the good and the bad does not help us grow.

I am proud to be Canadian and I am happy that I live in a time that the truth is being discussed and attempts are being made right the wrongs that were done both before I was born and during my lifetime. This was an interesting book and added to my knowledge of my country's history positively.

[Álvaro Castillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Freedom museum (Vrijheidsmuseum) in Groesbeek, Netherlands which contains exhibits about WW2.There, Canadian soldiers are portrayed and celebrated as liberators of the Dutch people, as the former indeed played a key role in defeating and ousting the German army from this country. And in the same town there is a Canadian war cemetery honouring the fallen.

Fast forward ten years, I was a bit surprised to see how Canada does not celebrate much its WW2 exploits: I learned and heard first about the forced relocation and internment of Japanese Canadians (a despicable act), the failed Dieppe raid, before anything positive about Canada's role. And Remembrance Day and symbols like the poppy are about the "Great War" rather than the larger confrontation that came after.

Tim Cook does a great job in this book to explain the reasons behind this apparent neglect through a retelling of what happened in the decades after the war and how they shaped the social memory of this unique event in the country. It serves as an important reminder for all that it is possible to abhor and denounce war while at the same time honouring those who answered the call to fight one of the greatest evils the world has seen.

[Joanna Calder · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding book.
Not only does Tim Cook write specifically about how Canadians, and our politicians, neglected but then finally embraced their Second World War history, he writes in general terms about how history is written, rewritten, and revised again according to the current time, place and condition. He also writes about the dilemma of "who owns history?" Those who participated with their perhaps narrow but first person experience? The historians who did not participate but have wider, more deeply researched view?
And how do we balance the needs and interests of specific groups, whose stories need to be told, without either neglecting them or, on the other hand, overwhelming other groups' stories or the overarching story. And indeed, how do historians, museums, and others determine what is the "right" story to tell.
An excellent choice not only for those interested in Canadian military history, but anyone, Canadian or not, who is interested in how views of historical events shift and are reframed with time and new influences.
When I was young, I thought history was immutable. Now I know better. Events occur, history interprets.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cook works with the Canadian War Museum, and has written several books on Canada's role in the World Wars. I've read one of them before, and found his writing really engaging and while he's clearly an academic writes for a general audience.

This particular book looks at the legacy of the Second World War in Canada in terms of how it was remembered by Canada and Canadians. It is effectively a look at the historiography of the conflict, and how it was largely downplayed for decades in Canada. He makes a couple strong arguments (the First World War had seen massive commemoration, and people were not interested in doubling up; the lack of one place to commemorate a victory or something, like we did with Vimy from the First War; the changes of Canadian society), and keeps it very engaging throughout. He is also not afraid to call people or events out (Lord Mountbatten is called "simply incompetent" at one point), and sounds like he is not a fan of government apologies (in particular about the interment of Japanese), so that was interesting. It overall was really neat to see the way Canada has looked back at the war, and how much the First World War really does overshadow it here.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

First up, I like Cook's narrative style. It makes for an easy read.

I appreciate his coverage of the interwar (1919-1939) period and of the postwar (meaning WW2) period through the mid-1980s, when I started to pay attention to current events. Particularly useful were his frequent forays into the inner workings of the Royal Canadian Legion. To outsiders it appears this organization drove forward with its eyes on the rear view mirror.

Another major theme is Canadians not being able to get out of their own way. Chapters titled Failing to Tell Our Story, Portraying Ourselves Continuously as Loser and Apology Campaigns get that point across. My takeaway is that on the spectrum from bellicose self-promotion through self hatred, Cook implies we sail t0o close the latter.

Cook finishes on an optimistic note with chapters such as Reclaiming History and Sights of Memory. I think those chapters capture the spirit of the times.

[Andrew Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little on the slow side. At times it reads like a bureaucratic history of the Royal Canadian Legion and Veterans' Affairs. I wonder if his other histories of Canadian involvement in WWII are better. It does lead to some interesting ideas about history and storytelling and who gets to decide what people remember. Cook also retells some disturbing stories about atrocities committed against Canadian troops that are upsetting. Plus, he makes a good case that Canada has left its history writing around our valiant and courageous war-time involvement up to the British and Americans. He argues that our allies have over-emphasized their contribution and minimized ours.

[Roger Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a well written, thought provoking book about how Canada dragged its anchor concerning honouring the veterans of the Second World War. Forty years after the war and Canadians still did not know the massive Canadian war effort. Many had been brainwashed into thinking that the Americans had won the war as depicted in the American (propaganda?) films. The tale culminates with the fight to create the War Museum designed to tell the Canadian story and not that of minor players.