Marching As To War - Pierre Berton
Pierre Berton
2001, 632 pages
I have a rather extensive collection of Pierre Berton books. Most of them are gems, but there are also a few duds out there. This one’s pretty good. It’s too long, but it covers a huge swath of Canadian history and its participation in four wars: the Boer War, WWI, WWII, and the Korean War. Instead of focusing on military tactics or small details of the wars, Berton focuses on the what he does best: telling us what was happening in Canada. The majority of this book focuses on politics, both within Canada’s borders and on the international scene. It shows how the rifts within Canada’s borders have affected things like conscription and how the military has been organized. It discusses how we went from a fledgling nation hanging on Britain’s every whim, to an independent country standing on its own, partially as a result of those rifts that make us a nation of nations.
Overall, this book is great. It’s about 100 pages too long, but other than that, great.
