STITTSVILLE - Stittsville resident Dean
Oliver has co-authored with fellow historian Jack Granatstein a book that has
everything that you might ever want to know about Canadian military history.
But they took pains that this newly published book, “The Oxford Companion to
Canadian History,” would appeal to the average reader and not just to
historians.
“This is for the person
interested in history and not just the professional historian,” Mr. Oliver
says, noting that he and Mr. Granatstein, who is the dean of Canadian military
historians, wrote the book essentially for the lay reader.
“We really hope it’s going to
be a book that’s read,” he adds.
Mr. Oliver is the director of
research and exhibitions at the Canadian
War Museum
in Ottawa as well as an adjunct research
professor at Carleton
University’s Department
of History. He has lived in Stittsville since 1998.
The idea for the book, which
has been published by the renowned Oxford University Press in a unique
partnership with the Canadian War Museum,
came about when Mr. Granatstein was in New
Zealand and received a copy of an Oxford Companion to New Zealand’s
military history. He was upset that there was no such similar publication
related to Canada
and so he approached his longtime associate, Dean Oliver, about co-authoring
such a book.
Most Oxford Companion books
are written by a team of experts, each contributing in their field of
expertise. But Mr. Oliver and Mr. Granatstein decided to write The Oxford Companion to
Canadian History just themselves, separating the work between them.
Once Oxford University Press
agreed to the publication, they got down to writing, starting in 2008 and
continuing through to this past spring.
They compiled a list of the
possible topics, whittled it down and then divided them up, Mr. Oliver taking
the first half and Mr. Granatstein working on the second half. The only
exceptions were if one or the other had a certain expertise such as Mr.
Granatstein and the Second World War or Mr. Oliver and the Cold War.
The two authors then swapped
drafts back and forth, with every entry for the book going through three
serious edits by the other writer.
“We are both relatively good
writers,” Mr. Oliver says, noting that they are both good editors as well so
that the whole writing and editing process flowed rather easily.
He points out that Mr.
Granatstein and he have worked together for so long over a 25 year span that it
all worked out.
“The book was a great mass of
hard work but great fun too,” Mr. Oliver notes. “Jack and I share a common
grammar and style in much of this, having worked together effectively for so
long, but disagree often enough that we can be reasonably good critics of one
another’s work.”
It was a project that no one
in Canada
had ever attempted before but with the agreement of Oxford University Press,
they really wanted to make it a book that people would actually read instead of
a book that they would just consult from time to time. They tried to write
using as little military jargon as possible and to write the book as simply as
possible, making it as readable as possible.
The book is lavishly
illustrated , reproducing over 130 rare photographs, 55 paintings and 30
comprehensive full colour maps, many of which are published in this book for
the first time anywhere.
In the editing process, some
entries were reduced in size while others were enlarged. For instance, the
entries dealing with World War One and World War Two were reduced in size in
the end because much of the information is in other related entries. But the
Cold War entry grew in size because it is more or less a stand-alone entry,
with the information not contained in other entries.
Mr. Oliver, in retrospect,
believes that a couple of the entries, such as one on war casualties which is one
of the longest in the book, could have been substantially reduced. He admits
that the editing process perhaps failed them in this case, accentuated by the
fact that such a topic had never been written about previously.
He also regrets that the book
does not include a consolidated entry on First Nations military history in Canada. There
is much included as part of other entries such as the War of 1812 but there is
no comprehensive entry providing an overview of First Nations military
involvement right up to First Nations soldiers serving in today’s armed forces.
He admits that having such a consolidated entry just did not occur to either
himself or fellow author Jack Granatstein at the time.
“This book reminds Canadians
that war has shaped their nation’s past and present,” the two authors write in
the book’s preface. Both authors share this belief that Canada’s
military past has shaped the country.
“Whether or not you have had
anything to do with war, war has had something to do with you,” Mr. Oliver says
about the impact of the military and war on each and every Canadian.
He is hopeful that this new
book may prompt the Oxford University Press to publish more books related to
Canadian history and perhaps even a series on Canada’s military history.
The book was released in late
October at a book launch at the Canadian
War Museum.
The 528 page hardcover book, which sells for $70, can be found not only at the
War Museum but also should now be at various retail outlets.
The Times Literary Supplement
in London has
published a recent review of The Oxford Companion to Canadian Military History
which reviewer Nathan Greenfield, an author himself, calls an “extremely useful
resource.” He calls authors Granatstein and Oliver “masters of concision”,
noting in particular the five pages of text on the Battle of Vimy Ridge which
he says cover not only the preliminaries to the battle and the fighting itself
but also the way that the victory affected the young country of Canada.
The flyleaf to the book
describes it as follows: “The Oxford Companion to Canadian Military History
examines Canada’s
role as both war-fighter and peacekeeper from the first colonial conflicts to
the Afghanistan War. Entries listed in convenient alphabetical format – from
ACE Mobile Force to Zombies – provide concise descriptions of the events,
personalities, and military-political issues that have shaped Canada within
and outside its borders, past and present.”
The book’s entries in
chronicling the evolution of Canada as a military power include biographies
from James Wolfe to Louis Riel to Rick Hillier; key military-political issues
like the conscription crises, war finance and Canada-United States relations;
lesser known conflicts such as the Pig War and the Aroostook War; and recent
issues facing the Canadian Forces such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mr. Oliver, who was co-author
with Laura Brandon of “Canvas of War: Painting the Canadian Experience, 1914 to
1945”, was made a Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Beatrix of the
Netherlands in 2010 to honour his work in commemorating Canada’s role in the
liberation of the Netherlands in the Second World War.
Jack Granatstein has written
more than 60 books and is an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was a professor of
Canadian history at York University for over 30 years and is a former director
and CEO of the Canadian
War Museum.