Military History

450 LETTERS IN CANADA: 1964 photographs are by Peter Varley, and the text is by Kildare Dobbs and James W. Bacque. We are shown a great variety of rural and urban scenes, from Newfoundland to Vancouver; they are often very striking, but somehow they do not seem to have been seen with as fresh an eye as One might have hoped for in a publication as handsome as this one. Nevertheless, we are given remarkable assistance in viewing them when we read Mr. Bacque's literate and pungent notes on the plates. Finally, although it comes first in the book, we turn to Kildare Dobbs' impressionistic introduction where we learn that "Canada is so intransigently regional that few generalizations about its national character are valid." Now a not-so-new New Canadian, Mr. Dobbs is amused by the myths and the compromises that make up the Canadian variant of North American civilization, but he is also indulgent: Canadians tend to be rather dull, rather callow, but they have a free, law-abiding society and do not worship the State. He would have us hold on to the regional diversity exhibited in the books noticed in the above paragraphs. MILITARY HISTORY Richard A. Preston It has been customary to preface each unit section of the Canadian Army List by a sketch of the regiment's badge, information about its organization , its overseas affiliations, its regimental marches, and a short history. This information (excluding that on affiliations which are currently undergoing revision) has now been collected together in one small first volume of the Army List (The Regiments and Corps of the Canadian Army, prepared by the Army Historical Section; Ottawa: Queen's Printer, pp. 253, $5.00), more convenient in size as well as in arrangement . This new "tool" will be useful to historians and reference librarians and will also be of interest to soldiers. Some units which appear in the new issue have, however, lately become the victims of an economy purge. In future editions they will therefore either be absorbed into other units or will disappear altogether. In either case they will be excluded from the index of the Army List. A future volume that included these and all the other units disbanded earlier might not be justified by the Army List's purposes; but if it were possible, it would be invaluable for historians . If it is not possible to include disbanded units in an army list, could not the next edition at least have an index of those units which have been absorbed and are now buried in this book among the information about existing units? SOCIAL STU DIES 451 Historians will welcome even more enthusiastically the lirst detailed study of the Canadian defence policy of any period since that covered by G P. Stacey's Canada and the British Army, 1846-1871. In Defence of Canada fro·m the Great War to the Great Depression (University of Toronto Press, pp. xiv, 382, $7.50) will stand well beside that earlier classic as a basic historical monograph. Although professedly a pioneer study, and although covering a period for which all the official archives are not yet open, Professor Eayrs's book will be unchallenged for a very long time both in interpretation and in coverage. This is partly because he had access to the historical liles of National Defence Headquarters, and partly because of his brilliant exposition. The thesis presented is not new. Professor Eayrs argues that between the wars Canadians deliberately set their faces against defence preparations because they preferred to put their faith in international organization (which Canada was among the lirst to sabotage), and because they were aware of the protective might of the United States and were at last willing to admit that the Monroe Doctrine gave them some comfort. Mackenzie King, a shrewd sounding board, echoed the general sentiments for peace and withdrawal from Europe that suited his own inclinations , and dilated in public whenever possible on an international theme that had wide appeal. But at the same time, while making no effort to give Canada the wherewithal to go anywhere at all, he warned Britain that Canada would go it alone...