Military History

536 LETTERS IN CANADA in his essentially repetitious tale of the routine of northern medicine. As seems to be almost obligatory now, 1967 was treated to a book on the north by Farley Mowat. The Polar Passion: The Quest for the North PoZe (McClelland and Stewart, 303, $15.) is a selection of accounts of Arctic voyages from the Vikings to Frederick Cook. While the extracts themselves are often gripping, Mowat's introductions retrace ground he has covered many times before. His Social Darwinism seems less convincing and more outdated with each telling. Apparently issued as a "coffee table book," The Polar Passion is poor value if the review copy is representative of the full run. Some pages are badly cut, others are not printed straight to the page, and the brown-tone pictures grow tedious before the book is finished. There is little evidence yet of the penetration into local histories of the new ideas being advanced On the field by some scholars. Local and regional books in 1967 looked very much as they have each year for decades. Local studies, it appears, are like the weather: everyone talks about them, but no one does anything about them. (MICHAEL S. CROSS) MILITARY HISTORY The centennial project of the Directorate of History of the Canadian Armed Forces, The Armed Forces of Canada, 1867-1967: A Century of Achievement (Ottawa: Queen's Printer, xii, 289, $6.) is one of the most successful of all the many books inspired by the national celebration . Extravagantly illustrated and amazingly unifonn in style, despite the fact that it was produced by several different pens, it is a fitting tribute to the men who fought and died for their country in the course of a century of history. Editor Lieutenant-Colonel D. J. Goodspeed's influence is clearly apparent throughout-in the drama of the narrative and in the force with which the story unfolds. Four-fifths of the book is concerned with the period from 1914 to 1939. This is preceded by an account of earlier military history and is followed by a chapter entitled "Helping to Keep the World's Peace, 1945-1967." Every Canadian household, even those whose members are anti-military, should possess one of these volumes, which tells what the men who fought for Canada achieved for their country and what they have done for world peace. Colonel C. P. Stacey, who had returned to integrate the services' his- SOCIAL STUDIES 537 torical sections and so supervised this memorial work, has said that these men deserve to be counted among the founding fathers. The celebration of the centenary rather over-shadowed a fiftieth anniversary that was more important for the Canadian Army and was also portentous for the nation, the capture of Vimy Ridge on Easter Sunday, 1917. Vimy was reputedly the place where Canada "came of age." Two new books, each excellent in its own way, retell the story. LieutenantColonel D. E. Macintyre was a brigade major who helped to plan the attack and took part in it. His Canada at Vimy ( Peter Martin, x, 229, $6.50) is a fighting soldier's personal narrative based on letters sent to his wife. Limited in its picture of the whole story, it gives a dramatic sense of participation. The book concludes with a first-hand account of the "Vimy Pilgrimage" to the opening ceremonies held in 1936. Colonel MaCintyre organized a mass movement of veterans across the Atlantic, the first of those hundreds of thousands of Canadians who have gone to pay their respects at their country's greatest shrine. The late Colonel Herbert Fairlie Wood's Vimy! (Macmillan, 186, $5.95) is fuller and mOre penetrating but also even more lively. Colonel Wood, a former member of the Canadian Army Historical Section, apparently had little respect for generals, at least not for British generals. Freed by retirement from the Historical Section, Wood wrote with devastating frankness and with a caustic pen. His analysis of the qualities of the armies and their leaders and of the campaign was written for popular consumption but throws much light on the operations that led to the victory. J. D. F. Kealy and E. C. Russell...