bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1991) — Fall 1991 // Automne 1991, pp. 43–45
Second World War by Martin Gilbert,
Stoddart Publishing, 1989, 800 pp., $39.95.
Struggle for Survival: The History of the
Second World War by P.A.C. Parker, Oxford
University Press, 1989, 328 pp., $24.95.
On Guard for Thee: War, Ethnicity, and
the Canadian State, 1939-1945 edited by
Norman Hillmer, Bohdan Kordan and
Lubomyr Luciuk, Canadian Government
Publishing Centre, 1989, 282 pp., $16.25.
A Nation Forged in Fire: Canadians and
the Second World War 1939-1945 by
J.L. Granatstein and Desmond Morton,
Lester & Orpen Denys Ltd., 1989, 287 pp.,
$35.00.
Wartime: Understanding and Behavior
in the Second World War by Paul Fussell,
Oxford University Press, 1989, 330 pp.,
$24.95.
The Second World War has retained its fascination for readers, authors and publishers alike, as the plethora of volumes to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of its formal beginning amply indicated. That interest is certainly understandable. Its imagery, vocabulary, characters and events are seared in our memory through fact and fiction, documentary newsreel and Hollywood romance, experience and mythology (both personal and national). Only recently have we begun to emerge from what one commentator called the war’s “long shadow” The books under review here offer an indication of the range of the popular and scholarly treatments of the war as well as the distinct perspectives which these authors bring to their subject.
Martin Gilbert, who has written extensively on the Holocaust and recently completed the official biography of Winston Churchill, not surprisingly provides a comprehensive chronicle of the war which depicts high policy from Churchill’s vantage point and yet vividly conveys the horror of war for its less celebrated participants and casualties. “All but a tiny minority of Hitler’s victims,” Gilbert reminds us, “went to their deaths behind a fog of anonymity; they were numbers, not names; a part of the daily and anonymous statistics of death.” Attention to detail and to personal triumph and tragedy is both the strength and weakness of this account, which moves inexorably from day to day, shifting locale and subject at a dizzying pace, from the beginning to the end of the conflict. Unfortunately, that means that an absurd number of paragraphs are introduced with a specific date but are integrated incompletely at best. To follow any story to its conclusion, the reader must contend with a vast array of unrelated material and an incremental form of presentation which lends itself to critical remarks but not to coherent analysis. Thus, for example, the evacuation of Dunkirk is related in daily episodes, and the increasing totals are scattered over several pages. Criticism that the liberation of Rome served to divert troops from the pursuit and destruction of the German Tenth Army is not addressed. There is also a tendency towards repetition as themes are introduced and reintroduced — American Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, worries about the vulnerability of Pearl Harbor to surprise-attack on page 140, and then again on page 154. On the other hand, Gilbert effectively underlines the importance of signals intelligence as a factor in victory. For anyone familiar with Gilbert’s work as a cartographer, the clarity and reliability of the maps will come as no surprise. Like his study of Churchill, this is an impressive achievement, but it is one which fails to provide a sufficient overview and assessment. This is especially unfortunate when the author is one who has added so much to our understanding of the global conflict.
By way of contrast, R.A.C. Parker’s study is shorter, more critical and necessarily more selective in its treatment of the subject. Sometimes that leads to over-simplification (as in the presentation of the background to the attack on Pearl Harbor), error (the mistaken comparison of Canadian with American finance of war orders in 1940), or omission (the absence of a convincing assessment of the weather’s impact on Germany’s invasion of Russia). Effective maps enable an author to compensate for brevity — unfortunately, the maps in this book are virtually useless as descriptive instruments. However, Parker writes very well and he makes his arguments clearly, and usually, persuasively. For example, his examination of the North African campaign restores some balance as to its value. Parker also provides an excellent critique of the combined bomber offensive without falling prey to the personality clashes which surround that controversy. Three interpretative chapters (on the emergence of the cold war, the fate of the Jews and the cost of the war generally) demonstrate Parker’s ability to master what has already been written on this subject yet contribute a distinct critical perspective. This book would make an excellent companion to one of the comprehensive histories of the Second World War.
On Guard for Thee is a collection of essays drawn from a conference held by the Canadian Committee for the History of the Second World War about the effect of the war on different “ethnic” minorities within Canada. The editors and contributors have achieved a remarkable degree of cohesion in this volume, though most of the articles retain their specialized academic character. For most of the groups studied, national attitudes and government policy represented a threat to their identity, interests, and for some, their freedom and property. Generally, the tone of these papers is highly critical of the King government, which is depicted as ignorant, insensitive and incompetent. Even an attempt to place the internment of the Japanese-Canadians in its appropriate context, and thereby to explain the action of the government, provides ample evidence for critics. That article, by J.L. Granatstein and Greg Johnson, provoked controversy at the conference, as participants can attest. Indeed, there is one wry moment when Howard Palmer quotes from Granatstein’s biography of Norman Robertson to rebut the views espoused by Granatstein and Johnson in this forum.
There are some excellent contributions to this collection, particularly Robert Keyserlingk on policy toward the German- Canadians; David Fransen on the split in the Mennonite community; Paula Draper on the treatment of Jewish refugees; Fred Dreisziger on the development of the Nationalites Branch; and Bob Bothwell on the peculiar experience of foreign scientists in wartime Canada. One curious feature which arises from the transposition from conference proceedings to a published volume is that the concluding commentaries approximate internal book reviews (particularly the critique by Harold Troper). There is a tendency to judge the past using the values of the present and to criticize the government for its failure to pursue policies which would have earned it the plaudits of later historians but the wrath of contemporary Canadians. : Still, it is important to be reminded that the zealous pursuit of victory was not without its consequences for those Canadians who, on the basis of their racial or ethnic origins, were viewed as having questionable loyalty.
Yet another type of work is represented by a volume produced by two of Canada’s most prolific historians, J.L. Granatstein and Desmond Morton. This is a fine example of a much-maligned format, the illustrated popular history. It is clearly written, with a judicious mixture of anecdotes and overviews. Within the limitations of its national perspective, it presents a generally reliable and thorough account, paying appropriate attention to the home front as well as the battlefront. The illustrations provide a superb reminder of the exceptional quality of Canada’s war art as well as an excellent selection from the available images of Canada’s involvement in various realms. Ultimately, however, there is little that is novel here and still less that is controversial: the authors equivocate over the debacle at Hong Kong and accept the notion that the disastrous raid at Dieppe taught the Allies “valuable lessons”. Certain myths are repeated, such as the notion that the Americans favoured greater Canadian representation in Allied wartime agencies, while the British opposed Canada’s ambitions. But the objective of this book (and the companion volume on the Great War) is certainly achieved without sensationalism or sterility. And the conclusion is emphatic, if brief: “The Second World War was a just war.”
Paul Fussell would not agree with that valedictory note. For him, as a distinguished literary critic and veteran of the war, the reality of war contrasts starkly with the lofty idealism of a noble cause. Wartime is an ambitious study, which covers a wider range of material than had been available or necessary for his earlier book, The Great War and Modern Memory. It has been justly praised for its masterful examination of the interrelationship between literature and experience in the First World War. Perhaps, because of its ambit, Wartime is less convincing and Fussell’s touch less sure.
While Fussell is devastating in his discussion of euphemisms, false romanticism, rumours and blunders, the anecdotal evidence provided does not always substantiate his conclusions. Fussell seriously overstates the “disillusionment” with the purpose of war and generally does not comprehend the idealism which motivated many individuals. Consequently, he exaggerates the contrast in motivation and morale between the Allied and Axis forces. Fussell misunderstands “Lend-Lease” and consequently overplays it as a euphemism. Similarly, he underestimates the pre-war American fascination with China as a factor in its inflated wartime importance. Many readers will question whether Cyril Connolly and Horizon merit the attention which they receive. Anyone familiar with Noel Coward’s savagely sarcastic lyric, “Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans”, would be astounded by Fussell’s suggestion that it depicted Hitler as “really more absurd than sinister”.. Apart from these lapses, the other limitation of Wartime is that it is not particularly well organized. For those who admired The Great War and Modern Memory, this book will be a disappointment. Yet it still offers an excellent, if iconoclastic, assessment of the depiction of war in various media.
What we are currently witnessing today, particularly the reunification of Germany, the reconciliation of Japan with its neighbours, the relative decline of American economic power, and the retreat of the Soviet Union from Eastern Europe, could be better depicted as a long drawn-out dénouement of the Second World War. Indeed, a significant aspect of these changes has been a reassessment of the consequences of the most costly war in history. Although these books were produced to mark a particular anniversary, their quality and the importance of the event which they commemorate ensure that they will make a lasting contribution to our knowledge of the past.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1991) — Fall 1991 // Automne 1991, pp. 43–45. Read the rest of this issue →
