December 15, 2022

Grey County Reads: The Fight for History by Tim Cook

Melany Franklin with her book choice: The Fight for History by Tim Cook.

BY SOUTHGREY.CA STAFF — Canadian-authored titles have been chosen and a new crop of volunteer readers are enjoying their selections for the next Grey County Reads contest. Melany Franklin is one these book champions.

A Workplace Mediator for Sideroad ADR and Senior Legal Counsel for YMCA of Greater Toronto, it could be said that Melany is an expert at studying all sides of an issue. As a lawyer and workplace mediator, Melany brings a special understanding of conflicts and their resolutions. As an aspiring writer, Melany is particularly interested in the experiences of Canadian veterans returning from war. Her fictional depiction of the Battle of Assoro earned her an Honourable Mention in Penguin Random House Canada’s 2021 Student Award for Fiction.

That may be why she chose to read The Fight for History by Tim Cook, a masterful telling of the way World War Two has been remembered, forgotten, and remade over 75 years of Canadian history. Publisher Penguin Random House describes the books examination of how Canadians framed and reframed the war experience over time.

Just as the importance of the battle of Vimy Ridge to Canadians rose, fell, and rose again over a 100-year period, the meaning of the Second World War to Canadians followed a similar pattern. But the Second World War's relevance led to conflict between veterans and others in society — more so than in the previous war — as well as a more rapid diminishment of its significance.

The Fight for History is about the efforts to restore a more balanced portrait of Canada's contribution in the global conflict. This is the story of how Canada has talked about the war in the past, how we tried to bury it, and how it was restored. This is the history of a constellation of changing ideas, with many historical twists and turns, and a series of fascinating actors and events.

Tim Cook is Chief Historian and Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum. His bestselling books have won multiple awards, including three Ottawa Book prizes for Literary Non-Fiction and two C.P. Stacey Awards for the best book in Canadian military history. In 2008 he won the J.W. Dafoe Prize for At the Sharp End and again in 2018 for Vimy: The Battle and the Legend. Shock Troops won the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. Cook is a frequent commentator in the media, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Canada.

The Fight for History was published in October, 2021 and is one seven books in the 2023 Grey County Reads contest.

 

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