The War Diary: Looking for book opinions

my profile | register | search | faq | forum home

»	The War Diary » General Discussions » Military History » Looking for book opinions

UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!

Author

Topic: Looking for book opinions

tinman
Veteran Member
Member # 145

Rate Member

posted 28 September 2021 22:13

If anybody has read any of the following books, I would appreciate any opinions:

Vokes: My Story (autobiograhpy of Maj-Gen Chris Vokes)

The Generals (Canada's senior army commanders in WW2, by Jack Granatstein)

The Price of Command (Dominick Graham's biography of Gen. Simonds)

I recently finished 'The Generals', and found it very interesting, considering that I knew most of the names, but little about the characters behind the names. I am currently reading Voke's autobiography, and he seems to have some amazing stories to tell.

I was also wondering if anybody knows of other biographies/autobiographies about canadian commanders.

Martin Schenkel

Posts: 5 | From: Vancouver | Registered: Jun 2000

Michael OLeary
Veteran Member
Member # 64

Rate Member

posted 28 September 2021 23:47

I have enjoyed a number of biographies of Canadian Generals. As research material you must always be cautious of documents written by friends or supporters of the subject (and this, of course, includes Regimental histories). But they are always a good source of information and a great place to start.

You might also want to try these:

"The Canadian General; Sir William Otter:, by Desmond Morton, Hakkert, Toronto, 1974 (ISBN 0-88866-535-0)

"General Mud; Memoirs of Two World Wars", by Lt.-Gen. E.L.M. Burns, C.C., D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C., Clarke, Irwin & Coy Ltd, Toronto/Vancouver, 1970 (ISBN 0-7720-0475-7)

"McNaughton, Vol 1 1887-1939", by John Swettenham, The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1968 (ISBN 7700-0238-2)

"McNaughton, Vol 2 1939-1943", by John Swettenham, The Ryerson Press, Toronto/Winnipeg/Vancouver, 1969 (ISBN 7700-0298-6)

"Byng of Vimy; General and Governor General", by Jeffrey Williams, University of Toronto Press, Toronto/Buffalo, 1983 (ISBN 0-8020-6935-5)

Mike

The Regimental Rogue
2001 Canadian Military History Calendar
http://regimentalrogue.tripod.com/index.htm

Posts: 25 | From: | Registered: Jun 2000

Michael Dorosh
Veteran Member
Member # 63

Member Rated:

posted 29 September 2021 01:51

Burns' book is pretty good - doesn't go into any of the racy stuff introduced in The Generals, of course!

Granatstein does present a lot of RMC related stuff, being an RMC student himself, which is interesting - he also talks alot about the PF versus the NPAM, so there was some good perpectives taken on the material.

Posts: 135 | From: Calgary, Alberta | Registered: Aug 2000

All times are ET