Website Book Reviews
Victory 1945; Canadians from War to Peace
by Desmond Morton and J. L. Granatstein -
Published by Harper Collins, 1995 - 256 pages.
The book examines in depth what took place for Canadians in the year 1945. The text is arranged as follows:
Chapter One - VE Day 1945 is about the celebrations and in the case of Halifax, the rioting that took place on 8 May 1945.
Chapter Two - Earning a Victory describes the last months of fighting on the battlefronts of Europe.
Chapter Three - Living Total War examines the life on the home front and the positive economic changes that had emerged by the end of the war.
Chapter Four - Preparing the Peace looks at politics and the plans for reconstruction and social programs
Chapter Five - Out of Uniform is about the demobilization of troops and their re-integration into civilian life.
Chapter Six - Orderly Decontrol gives an overview of the labour situation in 1945 and beginning stages of a gradual de-regulation of industries.
Chapter Seven - New Canada, New Canadians outlines the economic and social changes that had taken place as a result of the war and includes information on immigration.
Chapter Eight - The First of the Middle Powers examines the status of Canada in the world at the end of the war
Chapter Nine - The War that Changed Everything offers the conclusion of the authors about how the war changed Canada. The chapter begins, "Canadians must be one of the few peoples in the world who have a benign memory of the Second World War. A conflict that devastated two continents and killed 30 million left Canada and its neighbour the two richest countries in the world. That wealth and how Canadians used it transformed their lives and their country."
The book has many images to accompany the text. A section titled "Further Reading" lists suggestions for additional sources of information. The authors comment, "there is as yet no good published study of life in wartime Canada, or of the struggle of families to survive war and separations intact.
