Steel Cavalry: The 8th (New Brunswick) Hussars and the Italian Campaign
Lee Windsor

The story of the transformation from of a horse cavalry unit to one of Canada’s most famous armoured regiments. Twentieth-century warfare is epitomized by the image of Allied tanks growling across the countryside, engaging their Nazi counterparts. One of the most storied of such regiments is the 8th (New Brunswick) Hussars. Founded in 1848 as the first volunteer cavalry regiment in British North America, the Hussars began the Second World War as a Motorcycle Regiment before converting to tanks in 1941. First posted to Italy in late 1943, the regiment was introduced to war near Ortona. They formed part of the great drive beyond Monte Cassino to Rome. But their reputation was forged at the Gothic Line and Coriano Ridge during two weeks that marked their fiercest and bloodiest trial of the war. Steel Cavalry is volume 18 in the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series.

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On to Civvy Street: Canada’s Rehabilitation Program for Veterans of the Second World War
Peter Neary

Detailing the ways in which the Canadian government built on existing programs for veterans, Peter Neary identifies the key figures and events responsible for developing the orders and statutes that came to be known as the Veterans Charter, creating the Department of Veterans Affairs, and establishing sweeping new benefits for servicemen and women. Comparing rehabilitation programs after the Second World War with those after the First World War, Neary reveals the lasting importance of the country's new way of expressing its obligations to veterans. He shows that the measures developed to reintegrate them into civilian society became essential building blocks for the Canadian welfare state and helped pave the way for the unprecedented prosperity of the 1950s. A comprehensive study of a fundamental change in the relationship between government and citizens, On to Civvy Street is also a timely reminder of the debt the country owes its veterans.

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1812: The Navy’s War
George C. Daughan

At the outbreak of the War of 1812, America's prospects looked dismal. It was clear that the primary battlefield would be the open ocean but America's war fleet, only twenty ships strong, faced a practiced British navy of more than a thousand men-of-war. Prizewinning historian George C. Daughan tells the thrilling story of how a handful of heroic captains and their stalwart crews overcame spectacular odds to lead the country to victory against the world's greatest imperial power. A stunning contribution to military and national history, 1812: The Navy's War is the first complete account in more than a century of how the U.S. Navy rescued the fledgling nation and secured America's future.

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A Matter of Honour: The Life, Campaigns and Generalship of Isaac Brock
Jonathon Riley

October 13, 1812, the general in command of all troops opposing the American invasion of Upper Canada was killed doing the job of a captain. How this came to be is a question that has long intrigued author Jonathon Riley. Although Brock died and his uphill charge against the American muskets failed, the invasion was repulsed soon afterwards. Brock is famous not just for this action but for his remarkable victory at Detroit. Jonathon Riley brings his own considerable experience as a general and field commander to bear in assessing Isaac Brock's accomplishments as a general.

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Maple Leaf Empire: Canada, Britain, and Two World Wars
Jonathan F. Vance

Canada's own unique brand of Britishness evolved over a history of shared military endeavour, as Canadians fought alongside others to defend the ideals that the British Empire was deemed to represent. To understand Canada's history of Britishness, Vance looks into the military past of both countries. The fabric of Canadian life in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries owes a great deal to the presence of British military. And this, observes Vance, is a two-way relationship: he reminds us that during the two world wars, close to a million Canadians travelled to the United Kingdom. In this form of reverse colonialism, Canadians established modest outposts in Britain, and parts of the country were Canadianized. This new, outside-the-box narrative is Jonathan F. Vance at his best. Beautifully written, based on original research in the true sense of the word, and illustrated with previously unseen materials, this book reveals a side of Canada often forgotten by historians.

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