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Review by Alex Davis
No Easy Task: Fighting in Afghanistan is a varied and diverse examination of the Afghan War (2001-present) from a Canadian perspective, edited by Colonel Bernd Horn and Dr. Emily Spencer and co-written by a number of experts on military subjects. No Easy Task examines everything — the problems that have afflicted past invaders of Afghanistan— and the efforts of the present-day coalition, seeking to enforce their own authority over the country. The many faces and opinions that constitute this book are what make it so complete; from military experts and educators, to Majors and Lieutenant-Colonels in today’s Canadian Forces (CF), many with experience in Afghanistan themselves.
No Easy Task stands out from other books because of the way in which it takes complex situations and simplifies them down without eroding the story. The way in which the authors summarize the difficulties of the campaign — from the history of conflict in Afghanistan — to the almost impossible task of measuring and garnering Canadian public support for the mission is truly impressive. No Easy Task takes a look not only at the war on the ground fought by Canadian soldiers, but also the “war in the air” fought by CF representatives and public relations, to try and retain public support for the mission.
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Review by Alex Davis
Distant War: Recollections of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia is a collection of personal stories written by Marc Yablonka, about the many faces and experiences of the Vietnam War. Far from just another piece of the avalanche of literature written about Vietnam, Distant War is an assortment of memoirs and interesting experiences collected by the author, throughout his time as a war reporter and journalist. Though not a book about the war per se, Distant War is about the people of the Vietnam War, the things that they experienced and witnessed, and the jobs that they did.
The stories of Distant War are not your typical campfire war stories — injected with humour to dull them down — nor are they the gruesome combat stories found in other memoirs. Distant War is about the personalities and people of the Vietnam War, carefully stitched together to form a picture of the war that is easily understandable. The stories found within are sometimes very emotional and personal, such as the story of Kim Phuc, subject of the famous “Napalm Girl” photo, credited with helping bring about the end of the war. They are stories that reveal the passions of their characters, such as the stories of American draft-dodgers who fled to Canada, and the Canadians who passed the opposite way, to volunteer for service with U.S Army and go to Vietnam.
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Review by Alex Davis
Corps Commanders: Five British and Canadian Generals at War, 1939-45 tells the stories of five British and Canadian officers, their accomplishments and defeats, as well as their styles of command and their markedly different personalities. Each of the men discussed in Corps Commanders was involved with the armies of the British Commonwealth; in that the three Canadians involved led British formations and answered to British superiors, while the British Generals led Canadians and worked for them as well. The author, award-winning military historian Douglas Delaney, takes a look at these generals and the armies that they commanded through the context of a coalition.
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Review by Alex Davis
Captain Fitz: Fitzgibbon, Green Tiger of the war of 1812 by Enid Mallory is the story of an Irishman, James Fitzgibbon, who became a British soldier and fought in the war of 1812 in Canada. It is also a history of the war of 1812 as it happened during Fitzgibbon’s life, following him from the moment war is declared to the aftermath, and the struggles that he endured. Fitzgibbon goes through all the major battles of the war of 1812, including the battle of Stoney Creek, Queenstone Heights, Niagara, and the battle of Lundy’s Lane. It is told in a very flowing and novelistic way, with the characters and their actions being the main focus of the book.
I thought at first that Captain Fitz would be an odd book to read, about a lone character in a fairly large war that happened a long time ago. But in truth, Captain Fitzgibbon is only part of the story; this book is really a history of the war of 1812. I also noticed that despite the advanced age of this conflict, the author Enid Mallory has managed to acquire an astonishing amount of details about the life of this one character. Considering that many of the documents dating back to that time would be business related, it is quite a feat of research that the author could have compiled enough information to build what is basically, a biography.
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Review by Alex Davis
Afghan Tales by James Mickey Girvan is a full-page comic book about NATO’s war in Afghanistan and specifically, a group of Canadian soldiers leading the mentoring teams in 2009. It is a put together as a short comic with four small chapters, each telling a story about a certain event or patrol during the Canadians mission in Afghanistan. As a comic, it is a new and fresh approach to telling the story of Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan. It also manages to make the war in Afghanistan a little clearer, bringing it closer to home for the reader.
The very first thing that I noticed about Afghan Tales was that, no-one has made a comic or even an animated short (that I know of) about the war in Afghanistan. As so far, Canada’s Afghan tale has been told through countless written books, as well as a few films and documentaries on the subject. That being said, Afghan Tales gets good marks off the bat for being such an original medium to convey the story of the war.
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