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Military & War

#184 Margaret Ormsby remembered

First published October 18, 2017 Just over a year ago, in “Welcome to the Ormsby Review” (September 16, 2016), Richard Mackie provided his memories of Margaret Ormsby, the B.C. historian after whom The Ormsby Review is named. Mostly these referenced his conversations in two fine, old living rooms in the Coldstream Valley, near Vernon, where…
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#180 BC’s Great War internments

Essay: Refuge of a Scoundrel: Patriotism and William Bowser by Wayne Norton First published Oct. 13, 2017 * In this Ormsby Review exclusive, Wayne Norton reveals that in his brief term in office (1915-16), the Conservative Premier William Bowser fanned the flames of patriotism stoked by mounting Canadian war casualties and the German sinking of…
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#162 The sisters of war

First published August 30, 2017 REVIEW: War Torn Exchanges: The Lives and Letters of Nursing Sisters Laura Holland and Mildred Forbes by Andrea McKenzie (editor). Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016. $32.95  /  9780774832540 * REVIEW: Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps by Cynthia Toman Vancouver: UBC Press 2016. $34.95  / …
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#149 From Yukon to the Western Front

First published July 11, 2017 REVIEW: From the Klondike to Berlin: The Yukon in World War I. by Michael Gates Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2017. $24.95  /  978-1-55017-776-3 Reviewed by Jim Wood The outpouring of centenary books about aspects of Canada’s involvement in the Great War, 1914-1918, continues with From the Klondike to Berlin: The Yukon…
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#143 More than an imaginary line

REVIEW: Engaging the Line: How the Great War Shaped the Canada-US Border by Brandon R. Dimmel Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016 $32.95  /  9780774832755 Reviewed by Keith Regular First published June 25, 2017 * The permeable nature of borders is of increasing intellectual interest, although the subject is yet to receive sustained attention. Since the crisis…
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#140 Joy Kogawa’s reflections

First published June 17, 2017 REVIEW: Gently to Nagasaki: A Spiritual Pilgrimage, an Exploration Both Communal and Intensely Personal By Joy Kogawa Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2016. $24.95 978-1-987915-15-0 Reviewed by Patricia E. Roy The librarian who provided the Cataloguing in Publication information gave Joy Kogawa’s Gently to Nagasaki a call number in the 800s…
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#127 Postcards from unknown soldier

Postcards from unknown soldier by Sandi Ratch First published May 2, 2017 * Faced with a handful of family postcards signed only by “Dick,” Sandi Ratch gave herself a detective quest: to identify the messenger who had gone to continental Europe to fight in World War I. In this Ormsby exclusive, Sandi Ratch relates the…
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#105 From Aldergrove to Vimy Ridge

Canucks in Khaki: Langley, the Lower Mainland, and the Great War of 1914 to 1918 by Warren Sommer Fort Langley: Legacy Heritage Consultants, 2017 $39.95  /  9780995803701 an extract from the foreword by Mark Forsythe First Published March 16, 2017 * A biting wind whips up from the Douai Plain; stabs of rain push us back…
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#98 Early Island attachments

A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island by Michael Layland Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2016 $39.95  /  9781771511773 Reviewed by Robin Fisher First published Mar. 3, 2017 * When I returned to the coast after a decade living on the prairies I settled initially on Vancouver Island. Speaking to a friend who had…
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#93 BC’s naval heritage

Britannia’s Navy on the West Coast of North America, 1812-1914 by Barry Gough Victoria: Heritage House, 2016 $29.99 / 9781772031102 Reviewed by Howard Macdonald Stewart First published Feb. 23, 2017 * Readers will know that Barry Gough, British Columbia’s premier naval historian, is equally seadog and landlubber. His torrid pace in retirement has included major…
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#86 Capturing Hill 70

Capturing Hill 70: Canada’s Forgotten Battle of the First World War by Douglas E. Delaney and Serge Marc Durflinger, editors Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016 $34.95 / 9780774833592 Reviewed by Chris Arnett First published Feb. 12, 2017 * In Capturing Hill 70: Canada’s Forgotten Battle of the First World War, military historians Doug Delaney and Serge Durflinger…
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#63 An Imperial crackpot in BC

Guilty But Insane. J.C. Bowen-Colthurst: Villain or Victim? by James W. Taylor Cork, Ireland: Mercier Press, 2016 €14.99 / 9781781174210 Reviewed by Joe Simpson First published Dec. 14, 2016 * In Guilty But Insane, James W. Taylor traces the life of British Army officer Captain John Bowen-Colthurst of the Royal Irish Rifles. A veteran of campaigns in India, Tibet,…
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#56 A Quaker in the Spanish Civil War

Live Souls: Citizens and Volunteers of Civil War Spain by Serge Alternês and Alec Wainman Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2015 $24.95  /  9781553804376 Reviewed by Larry Hannant First published Dec. 2, 2016 * Live Souls: Citizens and Volunteers of Civil War Spain contains the stunning documentary record of 1,650 photos taken over three years in Spain…
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#39 From Quilchena Creek to Flanders

ESSAY: For Remembrance Day 2016, Michael Sasges has reconstructed the life of Nicola Valley rancher John Foster Paton Nash. First published Nov. 7, 2016 * Note to Ormsby readers: I have dusted off this essay by Mike Sasges for re-use on Remembrance Day, 2020. I have rewritten the introduction, re-sized and rearranged the photos, and…
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