Winnipeg's Great War: A City Comes of Age (University of Manitoba Press)

From the local bestselling author of Winnipeg 1912 comes the next chapter in the city’s history. Winnipeg’s Great War picks up in 1914, just as the city is regrouping after a brief economic downturn. War comes unexpectedly, thoughts of recovery are abandoned, and the city digs in for a hard-fought four years.

Using letters, diaries, and newspaper reports, Jim Blanchard brings us into the homes and public offices of Winnipeg and its citizens to illustrate the profound effect the war had on every aspect of the city, from its politics and economy, to its men on the battlefield and its war-weary families fighting on the homefront. He also reveals how these crucial years set the stage for the 1919 General Strike, and how the First World War transformed Winnipeg into the city it is today.

Jim Blanchard is the author of Winnipeg 1912, which won a Margaret McWilliams History Book Award, and editor of A Thousand Miles of Prairie. He is the Head of Reference Services at the Elizabeth Defoe Library at the University of Manitoba. He lives in Winnipeg.