Canada's Navy: The First Century, Second Edition

by Marc Milner

From its eighteenth-century roots in exploration and trade, to the major conflicts of the First and Second World Wars, through to current roles in multinational operations with United Nations and NATO forces, Canada's navy - now celebrating its one hundredth anniversary - has been an expression of Canadian nationhood and a catalyst in the complex process of national unity. In the second edition of Canada's Navy , Marc Milner brings his classic work up to date and looks back at one hundred years of the Navy in Canada. With supplementary photos, updated sources, a new preface and epilogue, and an additional chapter on the Navy's global reach from 1991 to 2010, this edition carries Canadian Naval history into the twenty-first century. Milner brings effortless prose and exacting attention to detail to his comprehensive and accessible examination of this fascinating Canadian organization. This much-needed update of Canada's Navy will continue to provoke discussion about the past and future of the country's naval forces and their evolving role in the interwoven issues of maritime politics and economics, defence and strategy, and national and foreign policy.

Genres: History

472 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 1999

Reviews

[Norman Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Canada's Navy" is an institutional history of the Navy, not a record of its exploits over 100 years (Milner has other books on World War Two that cover that period). As such, it deals with the challenges of building and sustaining a service, something that is inherently dull going in many chapters. Milner keeps the interest up as much as possible, and is a clear writer and apparently thorough researcher, so the result is very useful for anyone looking for a history of the institution.

Milner could have made good use of a good editor, especially toward the end of the book. I noticed that spelling errors appeared regularly and some sentences seemed to be short a word or two. These are minor annoyances, but still noticeable.

[Daniel Macgregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting narrative, like all the best historical texts the author does a good job of creating a set narrative while remaining within the bounds of the evidence available. Some themes include the British nature of the navy, French language usage in the navy, and overall main story line of the creation and expansion of the navy through geo-politics and domestic politics.