In the News
War Book captures 2009 Charles Taylor Literary Prize
WAR WINS:Tim Cook, right, (Shock Troops) 2009 winner of the Charles Allen Literary Award for Non-Fiction with fellow authors Ana Siljak, left (Angel of Vengeance) and Antiguan-Canadian Dr. Elizabeth Abbott (Sugar -- A Bitter Sweet History) who were short-listed for the prize. (William Doyle-Marshall pix)
By William Doyle-Marshall
Toronto — Tim Cook, the Great War historian at the Canadian War Museum was awarded the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction for his book Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917 – 1918, Volume Two, published by Viking Canada.
He received a $25,000 prize for the effort.
Cook meticulously sifted through personal letters from deceased soldiers of a remarkable event that ought to inform us of the unpardonable atrocities that war imposes on societies. To read “Shock Troops” is tantamount to going on a journey into an experience most of us would never personally feel.
Perhaps more than anything else, this book offers some understanding into the pain and suffering of those citizens affected by the war in the Middle East that the U.S. Government is waging thanks much to George Bush.
In his prize-winning volume Cook acknowledges any historian studying the Great War must be humbled by the scope of the conflict. The world war affected tens of millions of people around the globe, he emphasizes. It is impossible to read this massive volume in isolation without your mind wandering into Afghanistan, the West Bank, Palestine and elsewhere as Canadian troops and citizens from other countries like India, Pakistan, Afghanistan as well as Caribbean nations give their life to hopefully benefit others. It is believed that more than 50,000 members of the Sikh Regiment of India, who fought on Canada’s side, were among Commonwealth troops in the trenches. The volume of material amassed about the Great War is so overwhelming that Cook confesses it would take several lifetimes to read.
The history of a battle is particularly hard to write as it is much about the clash of arms and the cries of men as it is about the silences missing from the record, Cook continues. “Most of the struggles endured in the war will never be known, having been buried with the participants and decision makers who didn’t survive the battles. But this book is based on over a decade’s study of tens of thousands of pages of official and private documents, including letters, diaries, memoirs and less traditional forms of documentation, such as artifacts, postcards, works of art and countless types of archival ephemera,” Cook says.
Jurors read 135 titles and from which the three finalists were short-listed, according to Noreen Taylor, Chair of the foundation who concluded they have done a “stellar job.” Elizabeth Abbott and Ana Siljak – the other finalists -- each received $2,000.
“You will be more entertained than you can imagine. If you looked at the per hour entertainment value and information value that you are going to be getting from each of these books, this is the best deal in town,” she told patrons at a recent brunch where the authors talked about their reasons for writing their books.
Charles loved being a writer. He adored that career. He loved researching his books and he loved honing his prose into his standards of excellence because he believed that non-fiction should read like drinking cream Ms Taylor explained. “He became more fond of the exercise when he got reviews, even bad reviews. He loved reviews. He became frustrated because it seemed that even after a great review in the Globe & Mail or elsewhere, he didn’t seem to find his audience. He was terrified that his books would be found on remainder tables and his biggest fear was that they were going to be pulped,” she recalled.
The trustees felt they needed to change that situation for Charles and make sure “our very good non-fiction writers found their audience so that Canadians would hear our stories told by us and would be so engrossed by them that they would keep turning those pages over”.
“Shock Troops” is the second book Cook’s two-volume history of Canada in the Great War. For over a decade he has been immersed in the Great War and spent years in the archives. French, English and German accounts of the war have also crossed his path in amassing the voluminous work. As the first war historian at the Canadian War Museum, he has staged exhibition and believes he is haunted by that tragic historical event, beginning in a graveyard on the western front where his parents took him and his brother Graham.
Toronto — Tim Cook, the Great War historian at the Canadian War Museum was awarded the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction for his book Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917 – 1918, Volume Two, published by Viking Canada.
He received a $25,000 prize for the effort.
Cook meticulously sifted through personal letters from deceased soldiers of a remarkable event that ought to inform us of the unpardonable atrocities that war imposes on societies. To read “Shock Troops” is tantamount to going on a journey into an experience most of us would never personally feel.
Perhaps more than anything else, this book offers some understanding into the pain and suffering of those citizens affected by the war in the Middle East that the U.S. Government is waging thanks much to George Bush.
In his prize-winning volume Cook acknowledges any historian studying the Great War must be humbled by the scope of the conflict. The world war affected tens of millions of people around the globe, he emphasizes. It is impossible to read this massive volume in isolation without your mind wandering into Afghanistan, the West Bank, Palestine and elsewhere as Canadian troops and citizens from other countries like India, Pakistan, Afghanistan as well as Caribbean nations give their life to hopefully benefit others. It is believed that more than 50,000 members of the Sikh Regiment of India, who fought on Canada’s side, were among Commonwealth troops in the trenches. The volume of material amassed about the Great War is so overwhelming that Cook confesses it would take several lifetimes to read.
The history of a battle is particularly hard to write as it is much about the clash of arms and the cries of men as it is about the silences missing from the record, Cook continues. “Most of the struggles endured in the war will never be known, having been buried with the participants and decision makers who didn’t survive the battles. But this book is based on over a decade’s study of tens of thousands of pages of official and private documents, including letters, diaries, memoirs and less traditional forms of documentation, such as artifacts, postcards, works of art and countless types of archival ephemera,” Cook says.
Jurors read 135 titles and from which the three finalists were short-listed, according to Noreen Taylor, Chair of the foundation who concluded they have done a “stellar job.” Elizabeth Abbott and Ana Siljak – the other finalists -- each received $2,000.
“You will be more entertained than you can imagine. If you looked at the per hour entertainment value and information value that you are going to be getting from each of these books, this is the best deal in town,” she told patrons at a recent brunch where the authors talked about their reasons for writing their books.
Charles loved being a writer. He adored that career. He loved researching his books and he loved honing his prose into his standards of excellence because he believed that non-fiction should read like drinking cream Ms Taylor explained. “He became more fond of the exercise when he got reviews, even bad reviews. He loved reviews. He became frustrated because it seemed that even after a great review in the Globe & Mail or elsewhere, he didn’t seem to find his audience. He was terrified that his books would be found on remainder tables and his biggest fear was that they were going to be pulped,” she recalled.
The trustees felt they needed to change that situation for Charles and make sure “our very good non-fiction writers found their audience so that Canadians would hear our stories told by us and would be so engrossed by them that they would keep turning those pages over”.
“Shock Troops” is the second book Cook’s two-volume history of Canada in the Great War. For over a decade he has been immersed in the Great War and spent years in the archives. French, English and German accounts of the war have also crossed his path in amassing the voluminous work. As the first war historian at the Canadian War Museum, he has staged exhibition and believes he is haunted by that tragic historical event, beginning in a graveyard on the western front where his parents took him and his brother Graham.