The Madman and the Butcher

Cook, Tim

ISBN 10: 0670064033 / ISBN 13: 9780670064038

Published by ALLEN LANE, 2010

About this Item

Stiff unmarked book with nick to one page; in crisp dust jacket; 9.2 X 6.2 X 1.7 inches; 480 pages.

Seller Inventory # 58617

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Madman and the Butcher
• Publisher: ALLEN LANE
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670064033
• ISBN 13: 9780670064038
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • History-Canada
  • Military

About this title

Synopsis

Based on newly uncovered sources, The Madman and the Butcher is a powerful double biography of Sam Hughes and Arthur Currie and the story of one of the most shocking and highly publicized libel trials in Canadian history.

Sir Arthur Currie achieved international fame as Canadian Corps commander during the Great War. He was recognized as a brilliant general, morally brave, and with a keen eye for solving the challenges of trench warfare. But wars were not won without lives lost. Who was to blame for Canada's 60,000 dead?

Sir Sam Hughes, Canada's war minister during the first two and a half years of the conflict, was erratic, outspoken, and regarded by many as insane. Yet he was an expert on the war. He attacked Currie's reputation in the war's aftermath, accusing him of being a butcher, a callous murderer of his own men.

Set against the backdrop of Canadians fighting in the Great War, this engaging narrative explores questions of Canada's role in the war, the need to place blame for the terrible blood loss, the nation's discomfort with heroes, and the very public war of reputations that raged on after the guns fell silent.

About the Author

TIM COOK is the Great War historian at the Canadian War Museum, as well as an adjunct professor at Carleton University. His books have won numerous awards, including the 2008 J.W. Dafoe Prize for At the Sharp End and the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction for Shock Troops. In 2013, he received the Pierre Berton Award for popularizing Canadian history. He lives in Ottawa with his family.