Reddit reviews Vimy

One thing I found useful was reading biographies or histories of soldier's lived lives in combat (e.g. Vimy, Forsaken Army). Anything that gets into first hand accounts of soldiers' experiences in battles. I find how their descriptions differ from a typical armchair author is they often portray the visceral experience of combat. The whump of an explosion kicking through the window and punching them in the chest with a force that picks them off their feet and dashes them into the far wall; the nip of bullets sending shards of wood raining down soldiers taking cover behind trunks of trees. I find including those elements adds a lot of gritty action.

The other thing that comes across is battle is chaotic and fluid. People just die, and at times it almost seems random. A sea of bullets are sailing across the battlefield, and whether a soldier lives or dies comes down to if they are standing in the wrong place in the wrong time. Advances flow into retreats. People are wounded, and they scream, and they scream, and they scream. Victory is not a straight line, and neither is defeat. Adding these elements I find creates a sense of danger, especially if you've established you are willing to kill off or punish your characters.

I'd recommend Pierre Berton's Vimy for a detailed yet engaging account of what the battle was like for the people involved, and what the victory meant for Canada as a nation.

An absolutely wonderful book all Canadians should read plus anyone else interested in WW1 is Vimy

While it focuses on the war it also really makes a strong case for this battle being a key point in the development of the Canadian national identity because of the role they played in capturing this previously unconquerable part of the Western front.

Kinda late but I also highly recommend this book as well:

https://www.amazon.ca/Vimy-Pierre-Berton/dp/0385658427

Just to make it easier to find - it's spelled "Pierre Berton", not "Burton". Also, "Hostages to Fortune" was written by Peter C. Newman, not Pierre Berton (more about Newman below).

Here's Berton's list of books.

Some great foundational stuff about Canada is as /u/MonotheistThrowaway describes, in the 1812 things. There's also other stuff by him that's excellent:

"The National Dream" and "The Last Spike", about the construction of the railroad across Canada.

"The Great Depression", which of course is about the Great Depression.

"Vimy", which is about the Canadians at Vimy Ridge in 1917. It's not especially "scholarly", but it's incredibly accessible and a riveting read.

"The Arctic Grail", which is about the many attempts to find the North-West Passage. See also the Stan Rogers song about this. It's a pretty key piece of Canadian history.

There is lots and lots more in his bibliography. If you go out of your mind and decide to read all of his work, you'll probably know more about Canadian history and identity that 95% of those born here.

Peter Newman wrote similarly great Canadian history. He did a three-volume piece about the Hudson Bay Company, in the books Company of Adventurers, Caesars of the Wilderness and Merchant Princes. There's a sort of a "condensed" version called "Empire of the Bay" that might be a quicker read.

If you ever get bored of reading but you still want to learn Canada's history, check out "Canada: A People's History", an incredible series done by CBC back in 2001. That's a link to a playlist with all episodes. I can't possibly recommend it enough.

Edit to add: Welcome to Canada, friend!

Thanks so much for the reply! I'll definitely look into all of that.

One of the best times I've had discussing/learning about Vimy was a couple years ago at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. I was visiting at the time, and have since moved here so I'm planning on going back. Anyway, that's beside the point. We were wandering around the museum, and came upon the Vimy Ridge area and an older man who was a volunteer came and asked if we wanted to have him guide us through. I felt like I knew a fair bit about the battle already, having read books like Vimy and spending time in libraries etc, but we decided why not eh! Wow, best decision BY FAR. Not only the way he was able to tell the story, but all the info he had along with private letters and stories that have never been published. We ended up spending over an hour and a half JUST in the Vimy area talking about it, and learning and hearing many new stories. To this day I hope I could go back and find this particular volunteer to go through again. He had a wealth of knowledge on Passchendaele as well. He had photos from a trip he'd taken out there to show what it all looked like now, most interesting being looking at the area where Passchendaele took place from the same vantage point as the giant photo on the wall in the museum.

Anyway, I ramble, but thanks so much for the reply and info. Also if you've never been I highly recommend the War Museum. Hopefully I'll get back there and find that particular volunteer.