A Richer Dust: Family, Memory and the Second World War

I literally couldn't put this book down, blasting through 230 pages of it in one evening. It is hard to know how to judge the book based on one reading, but my superficial view is that Calder has one or two axes to grind. First off, though, despite a couple of minor hiccups in the historical background, the book is a solidly researched recreation of the life of Captain Ken Calder, an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery in the Second World War. His nephew has done a solid job of studying the experience of Canadian soldiers in Italy and makes excellent use of source material, sadly to this historian, but not surprisingly, not footnoted. Given that this is not a history but a personal account, the work does not suffer from the lack of citations - and in fact, the younger Calder is obviously well-read on the subject, providing in-line cites of such luminaries as Dancocks, Bercuson, Mowat, Blackburn and McAndrew. Calder displays a depth of knowledge on the subject of Canadians in battle and then expertly applies it to the remaining documentary evidence his uncle left behind, including letters and a diary. However, one does not always believe the speculations that Calder is forced to make when the documentary record is lean at times and some conclusions seem to be drawn out of the blue when other conclusions - perhaps not known to Calder - present themselves to other readers also possessing of a knowledge of the period. The book is well organized, and after a very engaging and personal introduction to the story, revolving around how a 4 year old Calder viewed the world, a straight-forward account of the life of his uncle is presented. Calder strays, though, in weaving the story of his father - Captain Ken Calder's brother - into the mix. While interesting, I had a hard time not feeling that Calder had an ulterior motive in presenting the material about his father that seemed at times irrelevant - if it is presented as an explanation of why Calder's view of his uncle may be biased, it's not explicitly stated. Also slightly shameful is Calder's use of a page to exonerate his brother's conduct during the Somalia Inquiry. Family loyalty is nice, but it wasn't appropriate in this book. And there are a few times that Calder strays off the path in this manner. They are minor irritations. The prose is lucid and engaging throughout and presented by a polished author. The focus of the story is the life of Captain Ken Calder - it gives away nothing to say that he served overseas for 6 years during the Second World War, having married in 1939 and spent just 5 days alone with his bride, did not as much as hear her voice for those 6 years, and returned home to have her confess to major infidelities, prompting his suicide less than a month after his return. What is of concern is that his wife, Margaret, is presented by sins of omission as the villain of the piece. It is interesting to note that Ken Calder is listed as a Canadian war casualty; as a Saska