Significant Incident: Canada's Army, the Airborne, and the Murder in Somalia

Bercuson has obviously used his past research to good effect in this volume (he even quotes one of the WWII Calgary Highlanders he interviewed for BATTALION OF HEROES early on in this one.) Bercuson demonstrates a solid grasp on the social and political history of the Canadian Army, tracing its roots to the middle ages, in an easy to read and well written book. This is not just a description of the murder committed in Somalia, but a detailed look at why the Army has come to be the way it is.

I'm a Yank, but I was in Somalia at the time the Somali was murdered. This book describes both the incident in good detail and the (disgraceful) disbanding of the CAR, but also addresses the larger issue of the role of the military in modern Canadian society. The author notes that with recent defense cutbacks and a deemphasizing of the old values and professionalism that had made Canada successful in battles like that of Vimy Ridge in WWI, that Canada may no longer seen, internationally, as a country deserving respect.All of the author's points are well written and valid (and hopefully someone in Ottawa has read this book...), but I deducted a star because he does not mention the role that melafloquine, an anti-malarial drug that was taken in Somalia, may have played in the murder.-Tom