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PhD in History, University of Toronto, 1983; MA in History, Duke University, 1976; BA in History, University of Toronto, 1975.
Historian at the Department of National Defence 1981-1990, then Senior Historian, 1991-1998. Contributed to the official history of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was leader of the Royal Canadian Navy official history team.
Head of the Exhibition Development and Historical Research Division at the Canadian War Museum, 1998-2001, and then Deputy Director of the museum, 2001-2003. In these positions, I led exhibition development for the new museum building at Vimy Place in Ottawa. I came to Laurier in 2004.
I am currently working on a documents volume on the origins and early development of the Canadian navy, 1867-1923 (with Professor Emeritus Barry Gough), and a biographical and historiographical study of the first Canadian academic military historians, 1936-1967. I can, however, never resist further work in my first research interest, the history of the army in the Maritime Provinces, from the 1850s through the Second World War.
- Canadian Nautical Research Society Keith Matthews Award for Best Book (1991, 2001, 2004) Honourable Mention (2012).
- Maritime Commander's Commendation (presented by Admiral R. Buck, Chief of the Maritime Staff, for service to Canadian naval history)(2003).
- Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal (for contributions to military history in service of Canadian veterans) (2002).
I am willing to supervise graduate students in Canadian military history, including the army, air force, and navy, in the period from the mid-19th century to the present, and in the history of the United States Navy and Britain's Royal Navy in the era of the First and Second World Wars.
- Loyal Gunners: 3rd Field Regiment (The Loyal Company) and the History of New Brunswick's Artillery, 1893-2012 (Waterloo: WLU Press, 2016), with Lee Windsor and Marc Milner.
- The Origins of Academic Military History in Canada, 1940-1965,’ Canadian Military History 23, no. 2 (Spring 2014), 79-118.
- War in the St. Lawrence: The Forgotten U-Boat Battles on Canada's Shores (Toronto: Allen Lane, 2012; paperback edition, 2013).
- A Blue Water Navy: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy, Vol. II, Part 2: 1943-1945 ( Ottawa and St. Catharines: Vanwell Publications and the Department of National Defence, 2007), with W.A.B. Douglas and Michael Whitby.
- No Higher Purpose: The Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy, Vol. II part 1: 1939-1943 (Ottawa and St Catharines: Vanwell Publications and the Department of National Defence, 2002), with W.A.B. Douglas and Michael Whitby.
- Guardian of the Gulf: Sydney, Cape Breton, and the Atlantic Wars, 1785-1991 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000), with Brian Tennyson.
- Canada and the Battle of the Atlantic (Ottawa and Montreal: Art Global and the Department of National Defence, 1998).
- The Maritime Defence of Canada (Toronto: Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, 1996).
- Tin-Pots and Pirate Ships: Canadian Naval Forces and German Sea Raiders, 1880-1918 (Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1991), with Michael L. Hadley.
- Coast Artillery 1815-1914 (Bloomfield, Ont.: Museum Restoration Service, 1988).
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Standard Research Grant to study the careers fo the first academic military historians in Canada, 1936-1967 (2006-2009).
Contact Info:
Office location: DAWB 2-136
Office hours: Mondays 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. or by appointment.
Languages spoken: English, French