In The Fighting Canadians, David J. Bercuson tells Canadian history through the eyes, ears and colours of Canadian regiments. From the 17th century, when the “Good Regiment,” the Carignan-salières, fought the Mohawks at Courcelles, to the Newfoundland Regiment’s valiant but brutal stand at Beaumont-Hamel in the Battle of the somme, from the Winnipeg Grenadiers’ engagement with the Japanese in the Battle of Hong Kong to the Princess Patricias’ trial by fire in the war in Afghanistan, Bercuson tells the story of brave men and women at war.

The Fighting Canadians is a celebration of and a testament to the centuries-old tradition that lives on to this day, a venerable system that those now fighting in Afghanistan depend upon as they, too, face a terrible but necessary task.

David J. Bercuson is the director of the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. A celebrated military historian, he has published on a wide range of topics including modern Canadian politics, Canadian defense and foreign policy, and military history. He has written, co-authored, or edited over thirty books, including The Fighting Canadians: Canada's Regimental History from New France to Afghanistan; The Patricias: The Proud History of a Fighting Regiment; and Blood on the Hills: The Canadian Army in the Korean War. In 1997 Dr. Bercuson was appointed Special Advisor to the Minister of National Defence on the Future of the Canadian Forces. A member of the Minister of National Defence's Monitoring Committee from 1997 to 2003, he also served on the Advisory Council on National Security from 2005 to 2008. Until 2010 Bercuson was an Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of 41 Combat Engineer Regiment, a Land Force Reserve military engineer unit of the Canadian Forces. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, which awarded him the J.B. Tyrrell Historical Medal in 2002, and serves on the board of the Royal Military College. In 2003 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

David J. Bercuson's profile page

“An eye-opening and constantly informative martial history of Canada. . . . with this history, Bercuson has done us all a service, and for that we should salute him.?
? THE GLOBE AND MAIL ()