Vimy: Battle and Legend, 1917-2017

Why does Vimy matter? How did a four-day battle at the midpoint of the Great War, a clash that had little strategic impact on the larger Allied war effort, become elevated to a national symbol of Canadian identity?

Tim Cook, Canada’s foremost military historian and a Charles Taylor Prize winner, will discuss the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the way the memory of it has evolved over 100 years.

Location: O'Kelly VC Armoury (317 Park Avenue)
Time: 8:00 pm
Free. Everyone is welcome.

This event is brought to you by the Thunder Bay Branch of the Canadian International Council and Lakehead University’s Department of History. It is also the Thunder Bay launch of his latest book Vimy: Battle and Legend (Allen Lane). Copies will be available for purchase at the presentation.

Speakers Bio: Dr. Tim Cook is a historian at the Canadian War Museum, an adjunct research professor at Carleton University, and a former director of Canada’s History Society. He is the curator for the Canadian War Museum’s First World War permanent gallery, and has curated numerous other temporary, traveling and digital exhibitions. He has also authored eight books, most of which have been long-listed, shortlisted or awarded prizes, including the C.P. Stacey Prize for Military History, the Ottawa Book Award, the RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, the BC National Book Award, the J.W. Dafoe Book Prize, the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award and the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. His most recent books, a two-volume history of Canadians in the Second World War, The Necessary War (2014) and Fight to the Finish (2015), are national bestsellers and finalists for a number of awards. In 2012, Dr. Cook was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions to Canadian history and in 2013 he received the Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media: The Pierre Berton Award. Dr. Cook is a Member of the Order of Canada.