The science of war : Canadian scientists and Allied military technology during the Second World War / Donald H. Avery.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Science of War provides both a cross-disciplinary overview of the scientific and military activity during the Second World War in several countries and a fascinating analysis of what the author calls 'Big Science' in Canada.

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CHOICE Review

In his latest work Avery (Univ. of Western Ontario), a leading historian of wartime science in Canada, looks at the position of Canadian research at the onset of WW II in 1939 and traces its development through six years of conflict. In the process, he examines the way Canada was tugged between Britain and the US, concluding inevitably that proximity, more resources, and a more advanced technology pushed Canada southward. He also examines the pull of other loyalties--notably those of some researchers to the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. The Gouzenko case of 1945-46 demonstrated irrefutably that Soviet espionage had penetrated deeply into Canadian research institutions, and the coming of the Cold War forced a new regime of security vetting into existence. Although Canadian research capacity was primitive in 1939, the basis for expansion was in place. Avery's book traces developments in radar, chemical and biological warfare, proximity fuses and explosives, and atomic research, in all of which Canadian contributions were significant. In 1939, Canada had a regular military of 10,000; it ended the war with 1.1 million in uniform. The scientific expansion might well have been comparable, and this most useful book explains how and why this happened. The research is very thorough, the prose well crafted. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. L. Granatstein; York University