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It was the "Good War." Its cause was just; it ended the depression; and Canada's contribution was nothing less than stellar. Canadians had every reason to applaud themselves, and the heroes that made the nation proud. But not all Canadians were saints or soldiers.
This reassessment of Canadian commitment to the cause explores the questions that disturbed citizens at the time. Were civilians working as hard as possible to back the war effort? Was there illegal profiting from the conflict? Did society suffer from a general decline of morality? Would women truly "back the attack" in new factory jobs and the military and then quietly return home? Would unattended youth produce a crisis with juvenile delinquency? How would Canada reintegrate a million veterans who, policy-makers feared, would create a social crisis if treated like their Great War counterparts?
This synthesis covering both the patriotic and the problematic in wartime Canada, Saints, Sinners, and Soldiers shows how moral and social changes, and the fears they generated, precipitated numerous and often contradictory legacies in law and society. From labour conflicts to the black market and prostitution, Keshen acknowledges the underbelly of Canada's Second World War. This is an exploration of the evolution of Canada's social fabric.
