A Tale of Two Nations
A Tale of Two Nations is the story of North American countries that found themselves embroiled in an European war – one by circumstance and one by choice.
The book discusses two pivotal events from each year of the Great War – one from an American perspective and one from a Canadian one – and reveals how newspapers at the time handled wartime coverage.
A Tale of Two Nations is as much the story of journalism as it is the story of World War I. In the early 20th century, the newspaper was king. Many towns and cities had multiple papers, and it was common for larger papers to print multiple editions. Most articles had no bylines, and publications filled their pages with as much news as possible, with some news briefs being as short as a sentence or two.
A Tale of Two Nations does not look at First World War with the benefit of hindsight and analysis. Instead, it uses contemporary newspaper reports that often were inaccurate, incomplete or even chaotic. Wartime censorship and bias also played a role.