Soldiers' perspective war chronicle nabs lit prize for non-fiction

Tim Cook's intimate and personal chronicle of the First World War, incorporating the viewpoint of Canadian soldiers, has won the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction.

Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917-1918, is the second of Cook's two-volume opus. It nabbed the $25,000 prize at a midday gala in downtown Toronto Monday afternoon.

Taking the stage to accept the award, Cook revealed that he had initially heard about his nomination while changing his youngest daughter's diaper.

"I nearly dropped her,"quipped the author and First World War historian at Ottawa's Canadian War Museum. "This time I'm a little better prepared, but no less surprised."

'We need to understand our history with all the hard parts left in.' Tim Cook, author

Shortly after his win, Cooksaid his intention was to write a "hybrid history."

"[Shock Troops ] has the scholarly apparatus, you know, a thousand footnotes and a thousand sources. But in the endI think it's important to share these stories with all Canadians," he told CBC News.

"I wanted it to reach beyond academia, so I wrote it in an engaging style, with the eyewitness accounts. And I'm very pleased that it has been recognized for literary non-fiction."

War stories remain relevant today: Cook

The First World War shaped Canada's political, economic and militaryhistory, but "it's also a warthat has had a profound impact on our cultural landscape," Cook said.

"I think of all the great novelists who continue to write about the Great War, [like]Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road. I think of all the plays that come out each year. I think of Paul Gross's film [Passchendaele ]. The war still matters to us, because it still has a profound effect."

Cook's first volume, At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1914-1916, was published in 2007. A rewarding aspect of having written the two volumes is the response he's received from Canadians of all ages.

"I get emails from Canadians across the country andaround the world. People who have read it and say things like 'I better understand what my great-grandfather went through, so thank you.'"

In his acceptance speech on Monday, Cookalso graciously acknowledged prize namesake Charles Taylor, his widow Noreen, this year's jurors and his nominees and fellow historians: Elizabeth Abbott (Sugar: A Bittersweet History ) and Ana Siljak (Angel of Vengeance: The "Girl Assassin," the Governor of St. Petersburg and Russia's Revolutionary World).

"It is essential to uncover new evidence, to uncover new stories," he told the crowd assembled at Toronto's King Edward Hotel.

'At times you feel like a peeping tom [reading soldiers' letters]...While they can be uncomfortable...they're also profoundly moving and poignant and powerful documents that speak to us.' Tim Cook

"I think we need to understand our past and all its complexity and nuances...We need to understand our history with all the hard parts left in."

Cook spent about 10 years (on and off) working on the two books, immersed in archival letters, messages and other documents from the era.

"At times, you feel like a peeping tom," he said of reading, for instance,letters an 18-year-old soldier sent to his mother or a 25-year-old sent to his wife.

"These were not meant for us, but they've been saved over time . That's the stuff of history," he said. "While they can be uncomfortable and, at times, perhaps you feel you shouldn't be reading them, they're also profoundly moving and poignant and powerful documents that speak to us."

The three-member jury, which included writer Warren Cariou, journalist Jeffrey Simpson and curator Shirley Thomson, agreed, praising Cook for telling a "kaleidoscopic story" and capturing the "complex humanity" of Canada's soldiers in his writing.

Prize honours essayist

The Charles Taylor Prize recognizes a Canadian writer who has written a book that "demonstrates a superb command of the English language, an elegance of style and a subtlety of thought and perception."

The annual honour is presented by the Charles Taylor Foundation, named for the late author, essayist and former Globe and Mail correspondent who died in 1997.

Past winners have included Richard Gwyn, Carol Shields, Wayne Johnston, Isabel Huggan and J.B. MacKinnon.