
‘Canada First, Not Canada Alone’: The Evolution of Canada in the World
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/canada-first-not-canada-alone-9780197653715?cc=ca&lang=en&
Oxford University Press/October 2024
Reviewed by Colin Robertson
There’s no shortage these days of excellent books on Canadian foreign policy – former foreign ministers Lloyd Axworthy and Marc Garneau have recently penned their very readable memoirs – but until now we have lacked a purposely designed textbook. Amply filling this gap is Canada First, Not Canada Alone, which Royal Military College (RMC) Professor of Defence Studies Adam Chapnick has co-authored with fellow scholar Asa McKercher.
Chapnick’s previous books on Canada in the world include the biography Canada’s Voice: The Public Life of John Wendell Holmes and Canada on the United Nations Security Council. McKercher is Steven K. Hudson Research Chair in Canada-US Relations at the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government at StFX and editor-in-chief of International Journal.
Canada First, Not Canada Alone is magisterial in scope, comprehensive in its research and meticulous in its references. Importantly, it is rigorous in its evaluation of events and personalities and the environment, domestic and foreign, in which decisions were made.
The authors start with an excellent introductory chapter on the ideas and antecedents of our foreign policy ‘bed-rocked’, they argue, by our borders, national unity, and the United States. Our independence is always relative, given: our reliance on trade and our susceptibility to global economic upheaval; the challenge of exercising sovereignty over our vast geography, especially in the Arctic; and our relatively small but diverse population. We’ve relied for our security first on Britain and then, after a series of meetings between Mackenzie King and Franklin Roosevelt, on the United States. This ended the threat of invasion or absorption into the Republic, although recent threats of absorption from President-elect Donald Trump have spiked Google searches for ‘manifest destiny’.
Ghosts Of Apollo
John Madower RRMC/RMC (Class of 84)
John Madower, MGen (Ret’d), has drawn upon his 37-year career as an Air Force aerospace engineer for some of his inspiration for his edgy, modern spy thriller called The Ghosts Of Apollo. Serving with distinction during the First Gulf War, Afghanistan, and as a NORAD Battle Commander/Combat Control Officer, he offers a unique, expert inside perspective on various situations portrayed in this exciting debut novel.
A daring heist and cutting-edge technology are central features of this multi-faceted spy thriller. The Ghosts Of Apollo challenges our perception of the US space program, and our current world. A reluctant heroine desperately struggles to protect a secret, hidden since NASA’s Apollo Program, as she races to solve an audacious modern crime. With her life in peril, how can she prevail with assassins on the loose, autonomous vehicles used as killing machines, data mining to expose deeply hidden secrets, and a system that does not trust her? President Kennedy’s 1961 speech to Congress not only aimed to land a person on the moon and bring them back safely, it also set forth other objectives that we tend to forget. This fast-paced novel follows the logical extension of the president’s speech and imagines where that might have led.
The Ghosts Of Apollo is expected to have broad appeal with both young and old. Grounded in historical fact, this novel is not only entertaining, but also educational. The Ghosts Of Apollo offers a new twist on history we thought we knew, suggesting that other historical guideposts might also be more nuanced than we previously considered. One of those twists is a new, never heard before, NASA conspiracy, which should intrigue readers.
The Ghosts Of Apollo, is now available in paperback and e-book formats through the US publisher, The Wild Rose Press, Inc. , and many other book distributers, like Amazon.ca.
An avid outdoor enthusiast, in addition to writing, John still enjoys a day on the range, long distance running, and endurance walking.
KCIS 2023: The [Un]Changing Character of War
Published November 2024 | Edited by Allison Brown & Dr. Howard G. Coombs
Contributors: Allison Brown, Wayne Eyre, Phillip Drew, Sonal Gupta, Robert Martyn, James Cox, Leonid Davydenko, Katherine Rossy, Yixu Zhou, Robert Addinall, Ali Dizboni,, Peter Gizewski, Michael Murphy, Andrew B. Godefroy, Emilie El Khoury, Rachel Grimes, Clare Hutchinson, David Lambert, Sarah Jane Meharg, Rebecca Patterson, Maxim Starchak, Mike Babin, Tyler Donnell, Joe Parkinson.
Recent shifts in the global security landscape have brought forth a new era, marked by challenges to the established rules-based international system that threaten to overwhelm traditional response measures as hotspots increase. As major combat operations persist in Ukraine, multi-domain gray-zone operations unfold across the Indo-Pacific, and as the conflict between Israel and Palestine endures, along with various other regional and ethical conflicts, our understanding of conflict is constantly being renegotiated.