New books by two historians at the Canadian War Museum were honoured as finalists at Tuesday’s Ottawa Book Awards in the English non-fiction category.
The winner in the category was author Kerry Pither for her book Dark Days: The Story of Four Canadians Tortured in the name of Fighting Terror.
Pither’s book examined the Canadian national security investigation that led to the torture of four Muslim Canadian men.
The city-sponsored awards ceremony, held at Library and Archives Canada, honours books published in the previous year and written by Ottawa authors. Winners of the award receive a $7,500 prize.
Museum historian Tim Cook, one of last year's winners, was nominated this year for his book Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1917-1918. Shock Troops is the second book in a two-volume series that looks at the First World War through the eyes of individual soldiers within the Canadian Forces.
“What comes through is how they survived, endured, coped with incredible stress,” said Cook.
Fellow war museum historian Peter MacLeod’s book, Northern Armageddon: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, was also nominated.
MacLeod’s book also contains many firsthand accounts from the soldiers involved in the battle.
“Using individuals is the difference between a dry technical analysis and a human story,” MacLeod said.
Andrew Steinmetz won the English fiction category for his novel Eva’s Three Penny Theatre. Margaret Michèle Cook’s book Chronos à sa table de travail won in the French fiction category. The French non-fiction award went to Maurice Henrie for his book Esprit de sel.
The Lampman-Scott Award for Poetry was also awarded. It went to David O’Meara for Noble Gas, Penny Black.