The First World War required significant personal and financial sacrifices, and Canada's bond campaigns were a crucial part of financing its participation. David Roberts examines Ottawa's calls for direct public contributions, the intersections with imperial funding, taxation, and conventional revenue, and the substantial fiscal implications of participation. Canada's bond campaigns used print, images, and music to sell the war and public engagement, generating revenue to cover almost a third of the country's total war costs.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 408 pages
Publication date: 01 June 2024
Publisher: University of British Columbia Press

Stick it, Canada! Buy more Victory Bonds.

The First World War demanded deep personal sacrifice on the battlefield and on the home front – and it also made unrelenting financial demands.

Boosters and Barkers is a highly original examination of the drive to finance Canadian participation in the conflict. David Roberts examines Ottawa's calls for direct public contributions in the form of war bonds; the intersections with imperial funding, taxation, and conventional revenue; and the substantial fiscal implications of participation in the conflict during and after the war. Canada's bond campaigns used print, images, and music to sell both the war and public engagement. They received an astounding response, generating revenue to cover almost a third of the country's total war costs, which were estimated at $6.6 billion – a dramatic charge on a dominion so far from the front. This story is one of inexorable need, shrewd propaganda, resistance, engagement, and long-term consequences.

Weight: 594g
Dimension: 229 x 153 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780774869591