Brings to life the first half of the twentieth century in Canada's past, when young men marched off to war in the Boer War in South Africa, to the Great War in Europe, the Second World War and, finally, to the Korean War. Describes how the experience of war helped bind Canada together as a nation while at the same time revealing deep schisms in society. Chronicles the change in Canada's dependence upon Great Britain and traces the gradual emergence of an independent nation, caught in a love-hate relationship with the United States.