On this month’s episode Of On War and Society, Kyle Pritchard sits down with Dr Roger Sarty to discuss the life and career of C.P. Stacey. Sarty explains how Stacey went from being a young student with no interest in research to the founding father of Canadian military history.
Throughout his career, Stacey faced considerable set backs in the form of limited finances, a tight job market, a public initially hostile to his work and personal tragedy. But through his own hard work and the considerable of help from his family and fellow historians, Stacey was able to make a career as a historian, first in the army as historical officer and later as a academic historian. As a historian, Stacey displayed a rare gift for understanding the demands of war, a gift which earned him the admiration of the Canadian Military. But despite his success Stacey remained a humble and deeply generous man who helped start the career of some of Canada’s greatest historians.
Roger Sarty is a Wilfrid Laurier University professor specializing in Canadian naval history and a former deputy director of the Canadian War Museum. Ever the storyteller, Sarty became familiar with Stacey during his time as a graduate student at the University of Toronto and shares many of these rare personal experiences on the episode today.