Matthew S. Wiseman

Silent Partners: The Origins and Influence of Canada’s Military-Industrial Complex (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2023).

Canada is often seen as a peaceful country with a modest military and a small defence industrial base, but its military-industrial complex is deeply embedded in the fabric of the country. Silent Partners reveals its origins and influence.

During the Cold War, Canada’s military, industrial, and political partnerships developed in silent ways, behind the scenes and without much public scrutiny. Silent Partners explores this complicated history of leveraging military and defence expenditures to fund domestic industries, bolster employment, and support science and technology. Military and defence spending have affected Canada in myriad ways and in uneven patterns of prosperity and decline. The contributions in this volume explore the environmental impact of military activities and munitions production, the ethical issues of human experimentation and military testing, and the economic and political implications of procurement and arms exports.

Using a vast array of archival sources – some only recently declassified or discovered – Silent Partners is an illuminating examination of Canada’s military-industrial complex from a historical perspective. This book will appeal to military and Canadian historians, defence analysts, and political scientists interested in Canadian military affairs and defence procurement.

Reviews of Silent Partners

“Silent Partners provides fresh, original insights into new areas of Canadian defence history.” – Roger Sarty, Department of History, Wilfrid Laurier University

“Souchen and Wiseman provide a historical perspective that has not been dealt with before. It is a valuable discussion of Canada’s military industrial experience within a wider war and society context.” – Craig Stone, Department of Defence Studies, Canadian Forces College

 

The Selected Works of George R. Lindsey: Operational Research, Strategic Studies, and Canadian Defence in the Cold War (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019).

During a government career that spanned nearly the whole of the Cold War, nuclear physicist Dr George Lindsey (1920-2011) gained a reputation as a leading defence scientist and military strategist for Canada’s Defence Research Board. Having influenced Canadian policy in such important areas as air defence, anti-submarine warfare, and the militarization of space, Lindsey’s writings spanning his career with the Department of National Defence, shed light not only on one of Canada’s most influential civil servants of the Cold War era, but also on the inner-workings of the Canadian defence department during the nuclear age.

This book provides full access to a wealth of valuable, previously classified, historical material regarding the scientific and technical aspects of Canadian defence and national security in the Cold War. Lindsey’s writings clarify Canada’s approach to the strategic issues of the nuclear age, while his first-hand experience is valuable for understanding the role and structure of the postwar Canadian defence establishment.

 

Reviews of The Selected Works of George R. Lindsey

“George R. Lindsey was, for baby-boomer scholars who encountered him, an impressive and somewhat mysterious figure. Doctor Lindsey, as we invariably addressed him, sat just next to the heart of the Canadian defence establishment, and when he chose to speak he was always worth listening to. Shedding light on operational analysis, this book unpacks Lindsey’s sharp eye and shrewd analytical skills on the major defence issues of the period.” – Joseph Jockel, Department of Canadian Studies, St Lawrence University

“This is an excellent review of George R. Lindsey’s long and distinguished career. Discussing key historical developments and subjects, including nuclear weapons and strategy, NATO history and strategy, operational research, and Canada-US defence relations, Lindsey’s writing is consistently clear and precise.” – Andrew Richter, Department of Political Science, University of Windsor

 

JOURNAL ARTICLES

 

BOOK CHAPTERS

2022 Matthew S. Wiseman, “Civil-Military Relations and Ethics.” In Small Armies, Big Cities: Rethinking Urban Warfare, edited by Louise A. Tumchewics, 133–56. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2022. Solicited.

2020 Matthew S. Wiseman, “‘Baptism by Fire’: Canadian Soldiers and Radiation Exposure at Nevada and Maralinga.” In The Nuclear North: Histories of Canada in the Atomic Age, edited by Susan Colbourn and Timothy Andrews Sayle, 153–77. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2020. Solicited.

2019 Matthew S. Wiseman, “The Future of the Arctic Council.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Arctic Policy and Politics, edited by Ken Coates and Carin Holroyd, 439–52. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. Solicited.

2019 Matthew S. Wiseman, “Frontier Footage: Science and Colonial Attitudes on Film in Northern Canada, 1948–1954.” In Cold Science: Environmental Knowledge in the North American Arctic During the Cold War, edited by Stephen Bocking and Daniel Heidt, 61–74. New York: Routledge, 2019. Solicited.

2019 Matthew S. Wiseman, “Introduction.” In The Selected Works of George R. Lindsey: Operational Research, Strategic Studies, and Canadian Defence in the Cold War, George R. Lindsey, edited by Matthew S. Wiseman, xv–xxxii. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019.

2019 Matthew S. Wiseman, “Afterword.” In The Selected Works of George R. Lindsey: Operational Research, Strategic Studies, and Canadian Defence in the Cold War, George R. Lindsey, edited by Matthew S. Wiseman, 219–23. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019.

 

BOOK/ARTICLE REVIEWS

Reviews published in American Review of Canadian Studies, British Journal of Canadian Studies, Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, Canadian Military History, H-Environment, H-Diplo, Histoire sociale/Social History, International Journal, Isis, Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, Labour/Le Travail, Scientia Canadensis