King's History Professor named to CP Stacey Award short list
June 12, 2015
By Nicole Bullock
King’s Associate Professor of History, Dr. Graham Broad has received prestigious recognition for his book A Small Price to Pay: Consumer Culture on the Canadian Home Front, 1939-1945.
Published in October of 2013 by the University of British Columbia Press, Dr. Broad’s publication was named to the short list for the CP Stacey Award. The CP Stacey Award is an annual prize created in honour of the Canadian Department of National Defence’s long-serving Official Historian, Charles P. Stacey, whose commitment to furthering the field of military history continues to influence scholars to this day.
Dr. Broad’s book examines consumer culture in a combatant nation in WWII. Dr. Broad disputes the myth of home front sacrifice by bringing to light the contradictions of consumer society in wartime. During the latter years of the Great Depression, governments pressured citizens to save for the sake of the nation. However, Canadians had money in their pockets, and advertisers tempted them with fresh groceries, glamorous movies, and new cars and appliances. Dr. Broad reveals that our greatest generation was not impervious to temptation but rather embarked on one of the biggest spending booms in our nation’s history.
A Small Price to Pay is available in the Cardinal Carter Library at King’s.
Congratulations Dr. Broad!