The only book about Canadian conscientious objectors during World War I, Crisis of Conscience offers key insights into evolving attitudes of citizenship in the period when Canada came of age as a nation.

The First World War’s appalling death toll and the need for a sense of equality of sacrifice on the home front led to Canada’s first experience of overseas conscription. While historians have focused on resistance to enforced military service in Quebec, this has obscured the important role of those who saw military service as incompatible with their religious or ethical beliefs. Crisis of Conscience is the first and only book about the Canadian pacifists who refused to fight in the Great War. The experience of these conscientious objectors offers insight into evolving attitudes about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship during a key period of Canadian nation building.

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Shaw's mammoth research has produced a well-written study that looks at the conscientious objectors (COs) created by Canada's Military Service Act of 1917. Summing Up: Recommended.