Confederation may be one of the best-known events in Canadian history, with countless volumes devoted to the subject. Despite this, historian John Boyko manages to find a fresh lens through which to examine this foundational moment in our nationhood. In Blood and Daring, Boyko analyzes Canada’s role in the American Civil War, illustrating the way in which Canada’s emergence as an independent nation was significantly shaped by that terrible conflict.

This fascinating book is divided into six chapters, tackling a different aspect of Canada’s involvement in the Civil War. Each chapter also profiles a “guide” whose life story embodies the bigger issues being explored. This device is extremely well done; the individual stories are as compelling as the larger topic.

Blood and Daring is full of little-known or surprising information. For example, despite obvious links with the North, many Canadians were sympathetic to the Confederacy. Quebeckers saw Southerners as a kindred oppressed minority, while others were simply repulsed by the North’s anti-Canadian rhetoric, which included threats of annexation. There was even an extensive Confederate network in Canada planning to bring down the Union from the safety of Canadian territory.

Entirely new to me was the revelation of how tense relations were between the U.S. and Britain/Canada in the mid-1800s. I was also surprised to discover that an estimated 40,000 Canadians fought on both sides in the war, including 60 known cases of women who were killed while posing as men.

The most significant material describes George Brown and John A. Macdonald’s response to the climate of war in the U.S. by explicitly forging a nation in opposition to its neighbour. Macdonald may even have saved this country by insisting on attending the postwar Washington Conference, where he refused to allow Britain to discuss trading Canada to the U.S. in lieu of wartime reparation.

Boyko weaves together newspaper articles, speeches, and historical analysis to draw the reader into the era, and integrates explanations of Canadian, American, and British history without losing the narrative flow. This book is an excellent addition to the story of how we came to define ourselves as a nation, and a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the bedrock on which this country was built.