Judging a book by its cover

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

Don’t judge a book by its cover, goes the adage. But magazine readers do it all the time.

In the highly competitive periodical industry, the cover is all-important. It’s that hook that can make a publication stand out from all the others on crowded newsstands, inspiring potential readers to pick it up and, hopefully, buy it.

The cover, say marketers and editors alike, is the most important page of the magazine. If it doesn’t grab a shopper in three seconds, goes the rule, it won’t grab them at all.

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“A good way to start off”

Story by Sharon Adams

In Afghanistan in August 2006, the Taliban wanted to take back their spiritual home in a massive attack on the city of Kandahar, but their plans were disrupted by nearby troop movements around a Canadian change of command.

Shrapnel from a mortar shell peppered Lieutenant-Colonel Omer Lavoie’s vehicle during a familiarization tour near Masum Ghar, a peak about 30 kilometres from Kandahar.

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August 19, 1942

Some 6,000 Allied troops, including 5,000 Canadians, raid the port of Dieppe, France. The Germans are prepared for the attack and the raid is a complete failure, resulting in 1,946 Canadians taken prisoner and 907 killed.

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A Dane with the CEF

Story by Sharon Adams

In 1918, a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was awarded the Victoria Cross—but he wasn’t Canadian at all. Lieutenant Thomas Dinesen was from a wealthy and influential Danish family and  although unfamiliar with Scottish-Canadian culture and knowing only a few words of English, he was welcomed into the Canadian army and transferred to the Royal Highlanders of Canada.

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Warfare most foul

Written by Tim Cook

In the Battle of Hill 70, Canadian soldiers faced a vile chemical weapon. From the first velvety phut of the shell burst to those corpse-like breaths that a man inhaled almost unawares,” wrote Private John Lynch of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. “It lingered about out of control.

“When he fired it, a man released an evil force that became free to bite friend or foe til such time as it died into the earth. Above all, it went against God-inspired conscience.”

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August 14, 1945

Japan unconditionally surrenders to the Allies. The Second World War is over.

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