Boosters and Barkers

“Stick it, Canada! Buy more Victory Bonds!” The First World War demanded deep personal sacrifice in the field and at home – even when home was far from the front. It also made unrelenting financial demands on both the governments and populations of Canada and Newfoundland.

Boosters and Barkers is a highly original examination of the drive to finance Canadian participation in the conflict. David Roberts examines Ottawa’s calls for direct public contributions in the form of war bonds; the intersections with imperial funding, taxation, and conventional revenue; and the substantial fiscal implications of participation in the conflict during and after the war. Canada’s six bond-selling campaigns received an astounding response, generating revenue that covered almost a third of the country’s total war costs, which were estimated at $6.6 billion. This amount was modest in comparison with the burdens placed on European countries, but it was still a dramatic contribution from a dominion so distant from the front.

This story is one of inexorable need, shrewd propaganda, resistance, engagement, and long-term consequence. Boosters and Barkers mines a wide range of sources in Canada, the United States, and Britain to reveal how bond campaigns used coercive, modern marketing techniques – encompassing print, images, and music – to sell both the war and wide public participation.