The Madman and the Butcher

The Sensational Wars Of Sam Hughes And General Arthur Currie

  • Language:
    Publisher:
  • English
    Penguin Canada
About The Madman and the Butcher:

Based on newly uncovered sources, The Madman and the Butcher is a powerful double biography of Sam Hughes and Arthur Currie and the story of one of the most shocking and highly publicized libel trials in Canadian history.

Sir Arthur Currie achieved international fame as Canadian Corps commander during the Great War. He was recognized as a brilliant general, morally brave, and with a keen eye for solving the challenges of trench warfare. But wars were not won without lives lost. Who was to blame for Canada’s 60,000 dead?

Sir Sam Hughes, Canada’s war minister during the first two and a half years of the conflict, was erratic, outspoken, and regarded by many as insane. Yet he was an expert on the war. He attacked Currie’s reputation in the war’s aftermath, accusing him of being a butcher, a callous murderer of his own men.

Set against the backdrop of Canadians fighting in the Great War, this engaging narrative explores questions of Canada’s role in the war, the need to place blame for the terrible blood loss, the nation’s discomfort with heroes, and the very public war of reputations that raged on after the guns fell silent.


Awards, Nominations, and Distinctions:

Finalist – Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing

Finalist – J.W. Dafoe Book Prize

Finalist – Ottawa Book Award (Non-Fiction)


About the Author(s):

TIM COOK is Chief Historian and Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum. His bestselling books have won multiple awards, including three Ottawa Book prizes for Literary Non-Fiction and two C.P. Stacey Awards for the best book in Canadian military history. In 2008 he won the J.W. Dafoe Prize for At the Sharp End and again in 2018 for VimyThe Battle and the LegendShock Troops won the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. Cook is a frequent commentator in the media, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Canada.


Other Editions:
  • English (Paperback)


Other Books by Tim Cook:
  • At the Sharp End

  • Fight to the Finish

  • Lifesavers and Body Snatchers

  • Shock Troops

  • The Necessary War

  • The Secret History of Soldiers

  • Vimy

  • Warlords