David A. Wilson wins C.P. Stacey Award

On Nov. 22, 2023, David A. Wilson was named the winner of the 2022 C.P. Stacey Award by The Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada. The winner of this award receives a 1,000 dollar prize.

“The C.P. Stacey Award is the preeminent award to mark what is considered to be the best book in Canadian military history in any given calendar year,” said Kevin Spooner, Director of the Laurier Center for the Study of Canada and associate professor in the departments of North American studies and history.

2022’s winner, David A. Wilson, is a professor of history and Celtic Studies at The University of Toronto.

Wilson’s winning submission is entitled ‘Canadian Spy Story: Irish Revolutionaries and the Secret Police’.

[Wilson’s book] was a neat story of bringing two aspects of history together.

Kevin Spooner

The book tells the story of the Fenian invasions, and the spying the Canadian government did on the U.S. and Irish Americans in the 1800s to “try and figure out what kind of threat these Irish Ameri- cans and the Feeney movement within Canada could pose to state security,” he said.

Charles Perry Stacey, the award’s namesake, was a renowned Canadian historian and professor.

“It’s wonderful to honour C.P. Stacey in this way. He was an amazing Canadian historian, and we’re really pleased that the Centre has a role in administering the prize every year,” Spooner said.

Publishers are invited to submit their newly published books to the centre for consideration for the award, said Spooner.

After the submission process ends, a committee of three individuals determines the winner.

One of the main things the committee looks for, he said, is “compelling, interesting and deep level

research into historical evidence.” One of the questions the committee asks when considering award winners is “what kind of new arguments or new evidence is the book bringing to light to explain an important topic related to Canadian military history,” said Spooner.

“One member of the committee was often fond of saying,‘ what book am I reading that would make me fundamentally change how I might teach something in one of my courses.’”

“I think the other members of the committee would agree that the extensive research that Professor Wilson did to write this book was incredibly impressive. It represents almost a lifetime of scholarship that he’s been working on this topic,” said Spooner.

For the 2022 award, the committee members were Isabel Campbell, Directorate of History and Heritage, National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa; Lee Windsor, a professor at the University of New Brunswick and a member of the Greg Center for Military History and Spooner himself.

David A. Wilson in an interview with TVO.

It’s a really incredibly well-researched book. Something that impressed us about it is that it’s highly readable. Sometimes scholarly books are a slog to get through, but Dr. Wilson writes beautifully and the story that he’s telling is really compelling

Kevin Spooner

For more information about the C.P. Stacey Award and Wilson’s winning submission, visit the university’s website.