John Chipman Kerr was awarded the Victoria Cross for single-handedly attacking an enemy trench at Courcelette, leading to the capture of sixty-two prisoners. He was only the first Nova Scotian to be so honoured in the First World War. Pictou County nursing matron Margaret Macdonald commanded the Canadian Army Nursing Corps, which included approximately two hundred Nova Scotians, throughout the war. Their stories are among many others that make up Nova Scotia's largely unknown contribution to the war, which involved more than 35,000 men. In Nova Scotia at War, 1914-1919, Brian Douglas Tennyson examines the province's role in what was the most traumatic collective experience in Canadian history to that time, and was especially significant in Nova Scotia because of its exposure to the naval war fought off its shores. As well as documenting the battlefield experiences of its soldiers and nurses, he describes the impact of the war at home on the economy, politics, and society, and explains how changes brought about by the war shattered Nova Scotia's dream of becoming the Atlantic gateway and the industrial heartland of Canada. The book is richly illustrated with archival photographs.