Daniel MacMillan never saw the battlefields of Passchendaele or Vimy Ridge. A farmer in the tiny New Brunswick community of Williamsburg, he experienced the Great War entirely from the 'home front.' War on the Home Front: The Farm Diaries of Daniel MacMillan, 1914-1927 is a portrait of the other side of war from the perspective of a man who, like countless families across North America, had no choice but keep on going with his life as sons, nephews, brothers and fathers fought and died on battlefields worlds away. As MacMillan's moving wartime diaries reveal, these years took a terrible toll on him, his family, his farm, and his community.
Bill Parenteau is associate professor of history at the University of New Brunswick and editor of
Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region. He has published extensively on the environmental history and political economy of natural resources in the Maritimes, particularly with regard to the forest industries and fisheries.
Stephen Dutcher is the assistant editor of
Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region and a specialist in the history of Atlantic Canada, co-operatives, and Aboriginal-Canadian relations. He teaches history at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton and on the web through Saint Mary's University in Halifax.
