One of the great untold Canadian military stories revolves around the eastern seaport of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Guardian of the Gulf offers a vivid and long overdue account of Sydney harbour's role, and the importance of its coal deposits, in North Atlantic strategy and military operations from the Anglo-French wars in the eighteenth century to the end of the Cold War in the 1990s.

More than two centuries of activity in and around Sydney harbour came to a head during the world wars, when Sydney became a major convoy port in the merchant-ship lifeline that sustained Britain with supplies from North America. Essential to the air and naval forces that pursued German submarines in the waters off the coast of Canada, Sydney was also an imporatant industrial centre that produced enormous quantities of critically important coal and steel. Exploring the roles of army, navy, air force, and merchant marine, Tennyson and Sarty offer richly detailed information on garrisons, fortifications, base development, and maritime warfare.

Set against the Backdrop of national and alliance policymaking in London, Ottawa, and Washington, the story moves deftly between the larger and smaller pictures, making this a work of both colourful immediacy and broad interpretation.

Winner of the 2000 Keith Matthews Award for Best Book, awarded by Canadian Nautical Research Society

BRIAN DOUGLAS TENNYSON, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at Cape Breton University, where he taught history for many years. He is the author of several books, including Percy Willmot: A Cape Bretoner at War (CBU Press), Historic Mahone Bay (with Wilma White), Cape Bretoniana: An Annotated Bibliography, Guardian of the Gulf: Sydney, Cape Breton and the Atlantic Wars with Roger Sarty, The Canadian Experience of the Great War: A Guide to Memoirs and Merry Hell: The Story of the 25th (Nova Scotia Regiment) Battalion 1914-1919 (editor).

Brian Tennyson's profile page

Roger Sarty, history professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, was in previous careers senior historian at the Department of National Defence and deputy director at the Canadian War Museum. His other books on the Canadian Army in the Maritimes include Saint John Fortifications (2003, with Doug Knight) and Guardian of the Gulf: Sydney Cape Breton and the Atlantic Wars (2012, with Brian Tennyson)./p>

Roger Sarty's profile page

• Winner, Keith Matthews Award, Canadian Nautical Research Society

'This is social history of the best kind, laced with interesting details and personal recollections that help bring a community to life as it intersects with the great events of the past two and a half centuries.'

Cape Breton Post