Maple Leaf Empire makes Macleans Top 10 Bestseller ListMaple Leaf Empire makes the Canadian International Council's 2011 International Book ListThe ineffable character of "Britishness" has been used, often enigmatically, to describe Canada's distinct cultural flavour within North America. This mysterious quality, writes award-winning writer Jonathan F. Vance, goes back to the early days of Canadian history, and consists of far more than thesum of early migration patterns. It emerges from a long-standing respect for British liberal ideals and an identification with the British Empire. Canada's own unique brand of Britishness evolved over a history of shared military endeavour, as Canadians fought alongside others to defend the idealsthat the British Empire was deemed to represent.To understand Canada's history of Britishness, Vance looks into the military past of both countries. The fabric of Canadian life in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries owes a great deal to the presence of British military. And this, observes Vance, is a two-way relationship: he reminds us thatduring the two world wars, close to a million Canadians travelled to the United Kingdom. In this form of reverse colonialism, Canadians established modest outposts in Britain, and parts of the country were Canadianized.This new, outside-the-box narrative is Jonathan F. Vance at his best. Beautifully written, based on original research in the true sense of the word, and illustrated with previously unseen materials, this book reveals a side of Canada often forgotten by historians.