The Good Allies

How Canada and the United States Fought Together to Defeat Fascism during the Second World War

By: Tim Cook

Narrated by: David Ferry

From our country's most important war historian, a gripping account of the turbulent relationship between Canada and the US during the Second World War. The two nations entered the war amidst rivalry and mutual suspicion, but learned to fight together before emerging triumphant and bound by an alliance that has lasted to this day.

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, it set in motion a deadly struggle between the Axis powers and the Allies, but also fraught negotiations between and among the Allies. On questions of diplomacy, economic policy, industrial might, military capabilities, and even national sovereignty, thousands of lives and the fate of the free world depended on back-room deals and desperate trade-offs between soldiers, diplomats, and leaders.

In North America, Canada and the US strained to forge a new military alliance to guard their coasts and fend off German U-boats and the menace of a Japanese invasion. Wartime economies were entwined to produce a staggering contribution of weapons to keep Britain and other allies in the war. The defence of North America against enemy threats was essential before the US and Canada could send armies, navies, and air forces overseas.

In his trademark style, Tim Cook employs eyewitness accounts to vividly lay bare the brutality of combat and the courage of North Americans under fire. Behind the fighting fronts, the charged and often secret communications between national leaders Churchill, Roosevelt, and King reveal how their personalities shaped the outcome of history’s most destructive war, the fate of the British Empire, and the North American alliance that lives on to this day.

The Good Allies is a masterful account of how Canadians and Americans made the transition from wary rivals to steadfast allies, and how Canada thrived in the shadow of the military and global superpower. In exploring this complex and crucial dimension of the Second World War and its legacy, Cook recounts two nations’ story of cooperation, of sacrifice, and of bleeding together to save the world from the fascist threat.

Critic reviews

One of The Hill Times’ Top 100 Best Books in 2024
Shortlisted for the 2025 Lionel Gelber Prize

“[Cook] takes on arguably his most ambitious topic yet—and succeeds brilliantly. . . . One of Cook’s many strengths as a military historian is that he equally understands political battlegrounds and the people and tactics involved. . . . Remarkably detailed—and wise.”
—Policy Magazine

“Tim Cook[’s] new and acclaimed work of nonfiction. . . . If you want to hear the riveting true tale of how Canada and the US united in mutual sacrifice and victory for the free world like you’ve never heard it before, make sure you treat yourself to a copy of Tim Cook’s The Good Allies.”
—Ottawa Life Magazine

“[Tim Cook’s] writing is lucid and . . . intelligent. . . . Refreshingly blunt. . . . The Good Allies will certainly give readers a greater appreciation of the United States’ good fortune in having a healthy, powerful democracy with whom to share the world’s longest international border. And . . . it reliably documents the great importance World War II had for Canada.”
—Open Letters Review