Alan MacLeod has a lifelong interest in history, nature, and writing. He is the co-author, with Ronald Caplan, of Cape Bretoners in the First World War. In 2010, after visiting the war memorial in Westville, Nova Scotia, MacLeod embarked on a research trip across Canada to visit similar First World War memorials, and soon he had amassed enough material to deliver lectures to various historical organizations across the country—and to write this book.