Dispatches from the Front: The Life of Matthew Halton, Canada’s Voice at War

The first major biography of an iconic war correspondent sheds light on the personal life and fascinating career of a remarkable Canadian figure–and it’s now available in paperback.

This is Matthew Halton of the CBC.

So began Matthew Halton’s war broadcasts. Originally a reporter for the Toronto Star, Matt Halton, as Senior War Correspondent for the CBC during the Second World War, reported from the front lines in Italy and Northwest Europe, and became the voice of Canada at war. His reports were at times tender and sad and other times shocking and explosive. Covering the flashpoints of his generation–from the war trenches to the coronation of the Queen–Halton filed a series of reports warning that the Third Reich was becoming a vast laboratory and breeding ground for war. For a decade he chronicled Europe’s drift to disaster, covering the breakdown of the League of Nations, the Spanish Civil War, and the Nazi takeover of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Along the way he interviewed Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Herman Goering, Neville Chamberlain, Charles de Gaulle, Mahatma Gandhi, and dozens of others who shaped the history of the last century.
Drawing on extensive interviews and archival research, this definitive biography, written by Matthew’s son, acclaimed former CBC correspondent David Halton, is a fascinating look at the career of one of the most accomplished journalists Canada has ever known.