<p>What do you do when a nuclear weapon detonates nearby? During the<br>early Cold War years of 1945-63, Civil Defence Canada and the Emergency<br>Measures Organization planned for just such a disaster and encouraged<br>citizens to prepare their families and their cities for nuclear war. By<br>the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil defence program was<br>widely mocked, and the public was vastly unprepared for nuclear<br>war.</p><br><br><p>Canada's civil defence program was born in the early Cold War,<br>when fears of conflict between the superpowers ran high. <em>Give Me<br>Shelter</em> features previously unreleased documents detailing<br>Canada's nuclear survival plans. Andrew Burtch reveals how the<br>organization publicly appealed to citizens to prepare for disaster<br>themselves - from volunteering as air-raid wardens to<br>building fallout shelters. This tactic ultimately failed, however, due<br>to a skeptical populace, chronic underfunding, and repeated<br>bureaucratic fumbling. <em>Give Me Shelter</em> exposes the challenges<br>of educating the public in the face of the looming threat of nuclear<br>annihilation.</p><br><br><p><em>Give Me Shelter</em> explains how governments and the public<br>prepared for the unexpected. It is essential reading for historians,<br>policymakers, and anybody interested in Canada's Cold War home<br>front.</p><br><br><p> </p><br><p><br><b>Andrew Burtch</b> is the historian for the post-1945<br>period at the Canadian War Museum.