Born in Montreal, Quebec, Andrew Godefroy read history at Concordia University. His early academic work was in the field of Canadian military history with a particular focus on Canada and the First World War. His first book published in 1998 - "For Freedom and Honour?" - a study of the death penalty in Canada's Canadian Expeditionary Force based on his undergraduate thesis, received critical praise in both media and academia circles and drew much attention to this long forgotten and politically sensitive subject.