Titles to Note
Humanism & Religion: A Call for the Renewal of Western Culture
Jens Zimmermann, Oxford University Press, New York, 2012, ISBN 9780199697755, 392pp, RRP US$150.00
The question of who ‘we’ are and what vision of humanity ‘we’ assume in Western culture lies at the heart of hotly debated topics on the role of religion in education, politics and culture in general. The West’s cultural rootlessness and lack of cultural identity are also revealed by the failure of multiculturalism to integrate religiously vibrant immigrant cultures. Jens Zimmermann contends that the main cause of the West’s cultural malaise is the long-standing separation of reason and faith.
Humanism & Religion suggests that the West can re-articulate its identity and renew its cultural purpose by recovering the humanistic ethos that originally shaped Western culture. Humanism & Religion traces the religious roots of humanism from patristic theology through the Renaissance and into modern philosophy, examining the original correlation of reason and faith. Zimmermann combines humanism, religion and hermeneutic philosophy to re-imagine humanism for our current cultural and intellectual climate. Zimmermann has undertaken this investigation in the hope that it will encourage, once again, the correlation of reason and faith in order to overcome current cultural impasses.
Anti-Access Warfare: Countering A2/AD Strategies
Sam Tangredi, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2013, ISBN 9781612511863, 320pp, RRP US$47.95
Anti-Access Warfare is the first book to examine the concept of anti-access and area-denial warfare. Tangredi has approached this concept, often referred to by its acronym, A2/AD warfare, from its naval roots in a way largely ignored by the even most influential commentators. Tangredi argues that, while the US has identified A2/AD as the strategy of choice for its enemies into the future, the concept itself is poorly understood. While ostensibly a post-Cold War era technology-driven phenomenon, Tangredi traces the historical roots of A2/AD warfare to reveal its true nature as a routine element of the grand strategy of weaker powers against stronger ones. Rather than arguing against a reliance on maritime forces like many commentators, presumably because these forces are no longer regarded as survivable in the era of advanced stand-off defences, Tangredi uses historical analysis to present maritime forces as a key to ‘breaking the Great Walls’ of nations such as Iran and China.
Shadows of ANZAC: An Intimate History of Gallipoli
David Cameron, Big Sky Publishing, Newport, 2013, ISBN 9781922132185, 352pp, RRP AUD$ 29.99
Shadows of ANZAC presents a unique international perspective of the ANZAC experience at Gallipoli. The stories that comprise this handsome and varied collection are told by protagonists both from the Allied nations — Australian, New Zealand, British, Indian — and from the ranks of the Turks who were defending their homeland. David Cameron achieves a holistic representation of the conflict through the use of primary and secondary sources and the experiences of combatants and civilians alike. An intensely personal collection, Shadows of ANZAC paints a vivid picture of the daily struggle on the peninsula, highlighting the absurdity, monotony and humour that sat alongside the horror of the campaign.
War From The Ground Up
Emile Simpson, Scribe, Melbourne, 2013, ISBN 9780231704069, 256pp, RRP AUD$55.95
Drawing on personal experience and a collection of little-known case studies ranging from Nepal to Borneo, War From The Ground Up offers a distinctive take on contemporary armed conflict. While most accounts of war peer down at the battlefield from an academic perspective, or across it through personal narrative, Simpson looks out from the battlefield to consider the concepts that led to the conflict and how they played out on the ground. The author argues that, in contemporary conflicts, liberal powers and their armed forces have blurred the line between military and political activity. They have challenged the distinction between war and peace. Simpson contends that this loss of clarity is more a response to the conditions of combat in the early twenty-first century, particularly that of globalisation, than a deliberate choice. The issue is therefore not whether the West should engage in such practices, but how to manage, gain advantage from, and mitigate the risks of this evolution in warfare. War From The Ground Up draws heavily on personal anecdotes from the front line, related to historical context and strategic thought, to re-evaluate the concept of war in contemporary conflict.
Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War
Joan Beaumont, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2013, ISBN 9781741751383, 656pp, RRP AUD$55.00
Broken Nation skilfully blends all facets of the First World War into a single story. Combining the plight of the fighting soldier with the impact of the war on the Australian home front, Joan Beaumont paints the broad canvas of Australian life during the war that many believe defined the nation. Stories of famous battles such as Gallipoli and the Somme sit alongside those of lesser know battles in both Europe and the Middle East and the impact of these campaigns reverberates against the Australian backdrop with its conscription debate and the first signs of the Spanish flu brought home by returning servicemen. Beaumont describes the fear and courage, both at home and in the theatre of conflict, engendered in the people of the fledgling Australian nation by the immense tragedy that was the First World War.
SIPRI Yearbook 2013: Armaments, Disarmaments and International Security
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013, ISBN 9780199678433, 584pp, RRP £100
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations based on open sources to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public. The 44th edition of the SIPRI Yearbook analyses developments in 2012 in the areas of security and conflict, military spending and armaments, non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament. In addition to analysis from its contributing researchers, the SIPRI Yearbook also contains extensive annexes on the implementation of arms control and disarmament agreements and a chronology of events during the year in the area of security and arms control. Purchasers of the print edition will also be able to access the Yearbook online.
Investment in Blood: The True Cost of Britain’s War in Afghanistan
Frank Ledwidge, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2013, ISBN 9780300190625, 270pp, RRP US$54.95
In his follow-up to Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan, Frank Ledwidge argues that Britain has paid a heavy price in financial and human terms for its involvement in the war in Afghanistan. Based on interviews, rigorous onsite research, and official information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Ledwidge examines the price paid by British soldiers and their families, taxpayers in the UK and Afghan citizens, highlighting the thousands of deaths and injuries, and the enormous amount of money spent bolstering the Afghan government. He also investigates the long-term damage to the British military’s international reputation, yet another cost of the protracted campaign.
Fallujah Awakens: Marines, Sheiks, and the Battle Against Al Qaeda
Bill Ardolino, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2013, ISBN 9781612511283, 320pp, RRP US$36.95
Based on more than 120 interviews with Iraqis and US Marines, Ardolino describes how a company of Marine reservists, in an unlikely alliance with local tribal leaders, succeeded where previous efforts had stalled and helped to secure Fallujah against the reinvigorated insurgency during the rise in Al Qaeda-led violence in 2006. An exhaustive use of documentation, complete with maps and photographs, allows Fallujah Awakens to enhance the reader’s understanding of the struggle for this iconic city.
Carrier Attack Darwin 1942: The Complete Guide to Australia’s own Pearl Harbour
Tom Lewis & Peter Ingham, Avonmore Books, Kent Town, 2013, ISBN 9780987151933, 368pp, RRP AUD$49.95
When the Pacific War erupted, few could have predicted the extraordinary scale and ferocity of the 19 February 1942 raid on Darwin. A massive strike force, blooded at Pearl Harbor just weeks before, hit Darwin in the biggest Japanese air attack ever launched in the South Pacific. Since then, generations of Australians have been drawn to the stories and folklore of the Darwin action. But facts have blurred and mythology has thrived. Carrier Attack tests many Darwin myths and reveals new information: another ship sunk; the actual intent and nature of the attack; the precise extent of the Japanese losses. The Darwin raid is usually portrayed as a wholesale disaster for the Allies, and a day marked by military ineptitude. Carrier Attack shows that the defenders were alert and fought with purpose. Arguably it was the Japanese who wasted much of their attacking strength, allowing the Darwin defenders to avert a much larger catastrophe. Carrier Attack provides a timely and fresh analysis of the raid drawing on both Allied and, importantly, specifically translated Japanese sources.
Digger’s Story: Surviving the Japanese POW Camps was Just the Beginning
David Barrett & Brian Robertson, Five Mile Press, Scoresby, 2012, ISBN 9781743007426, 254pp, RRP AUD$32.95
Digger’s Story is a never-before-told account of a young medical orderly taken prisoner by the Japanese in Malaya and sent to Changi prison. Digger’s Story is an account both of life as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II and as an ex-prisoner of war following liberation. The story begins with a description of the horrors of the Thai-Burma railway including the need for a medical orderly to step forward and take on the responsibilities of a surgeon to ensure his mate’s survival. The story moves to the progress of Australian post-war race relations, the cataloguing of Allied graves on the Thai-Burma railway for the War Graves Commission and the story of the Australian Reparations Committee. Digger’s Story provides a new perspective on the lives and struggles of Australian prisoners of the Japanese, both during and after World War II.
Hell on Earth: Sandakan – Australia’s Greatest War Tragedy
Michele Cunningham, Hachette, Sydney, 2013, ISBN 9780733629891, 352pp, RRP AUD$35.00
Sandakan is acknowledged as one of the greatest military tragedies in Australia’s history. Following the fall of Singapore almost 3000 Allied prisoners of war, including 1500 Australians, were taken from Changi to Sandakan Prison Camp. Michele Cunningham has utilised archival research in Australia and Britain and interviews with survivors of the Borneo campaign, as well as access to previously overlooked Japanese sources, to present a broad view of the events at Sandakan Prison Camp and the subsequent ‘death marches’ to prevent the prisoners’ liberation by advancing Allied forces. Hell on Earth is a story of bravery, brutality and survival, which describes in some detail the events surrounding this wartime tragedy.
The Unknown ANZACS: The Real Stories of our National Legend
Michael Caulfield, Hachette, Sydney, 2013, ISBN 9780733629327, 320pp, RRP AUD$50.00
A timely publication as we approach the 100th anniversary of the First World War, The Unknown ANZACS aims to present an authentic portrait of Australians fighting and living through the bloodiest conflicts of the war. Using excerpts from diaries that had been collected at the Mitchell Library in Sydney since 1918, Michael Caulfield has created a previously untold account of a young country at war. His book covers all the major theatres of the war and the stories are told in the words of the men and women who experienced them. The Unknown ANZACs breathes new life into the stories of Australians fighting in the First World War presenting them to a whole new generation for whom they are the stuff of legend.
