The Cambridge History of Warfare       Edited by: Geoffrey Parker, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN: 9780521618953, 432pp.   Reviewed by: Anthony Robinson, FDI Associate, Canberra With every major conflict, there is a temporary period when titles that focus on war and conflict move from the back of the bookstore to the front. Many of these works, while valuable by themselves, often look at one conflict and sometimes one battle without considering the evolution of warfare. Placing individual …

Strategy and History: Essays on Theory and Practice   Written by: Colin S. Gray, Routledge, London, 2006, ISBN: 9780415386357, 234pp.   Reviewed By: Lieutenant Colonel Gav Reynolds, Senior Military Fellow, Land Warfare Studies Centre With twenty books and three hundred articles to his credit, Colin Gray’s name has become synonymous with the analysis of strategy. It must surely have been a daunting task to select eleven essays from his existing collection and use an unpublished twelfth to summarise his …

General Peter Cosgrove: My Story   Written by: General Peter Cosgrove, Harper Collins Publishers, NSW, 2006,  ISBN: 9780732283841, 468pp.     Reviewed by: Dr Albert Palazzo, Research Fellow, Land Warfare Studies Centre The writing of autobiography is a problematic endeavour. The author’s closeness to his subject makes attaining objectivity almost impossible and can thus call into question the work’s value and viewpoint. This is especially true when public records will remain closed for many years, …

The Partnership: The Inside Story of the US–Australian Alliance Under Bush and Howard   Written by: Greg Sheridan, University of New South Wales Press, 2006,  ISBN: 9780868409221, 260pp.   Reviewed by : Bree Larkham, Researcher, Land Warfare Studies Centre From its inception in 1951, the debate in Australia about ANZUS has been conducted broadly between two forces. There are those who oppose the alliance on the grounds that it is a manifestation of an ingrained Australian cringe to a distant imperial …

Failed States: The abuse of power and the assault on democracy   Written by: Noam Chomsky, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2006,  ISBN: 9780805082845, 328pp.   Reviewed by: Hugh Smith, Visiting Fellow, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy The main title of Chomsky’s latest book is somewhat misleading. It is not an examination of the misery experienced by the many Third World states riven by civil strife, criminality, corruption and …

Losing Iraq: Inside the Postwar Reconstruction Fiasco   Written by: David L. Phillips, Basic Books, New York, 2005, ISBN: 9780813343044, ix + 292pp.   Reviewed by: Major Lynda Liddy, Research Fellow, Land Warfare Studies Centre. In the aftermath of civil wars, international actors often worry about sectarianism, tribalism and ethnic division in war torn states. In Iraq, however, it is evident that forced regime change is also fraught with similar challenges. Religious and ethnic divisions, political …

Running the War in Iraq: An Australian general, 300,000 troops, the bloodiest conflict of our time   Written by: Jim Molan, HarperCollins Publishers, Sydney, 2008, ISBN: 9780732287818, 358 pp. Reviewed by: Albert Palazzo Major General Jim Molan has written a compelling, riveting, and fast paced memoir of his year in Iraq as a senior officer with the Headquarters Multi-National Force – Iraq. Molan’s primary position was Chief of Operations to the US Commander, General George G Casey, although he also played …

Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare   Written by: Daniel Marston and Carter Malkasian (eds), Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2008, ISBN: 9781849081641, 304 pp. Reviewed by: Lieutenant Colonel Mark O’Neill Daniel Marston and Carter Malkasian have much more in common than editorship of this topical anthology. They completed their doctoral studies at Oxford under the supervision of Professor Robert O’Neill (known to many readers of this journal, not only as a former Australian Army officer but also as a …

Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War   Written by: Peter Barham, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2004, ISBN: 9780300125115, 451 pp. Reviewed by: John McCarthy Peter Barham is a psychologist and a historian of mental health. Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War is a very successful attempt to rediscover the largely forgotten men who were certified as lunatics as a result of their 1914–18 war experiences. Wilfred Owen, killed in action on 4 November 1918 and awarded a posthumous Military Cross, noted such …

Robert E Lee: Icon for a Nation   Written by: Brian Holden Reid, pbk, Prometheus Books, 2007,  ISBN: 9781591025856, 271 pp. Reviewed by: Scott Hopkins Any study of General Robert E Lee confronts the interplay of myth and historiography. Lee, a Southern hero of the US Civil War, was almost deified in the ‘Lost Cause’ revisionist process in the second half of the nineteenth century. Interest in the Civil War has not faded, demonstrated by the crowded summer tourist trail around Virginia and Pennsylvania. Nor …