Leadership Secrets of the Australian Army: Learn from the Best and Inspire Your Team to Great Results   Written by: Brigadier Nicholas Jans (Ret’d) OAM Allen and Unwin, 2018, ISBN 9781760631802, 208pp Reviewed by: Dr Stephen Mugford There are two kinds of leadership books. 1 The first deploys theoretical ideas and research in the socio-psychological sciences to understand and analyse the phenomenon; and the second focuses on gathering experiences and stories which a reader can appreciate and draw guidance …

Command and Morale: The British Army on the Western Front 1914–1918   Written by Gary Sheffield Pen and Sword, 2014, ISBN 9781781590218, 264pp   Reviewed by: Brigadier Chris Roberts (Ret’d) AM, CSC In Command and Morale: The British Army on the Western Front 1914– 1918 , the prolific Great War scholar Gary Sheffield delivers 13 essays on a range of subjects broadly concerned with the topics of the main title. Written between 1986 and 2014, all of the chapters, except one, have been published previously, …

Beyond Combat: Australian Military Activity Away from the Battlefield   Edited by Tristan Moss and Tom Richardson New South Books, 2018, ISBN 9781742235905, 256pp   Reviewed by: Major Lee Hayward It is not unreasonable to expect that a casual observer of Australian military history might form the opinion that the identity of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has been built almost exclusively on the wars it has fought. This book provides some fascinating insights into the lives and experiences of ADF …

Fighting the People’s War: The British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War     Written by: Jonathan Fennell Cambridge University Press, 2019, ISBN 9781139380881, 966pp   Reviewed by: Dr William Westerman There is an unfortunate tendency with some writers of popular-level military history to produce big books that say very little—at least, very little that is original or insightful. Jonathan Fennell’s Fighting the People’s War is a towering example of what can and should be done with a …

How to Defend Australia     Written by: Hugh White La Trobe University Press, 2019, ISBN 9781760640996, 336pp   Reviewed by: Dr Albert Palazzo There are occasions when the sum of a book’s parts is more profound than its individual thoughts. Hugh White, an emeritus professor at the Australian National University and one of Australia’s premier strategic thinkers, has done the nation a service in writing this book. If anyone can move the Australian Government and people to seriously rethink the fundamentals …

Criminologies of the Military: Militarism, National Security and Justice     Edited by Ben Wadham and Andrew Goldsmith Onati International Series in Law and Society, Hart Publishing, UK, 2018, ISBN 1509904867, 224pp   Reviewed by: Dr David Mount In Criminologies of the Military , Wadham and Goldsmith have set themselves a formidable task: to encapsulate the concept of crime committed by, within and against military (and military-like) entities in order to better understand the sources and natures of those …

Blood and Concrete: 21st Century Conflict in Urban Centers and Megacities     Edited by Dave Dilegge, Robert J Bunker, John P Sullivan and Alma Keshavarz Small Wars Foundation, 2019, ISBN 9781984573759, 705pp   Reviewed by: Lieutenant Colonel Dayton McCarthy Positioning itself to capture the burgeoning interest in cities and how armies might interact with and within them, Blood and Concrete is a compendium of over 50 short articles on various aspects of urban warfare that have appeared on the Small Wars …

Researching the Military     Edited by Helena Carreiras, Celso Castro and Sabina Frederic Routledge, 2016,  ISBN 1138309249, 221pp   Reviewed by: Major Cate Carter Conducting social research on the military is a complex endeavour. It involves theoretical traditions from a multitude of disciplines and a variety of methodological approaches. There are unique challenges to studying an organisation which has restricted access and often hazardous working conditions, and researchers need to approach their …

Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ Conflict   Written by: Anthony Ware and Costas Laoutides Hurst & Company, 2018 ISBN 9781849049047, 276pp   Reviewed by: Chaplain Darren Cronshaw Suggesting simple solutions is not helpful for a crisis as complex as that involving the Rohingya people in Myanmar, which is why Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ Conflict by Anthony Ware and Costas Laoutides is a welcome analysis pointing in constructive directions. The conflict and resulting refugee crisis of Myanmar’s Rohingya people has involved …

  Written by: Williamswon Murray Cambridge University Press , 2011, 332 pp Paperback ISBN: 9780511996252   Reviewed by: Chris Roberts Professor Emeritus Williamson Murray, a Vietnam veteran, has written, and co-edited over 20 books on strategy, military effectiveness and military history. All are worth reading. Murray bases his works on sound research of past events, keen analysis, and a deep understanding of the realities of politics, strategy and war. Underlying his work is a strong belief in the value …