Search
Using the filters to the left, click your selection, it will become bold and filter the results, click it again to remove that filter.
The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations Volume 1: The Long Search for Peace, Observer Missions and Beyond, 1947–2006 Written by: Peter Londey, Rhys Crawley and David Horner, Cambridge University Press, 2019, ISBN 9781108482981, 899pp Reviewed by Jason Thomas Despite being entitled ‘Volume 1’, this is one of the final volumes of the Australian War Memorial’s peacekeeping series to be released. With a title that matches its length (900 pages), it is a …
Making Warriors in a Global Era: An Ethnographic Study of the Norwegian Naval Special Operations Commando Written by: Tone Danielson Lexington Books, 2018, ISBN 9781498561815, 178pp Reviewed by Dr Kieran Stewart I am not even sure what our culture is today. So many things have changed. It might help us to have an outsider’s view and analyses. You know how things are normally done in the military; they [strategic level] send a hired consultant who will tell us ‘use this model, and then you will have …
The Strategic Corporal Revisited: Challenges Facing Combatants in 21st Century Warfare Eds: David W Lovell and Deane-Peter Baker UCT Press, 2017, ISBN 9781775822202, 210pp Reviewed by Diana Clark Gill Edited books command a reader’s attention differently from single-author volumes. The former are beehives of perspectives, while the latter enjoy the force of a single mind. For this book, though, I endorse the editors’ choice of the group approach due to the complexity of the subject. The book’s …
Book Review: From the Somme to Victory: The British Army’s Experience on the Western Front 1916–1918
From the Somme to Victory: The British Army’s Experience on the Western Front 1916–1918 Written by: Peter Simkins Pen and Sword, 2014, ISBN 9781781593127, 256pp Reviewed by: Brigadier Chris Roberts (Ret’d) AM, CSC This excellent book contains eight essays previously written by the highly respected Professor Peter Simkins over the 15 years prior to 2014. He has revised and updated each essay with new material that has become available since they first appeared. In doing so, he tackles some of the myths, …
Guarding the Periphery: The Australian Army in Papua New Guinea, 1951–75 Written by: Tristan Moss Cambridge University Press, 2017, ISBN 9781108182638, 284pp Reviewed by: Lieutenant Colonel Mark O’Neill Dr Tristan Moss is currently a researcher on the Official Histories of Australian Operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor at the Australian War Memorial and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Canberra. He is also a previous winner of the C. E. W. Bean Prize for Military …
The Last Battle: Endgame on the Western Front, 1918 Written by: Peter Hart Oxford University Press, 2018, ISBN 9780190872984, 464pp Reviewed by: Brigadier Chris Roberts (Ret’d) AM, CSC In 2008 Peter Hart, oral historian at the Imperial War Museum, wrote 1918: A Very British Victory , in which he covered the fighting throughout 1918 from a largely British and Commonwealth perspective. In his latest work, The Last Battle: Endgame on the Western Front,1918 , Hart returns to the last year of the war with …
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 …
Book Review: Fighting the People’s War: The British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War
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 …
