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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 …

  Written by: Anthony King John Wiley & Sons , 2021, 288 pp Paperback ISBN: 978-1-509-54366-3 Hardback ISBN: 978-1-509-54365-6   Reviewed by:  Charles Knight We run into a curious void in the literature of warfare. Those practitioners of the art who were also its ablest theorists, scholars and writers dwelt on its varied aspects to the limit of their imaginations. One thing, however, they did not touch upon—combat where life is centred. Run through the list of writers and their works—Frederick, de Saxe, …

  Written by David Horner Allen & Unwin Book Publishers , 2022, 464 pp Paperback ISBN: 9781761065958   Reviewed by:  John Nash Eminent historian David Horner’s latest work is concerned with Australian war leadership and asks the question: ‘Why has Australia gone to war nine times in a century?’ It focuses on the politicians and top-level military leaders in Australian history and examines why and how Australia committed its troops to wars, from the First World War through to the second Iraq War in 2003. …

  Written by Craig Stockings University of New South Wales Press , 2022, 976 pp Hardback ISBN: 9781742236230 eBook ISBN: 9781742239354   Reviewed by:  Jean Bou Australia has a unique tradition of official histories of its military commitments. In most countries, official histories reflect the tradition of the ‘staff history’. Produced by the military services themselves, the emphasis is on military matters and how those services went about things with the resources at their disposal. One consequence is …

Elite Souls: Portraits of Valor in Iraq and Afghanistan   Written by: Raymond James Yamond Naval Institute Press , 2022, 384 pp Hardcover ISBN: 9781682477137   Reviewed by: Garth Pratten In many respects Elite Souls: Portraits of Valor in Iraq and Afghanistan is a straightforward book. Raymond James Raymond, a former British diplomat and more recently historian and social scientist, delivers exactly what he promises in the title: five stories of young United States Army officers in action during the most …