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Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq Written by: Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor, London, Atlantic Books, 2006, ISBN: 9781843543527, 603pp. Reviewed by: Colonel R. J. H. Noble, Directing Staff, Australian Command and Staff College All professional soldiers should read this book. Cobra II is an excellent, well-researched and professionally written account of the planning and conduct of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It concludes during the early stages of the post-invasion …
War Made New: Technology, Warfare and the Course of History 1500 to Today Written by: Max Boot, Gotham Books, New York, 2006, ISBN: 978-1592402229, 624 pp. Reviewed by: Antony Trentini, Visiting Fellow, Defence and Security Applications Research Centre. While it would seem, on the strength of the book’s title, that Max Boot would present an unbalanced and radical technological determinist argument with War Made New: Technology, Warfare and the Course of History 1500 to Today , he does not. Instead, …
An Introduction to the Causes of War: Patterns of Interstate Conflict from World War I to Iraq Written by: Greg Cashman and Leonard C. Robinson, Lanham, Maryland, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, ISBN: 978-1538127780, 423pp. Reviewed by: Dr Gregory P. Gilbert, Senior Research Officer, Sea Power Centre – Australia The majority of people who contribute to Australia’s defence are more involved with their day to day activities than with the international relations theory and practice that underpins their …
Contemporary Perspectives on Private Military Contractors Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War Written by: Dina Rasor and Robert Bauman, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2007, ISBN: 9781403981929, 274pp. Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army Written by: Jeremy Scahill, Serpent’s Tail, London, 2007, ISBN: 9781568583945, 438pp. Reviewed by: Antony Trentini The role of private contractors in war is no longer considered solely in terms of the …
Vietnam: The Australian War Written by: Paul Ham, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2007, ISBN: 9780732282370, 813 pp. Reviewed by: Brigadier John Essex-Clark (Retd) The Australian reading public have been presented over the past few years with books about Australia’s military history. Paul Ham, who previously authored Kokoda , has now contributed again with another blockbuster and tour de force in Vietnam . Like his previous book, this is a weighty tome, figuratively and literally, with 813 punchy pages including …
The Torch and the Sword: A History of the Army Cadet Movement in Australia Written by: Craig Stockings, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2007, ISBN: 9780868408385, 328pp. Reviewed by: Lieutenant General John Coates (Retd) For those among the reading audience who were never school cadets, this book is unlikely to be a riveting read. It is a subject that has not been handled comprehensively before, and as part of the frequently febrile defence debate, it deserves its place in Australia’s military and social history. …
Everyday Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam Among Palestinians in Lebanon Written by: Bernard Rougier, Harvard University Press, Cambridge: Massachusetts, 2007, ISBN: 9780674025295, 298 pp. Reviewed by: Lieutenant Colonel Jason Thomas This is not a text that will find its way onto the shelves of your local bookshop, though the reason is not because it has a title that raised a few eyebrows when I carried it onto some domestic airline flights. Bernard Rougier is a French academic who appears to have spent …
Taken By Force: Rape and American GIs in Europe during World War II Written by: J Robert Lilly, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2007, ISBN: 9780230506473, 272 pp. Reviewed by: Narelle Biedermann Reading a book that discusses rape so confrontingly and transparently in any context makes for a challenging and often difficult read. Sociologist and academic J. Robert Lilly sets himself an extraordinary task to make this unpalatable and highly sensitive topic approachable, and surprisingly, manages to do this …
Prisoners of the Japanese - Literary Imagination and the Prisoner of War Experience Written by: Roger Bourke, University of Queensland Publishing, Brisbane, 2006, ISBN: 9780702235641, 165 pp. Reviewed by: Captain Kate Tollenaar In Australian popular consciousness, the POW experience under the Japanese in the Second World War has always been significant, and importantly, this understanding has largely been gained from representation in narratives and film over the last sixty years. Roger Bourke’s …
General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man Written by: Edward G Longacre, Da Capo Press, New York, 2007, ISBN: 9780306812699, 338 pp. Reviewed by: Joseph K Smith The United States is in the middle of a bloody Civil War that continues to polarise public opinion. Opposing camps have emerged which comprise those supporters of the conflict who do not want to ‘cut and run’ and those detractors who desire peace and a withdrawal from the conflict. The Administration is struggling to maintain public …
