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Defense Acquisition Reform 1960–2009: An Elusive Goal   Written by: J. Ronald Fox, Center of Military History United States Army, Washington, D.C., 2011, ISBN: 9780160866975, 268 pp.1   Reviewed by: Scott Richardson, Land Warfare Studies Centre As may be expected, a book entitled Defence Acquisition Reform 1960–2009: An Elusive Goal is unlikely to attract a wide audience of avid readers. An account of United States (US) Department of Defense efforts at procure-ment reform compiled by J. Ronald Fox, a …

The Battle for Lone Pine: Four Days of Hell at the Heart of Gallipoli   Written by: David W. Cameron, Viking, 2012, ISBN: 9780143572114, 386 pp   Reviewed by: Dr Karl James, Australian War Memorial Built on the heart of the old battlefield, Lone Pine Cemetery on Gallipoli Peninsula is today a place of contemplation and reflection. It contains the remains of over 1100 Commonwealth servicemen including 182 Australians killed in the area, mostly during August 1915, and who are known or believed to be buried …

Hell’s Battlefield: The Australians in New Guinea in World War II   Written by: Phillip Bradley, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2012, ISBN: 9781743317556, 506 pp   Reviewed by: John Moremon, Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Massey University Close to 20 years ago, Peter Stanley, the respected and industrious historian who nowadays heads the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia, declared that there was a ‘green hole’ in Australian military historiography. He noted that the …

Exit Wounds: One Australian’s War on Terror   Written by: Major General John Cantwell (Retd) with Greg Bearup, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2012, ISBN: 9780522861785, 374 pp   Reviewed by: Dr John Blaxland, Senior Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre Wow! This book is hard to put down. At first I was a bit reluctant to purchase a copy, assuming from the cover that the book was a little self-indulgent. After all, Major General John Cantwell had a dream career and one that many others …

The Kokoda Campaign 1942: Myth and Reality   Written by: Peter Williams,  Cambridge, Melbourne, 2012,  ISBN: 9781107015944, 304 pp   Reviewed by: Lieutenant Colonel Gavin Keating, SO1 Amphibious Development, Deployable Joint Force Headquarters Mythology plays an important role in the way that societies frame their histories and this is particularly true for the profession of arms. Australia’s military history offers numerous examples of this phenomenon — Breaker Morant, the landings at Gallipoli, the Rats …

The China Choice: Why America Should Share Power   Written by: Hugh White,  Black Inc, 2012,  ISBN: 9780199684717, 208 pp Reviewed by: Andrew O’Neil, Professor in the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University and Director of the Griffith Asia Institute After a period in which numerous observers claimed that relations between states were becoming a secondary consideration with the rise of globalisa- tion and its symptoms such as jihadist terrorism, geopolitics has returned to …

Architecture in Uniform: Designing and Building for the Second World War   Written by: Jean-Louis Cohen, Canadian Centre for Architecture in association with Yale University Press, New Haven, 2011, ISBN 9782754105309, 447pp   Reviewed by: Professor Peter Stanley, University of New South Wales, Canberra Design defines much of the essence of the Second World War. The distinctive appearance of Lancasters, Ju88s or Mustangs; of Panthers, Shermans and Jeeps; of the helmets of the combatant nations, German, …

One False Move, Bravest of the Brave: The Australian Mine Defusers in World War Two   Written by: Robert Macklin, Hachette, 2012, ISBN 9780733627941, 384pp   Reviewed by: Warrant Officer Class One Wayne Schoer, Australian Army As a long-serving member of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) community and a student of our history, I was anticipating a good read and the possibility of filling some gaps in my knowledge of the roots of the trade. The opening chapters of One False Move deal with some …

Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life During War   Written by: Zachariah Cherion Mampilly, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 2011, ISBN 9780801449130, 320pp   Reviewed by: Lieutenant Alexander Ryrie, Australian Army This is an ambitious book which aims to shed light on the poorly researched subject of insurgent governance during time of war. The central argument of the book is that insurgent governments should be recognised by the international community lest the many civilians …

Bill the Bastard   Written by: Roland Perry, Allen & Unwin, 2012,  ISBN 9781743312629, 288pp   Reviewed by: Margaret Palazzo, Hawker College, Canberra Roland Perry’s Bill the Bastard is a story of Australian servicemen, in particular the men of the Light Horse, and their mounts during the Gallipoli and Palestine campaigns of the First World War. The book focuses on its namesake, the infamous and later adored Waler, Bill ‘the Bastard’, and his trooper Major Michael Shanahan, although this book is ultimately …