Book Reviews
These reviews represent the personal opinion of the reviewer and do not reflect the official position of the Royal United Services Institute of Victoria Inc. They are presented to allow readers to evaluate readings on defence, both past and current.
Click on the book cover to get to the Book Review.
Darwin Spitfires
The real battle for Australia
Anthony Cooper
New South Books, 2022
Paperback 568pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Mike Rawlinson, February 2023
Malayan Emergency and Indonesian Confrontation 1950 to 1966
[Australian Air Campaign Series – 2]
Mark Lax
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2021
Paperback 278pp RRP $19.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, February 2023
Dunkirk to D-Day
A Commando’s War
Jeff Steel and Linda Adlam Nash
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2022
Paperback 360pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Adrian Catt, February 2023
Sub-Imperial Power
Australia in the International Arena
Clinton Fernandes
Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press, 2022
Paperback 176pp RRP $24.99
Reviewer: Bruce Brown, February 2023
Semut
The Untold Story of a Secret Australian Operation in WWII Borneo
Christine Helliwell
Docklands, Victoria: Penguin Random House, 2021
Paperback 576pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2023
The Greatest Raid
St Nazaire, 1942: The Heroic Story of Operation Chariot
Giles Whittell
London, UK: Penguin Books, 2022
Paperback 304pp RRP $35.00
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, January 2023
Australian Force Somalia
1992 - 1993
[Australian Army Campaign Series – 31]
Bob Breen
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2022
Paperback 184pp RRP $19.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2023
The Greatest Escape
A gripping story of wartime courage and adventure
Neil Churches
Macmillan, NSW: New South Publishing, 2022
Hardback 368pp RRP $45.90
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, February 2023
Find Fix Finish
From Tampa to Afghanistan - how Australia's special forces became
enmeshed in the US kill/capture program
Ben McKelvey
Sydney, NSW: Harper Collins Australia 2022
Paperback 400pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Adrian Catt, December 2022
Rogue Forces
An explosive insiders’ account of Australian SAS War Crimes in Afghanistan
Mark Willacy
Cammeray, NSW: Simon & Schuster, 2021
Paperback. Length: 416pp RRP $35.00
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, January 2023
The Battle of Long Tan
Peter Fitzsimons
Sydney, NSW: Hachette, 2022
Hardback 512pp RRP $49.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, December 2022
The Worst Military Leaders in History
John M Jennings and Chuck Steele (Eds)
London: Reaktion Books, 2022
Hardcover 336pp RRP $39.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, January 2023
Australia Remembers
Volumes 1 to 6
Various authors
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2022
The Cowra Breakout
The compelling untold story of the only World War II battle
fought on Australian soil.
Mat McLachlan
Sydney, NSW: Hachette, 2022
Paperback 320pp RRP$32.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, January 2023
Australia’s Secret Army
The story of the Coast Watchers,
Elizabeth Tynan
Sydney, NSW: Hachette, 2022
Paperback 352pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, December 2022
Contest for the Indo-Pacific
Why China Won’t Map the Future
Rory Metcalf
Collingwood, Vic: Black Inc Books, 2020
Paperback 320pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Kevan Anderson, September 2022
Burning Steel
A Tank Regiment at War 1939-45
Peter Hart
London: Profile Books, 2022
Paperback 568pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Robert Ellis, December 2022
Fact or Fission?
The Truth about Australia’s Nuclear Ambition
Richard Broinowski
Brunswick, VIC: Scribe Publications, 2022
Paperback 352pp RRP $35.00
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2022
Niche Wars
Australia in Afghanistan and Iraq, 2001-2014
John Blaxland, Marcus Fielding, Thea Gellerfy (Eds)
Canberra ACT: ANU Press, 2020
Paperback 409pp RRP $70.00
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, November 2022
Hitler’s War in Africa 1941 - 1942
David Mitchelhill-Green
Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Military, 2021
Hardcover 176pp RRP $59.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, October 2022
The Battle of Passchendaele
[Australian Army Campaigns Series – 28]
Ian Finlayson
Crows Nest, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2020
Paperback 172pp RRP $19.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, October 2022
Russia
Revolution and Civil War 1917 -1921
Antony Beevor
London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2022
Hardback 592pp RRP $60.50
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, October 2022
The Boy in the Dress
Investigating a tragic unsolved murder
in wartime Australia that echoes through the ages
Jonathan Butler
Sydney, NSW: Affirm Press, 2022
Paperback 288pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, September 2022
The Bomb
Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War
Fred Kaplan
New York: Simon & Shuster, 2021
Paperback 372 pp RRP $18.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, November 2022
The Scrap Iron Flotilla
Five valiant destroyers and the Australian War in the Mediterranean
Mike Carlton
Docklands, Vic: Penguin Random House, 2022
Paperback 448pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, November 2022
The Resilience Shield
SAS resilience techniques to master your mindset and overcome adversity
Dr Dan Pronk, Ben Pronk DSC, and Tim Curtis
Sydney, NSW: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2021
Paperback 336pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, October 2022
August in Kabul
America’s last days in Afghanistan
Andrew Quilty
Carlton VIC: Melbourne University Press, 2022
Paperback 304pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, September 2022
The Witness
The fighting had ended but for Sandakan's most notorious prisoner the war was not over
Tom Gilling
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2022
Paperback 320pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2022
Dasher
The Kevin Wheatley VC Story
Michael C Madden
Crows Nest, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2021
Paperback 324pp RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, August 2022
Our Exceptional Friend
Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States
Emma Shortis
Richmond, Vic: Hardie Grant Books, 2021
Paperback 288pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Bruce Brown, September 2022
Eight Hundred Heroes
China’s Lost Battalion and the Fall of Shanghai
Stephen Robinson
Gosford, NSW: Exisle Publishing, 2022
Hardcover 304pp RRP $49.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, August 2022
Survivor
Life in the SAS
Mark Wales
Sydney, NSW: Pan Macmillan, 2021
Paperback 368pp RRP $35.00
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, August 2022
On Operations
Operational Art and Military Disciplines
Annapolis, Maryland, US: Naval Institute Press, 2021
Hardcover. 256pp RRP $56.43
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, August 2022
The Ledger
Accounting for Failure in Afghanistan
David Kilcullen and Greg Mills
Sydney, NSW: New South Books, 2021
Paperback 368pp RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, September 2022
A Short History of War
Jeremy Black
New Haven, Connecticut, US: Yale University Press, 2021
Hardback 272pp RRP $30.95
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, May 2022
The Royal Australian Air Force in South Australia during WWII
Adelaide - Gawler - Mallala - Mount Gambier - Parafield - Port Pirie - Victor Harbor
Peter Ingham
Avonmore Books, 2021 Paperback 96pp RRP $30.00
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, July 2022
Mau Mau Whitewash – Britain Slandered
A Critique of the Revisionist Account of Mau Mau
Lee Boldeman
Brisbane, QLD: Copyright Publishing, 2021
Paperback 376pp RRP $49.50
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, May 2022
Under Beijing's Shadow
Southeast Asia's China Challenge
Murray Hiebert
Lanham, Maryland US: Roman & Littlefield, 2020
Hardcover, 608 pages RRP $76.14
Reviewer: Bruce Brown, June 2022
Operation Pedestal
The Fleet that Battled to Malta, 1942
Max Hastings
London: William Collins, 2021
Hardback 464pp RRP $35.00
Reviewer: Brian Surtees, May 2022
Keith Payne VC
No One Left Behind
Keith Payne VC
Sydney, NSW: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2021
Hardback 448pp RRP $49.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, April 2022
Save Our Sons
Women, Dissent and Conscription during the Vietnam War
Carolyn Collins
Clayton, Vic.: Monash University Publishing 2021
Paperback 360pp RRP $34.95
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, June 2022
Morrison’s Mission
How a beginner reshaped Australian Foreign policy
Paul Kelly
North Sydney, NSW: Penguin, 2022
Paperback 256pp RRP $12.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, May 2022
The Battlefield of Imperishable Memory
Passchendaele and the ANZAC Legend
Matthew Haultain-Gall
Clayton, Vic: Monash University Publishing, 2021
Paperback 336pp RRP $34.95
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, March 2022
Sad Joys on Deployment
Greg Bruce
Canary Wharf, London UK: Austin Macauley Publishers, 2020
Paperback 176pp RRP $19.75
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, May 2022
The Sailor’s Bookshelf
Fifty Books to Know the Sea
James Stavridis
Annapolis, MA, USA: Annapolis Institute Press, 2021
Hardcover 232pp RRP $69.25
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, March 2022
Soldiers and Aliens
Men in the Australian Army’s Employment Companies
during World War II
June Factor
Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press, 2022
Paperback 352pp RRP $39.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, May 2022
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Aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force
RAAF
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2021
Hardback 640pp RRP $59.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2022
The Emperor’s Grace
Untold Stories of Australians Enslaved in Japan during WWII
Mark Baker
Clayton, Vic: Monash University Publishing, 2021
Paperback 208pp RRP $34.96
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, March 2022
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Bastard Behind the Lines
The extraordinary story of Jock McLaren's escape from Sandakan and his guerrilla war against the Japanese
Tom Gilling
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin 2021
Paperback 256pp RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, December 2021
Vera Deakin and the Red Cross
Carole Woods
Melbourne: Melbourne: Royal Historical Society Victoria, 2020
Hardcover. RRP $35.00
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, March 2022
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Edith Blake's War
The only Australian Nurse killed in action in the First World War
Krista Vane-Tempest
Kensington, NSW: New South Books, 2021
Paperback 336pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, January 2022
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Not Playing the Game
Sport and Australia’s Great War
Xavier Fowler
Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press, 2021
Softcover 288pp RRP $39.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, January 2022
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Failures of Command
The death of Private Robert Poate
Hugh Poate
Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2021
Paperback 368pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, March 2022
Passchendaele
A New History
Nick Lloyd
London: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2017
Paperback 464pp RRP $23.75
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, January 2022
Blood Lust, Trust & Blame
In the National Interest Series
Samantha Crompvoets
Clayton, Vic: Monash University Publishing, 2021
Paperback 96pp RRP $19.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, October 2021
The Battle for Shaggy Ridge
The extraordinary story of the Australian campaign against the Japanese in New Guinea's Finisterre mountains in 1943-44
Phillip Bradley
Allen & Unwin, 2021
Paperback 328pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2022
Courage Under Fire
An extraordinary soldier, an extraordinary day, a lifelong legacy
Daniel Keighran VC with Tony Park
Sydney, NSW: Pan Macmillan, 2020
Hardback 384pp RRP $44.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, October 2021
When He Came Home
The Impact of War on Partners and Children of Veterans
Dianne Dempsey
Sydney, NSW: Arcadia, 2021
Paperback 448pp RRP $29.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, January 2022
Island off the Coast of Asia
Instruments of Statecraft in Australian Foreign Policy
Clinton Fernandes
Clayton, Vic: Monash University Publishing, 2018
Paperback. 236pp RRP $29.95
Reviewer: Bruce Brown, November 2021
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Mosul
Australia's secret war inside the ISIS caliphate
Ben Mckelvey
Sydney, NSW: Hachette, 2020
Paperback 352pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, March 2022
Counter Attack: Villers-Bretonneux
April 1918
[Australian Army History Series]
Peter Edgar
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing 16 Mar 2020
Paperback 160pp RRP $19.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2020