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.
1000 Days on the River Kwai
The secret diary of a British Camp Commandant
Colonel Cary Owtram, OBE
Pen & Sword Military 2017
Hardback 151pp RRP $38.77
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, April 2021
A Secret Australia
Revealed by the WikiLeaks exposés
Felicity Ruby and Peter Cronau (Eds)
Clayton, Melbourne: Monash University Publishing, 2020
Paperback 255pp RRP $29.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2021
Blind Strategist
John Boyd and the American Art of War
Stephen Robinson
Melbourne: Exisle Publishing, 2021
Hardcover 360pp RRP $49.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, April 2021
Dark Secrets
The True Story of Murder in HMAS Australia
Robert Hadler
Melbourne: Wilkinson Publishing, 2020
Paperback 320pp RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, April 2021
Fremantle’s Submarines
How Allied Submariners and Western Australians Helped to Win the War in the Pacific
Michael Sturma
Annapolis, Maryland USA: Naval Institute Press 2015
Hardcover 248pp RRP A$62.25
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, April 2021
Godley
The man behind the myth
Terry Kinloch
Dunedin, NZ: Exisle Publishing, 2018
Hardback 328pp RRP $59.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, April 2021
Law, Politics and Intelligence
A Life of Robert Hope
Peter Edwards
New South Books, 2020
Hardback 416pp RRP $49.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, May 2021
Military Ethics and Leadership
Peter H. J. Olsthoorn (Ed)
Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishing, 2017
Hardback 308pp RRP $286.90
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, March 2021
No Ordinary Determination
Percy Black and Harry Murray of the First AIF
2nd Edition
Jeff Hatwell
Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Press, 2014
Paperback 340pp RRP $24.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, May 2001
On Our Doorstep
When Australia faced the threat of invasion by the Japanese
Craig Collie
Gosford, NSW: Allen & Unwin 2021
Paperback 416pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, March 2021
Secret & Special
The untold story of Z Special Unit in the Second World War
Will Davies
Melbourne: Vintage (Penguin Random House), 2021
Paperback 400pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, March 2021
The Changing of the Guard
The British Army since 9/11
Simon Akam
Brunswick, Vic: Scribe Publications, 2021
Hardcover 704pp RRP $60.00
Reviewer: Rob Ellis, April 2021
The Lost Boys
The untold stories of the under-age soldiers who fought in the First World War
Paul Byrnes
South Melbourne: Affirm Press, 2019
Paperback 368pp RRP $45.00
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, April 2021
Wars without End
New Zealand's Land Wars - A Māori Perspective
Danny Keenan
New Zealand: Penguin NZ, 2021
Paperback 304pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Robert Ellis, April 2021
South Pacific Air War
Volume 4
Buna and Milne Bay June - September 1942
Michael Claringbould & Peter Ingman
Kent Town, SA: Avonmore Books, 2020;
Softcover 180pp RRP $44.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, March 2021
Bay of Pigs
CIA’s Cuban Disaster, April 1961
[Cold War 1945 - 1991 Series]
Phil Carradice
Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Military 2018
Paperback 136pp RRP $39.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, December 2020
Pure Massacre
Aussie soldiers reflect on the Rwandan Genocide
Kevin O’Halloran
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing 2020
Paperback 303pp $29.99
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, December 2020
The Ottoman Army and the First World War
Mesut Uyar
Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge 2021
Hardback 466 + xviii pp., illus., maps
RRP $236.72
Reviewer: Michael Tyquin, January 2021
Atomic Salvation
How the A-Bomb attacks saved the lives of 32 million people
Tom Lewis
Big Sky Publishing, 2020
Paperback 364pp RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Robert Ellis, February 2021
The Korean Kid
A young Australian pilot’s baptism of fire
in the jet fighter age
Rochelle Nicholls
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2020
Paperback 340pp RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2021
Dunera Lives. Volume 2
Profiles
Ken Inglis et al
Clayton, Vic: Monash University Publishing, 2020
Paperback 512pp RRP $39.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2021
The Death of Glory
The Western Front, 1915
Robin Neillands
London: John Murray, 2006
Paperback 298pp RRP: $39.95
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, February 2021
Britain at Bay
The epic story of the Second World War: 1938-1941
Alan Allport
Gosford, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2020
Hardback 608pp RRP $49.99
Reviewer: Robert Ellis, February 2012
Letters from the veldt
The imperial advance to Pretoria through the eyes of
Edward Hutton and his brigade of colonials
Craig Stockings
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing 2020
Paperback 286pp RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, December 2020
You Shouldn't Have Joined ...
A memoir
Sir Peter Cosgrove
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2020
Hardcover 440pp $49.99
Reviewer: RUSI-VIC, November 2020
William Holmes
The Soldiers' General
Geoffrey Travers
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2020
Hardback 424pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, November 2020
Radio Girl
The story of the extraordinary Mrs Mac,
pioneering engineer and wartime legend
David Dufty
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2020.
Paperback 312pp RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Joy Cullen, November 2020
The Gallipoli Evacuation
Peter Hart
Manly, NSW: Living History, 2020
Paperback 312pp RRP$35.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, November 2020
Red Lead
The legendary Australian ship's cat who survived the sinking of HMAS Perth and the Thai-Burma Railway
Roland Perry
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2020
Paperback 344pp RRP 29.99
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, November 2020
Our Mob Served
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Histories of War and Defending Australia
Allison Cadzow, Mary Anne Jebb (Eds)
Northcote, Vic: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2019
Paperback 320pp RRP $39.95
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, November 2020
For Valour
Australians Awarded the Victoria Cross
Aaron Pegram, Craig Blanch
Randwick, NSW: NewSouth Books, 2018
Hardback 512pp $79.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, 1 December 2020
For Gallantry
Australians awarded the George Cross
& the Cross of Valour
Craig Blanch
Randwick, NSW: NewSouth Books, 2020
Hardback 192pp RRP $69.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2020
Combat Medic
An Australian’s eyewitness account of the Kibeho Massacre
Terry Pickard
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2020
Paperback 188pp $24.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2020
Endell Street
The Women who ran Britain’s Trailblazing Military Hospital
Wendy Moore
London, Allen & Unwin (Atlantic Books), 2020
Hardcover 384pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Joy Cullen, November 2020
Australians and the First World War
Local-Global Connections and Contexts
Kate Ariotti, James E Bennett (Eds.)
USA, Springer Nature Publishing: (Palgrave Macmillan) 2017
Hardcover 272pp RRP $169.00
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, September 2020
ANZUK
What was it?
Colin Campbell
Canberra: Camp Bell Publishing, 2020
Paperback 278pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Michael O’Brien, October 2020
China’s Grand Strategy and Australia’s Future
in the New Global Order
Geoff Raby
Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 2020
Paperback 232pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Bruce Brown, October 2020
COSSAC
Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan and the Genesis of Operation OVERLORD
(Studies in Naval History and Sea Power)
Annapolis, Maryland, US: Naval Institute Press, 2020
Hardcover 336pp RRP $64.25
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, August 2020
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
In the Footsteps of the First
1st Australian Light Horse Regiment
1st Edition
Anne Flood
Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.: Triple D Books, 2012
Paperback 188pp RRP $39.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, September 2020
In the Footsteps of the First
The History of the 1st Light Horse Regiment AIF 1916 – 1919
Anne Flood
Wagga Wagga, NSW: Anne L Flood, 2019
Paperback 418pp RRP $45.00
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, September 2020
Right Man, Right Place, Worst Time
Commander Eric Feldt His Life and His Coastwatchers
Dr Betty Lee
Boolarong Press 2019
Paperback 330pp RRP 32.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, October 2020
The Last Navigator
Paul Goodwin with Gordon Goodwin
Crows Nest NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2020
Paperback 352pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, June 2020
U-Boat Commander Oskar Kusch
Anatomy of a Nazi-Era Betrayal and Judicial Murder
Eric Rust
Annapolis, Maryland, US: Naval Institute Press, 2020
Hardcover 384pp RRP A$64.25
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, October 2020
A Rat of Tobruk
A Digger’s Lost Images of the Siege
Mike Rosel
North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2020
Paperback 108pp. RRP $29.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, July 2020
Surviving the Great War
Australian prisoners of war on the Western Front 1916-18
[Australian Army History Series]
Aaron Pegram
Port Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press, 2020
Hardcover xvii, 261pp. RRP $59.95
Reviewer: Michael O’Brien, June 2020
Brisbane at War
1899 - 1918
Barry Shaw (Ed)
Tingalpa QLD: Boolarong Press 2017
Paperback 252pp RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, July 2020
The Cost of War
War, Return and the Re-Shaping of Australian Culture
Stephen Garton
Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2020
Paperback 308pp RRP $40.00
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, July 2020
Clash of the Gods of War
Australian Artillery and
the Firepower Lessons of the Great War
William Westerman & Nicholas Floyd (Eds)
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2020
Hardback ix, 480pp. RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Michael O’Brien, June 2020
The Grand Deception
Churchill and the Dardanelles
Tom Curran
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2015.
Hardcover 318pp. RRP: $34.99
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, July 2020
Hospital Ships
Rupert Goodman
Tingalpa Qld: Boolarong Press, 2016
Paperback 310pp. RRP $29.99
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, July 2020
The Making of Warriors
The story of the 2/1st Infantry Battalion
The City of Sydney Regiment 1939-1942
Graham J Smith
Dural, NSW: Rosenberg Publishing, 2020.
Paperback 248pp RRP $34.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, August 2020
Military Law in Australia
Robin Creyke, Dale Stephens and Peter Sutherland (Eds)
Alexandria, NSW: Federation Press and Softlaw Community Projects 2019
Paperback xxiv + 395pp RRP $130.00
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, June 2020
The Ratline
Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive
Philippe Sands
London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson (Hachette UK), 2020
Paperback 431pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, July 2020
Nazi Dreamtime
Australian Enthusiasm for Hitler’s Germany
David S Bird
North Melbourne Vic: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2012.
Paperback xviii + 448pp RRP $44.00
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, June 2020
The Thousand Doors
Australian Doctors at War Vol 4,
The Middle East and Far East 1939 - 1942
Colonel Robert Likeman.
Braddon, Australian Capital Territory: Halstead Press, 2019
Hardcover 463pp RRP $65.00
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, June 2020
Oil under Troubled Water
Australia's Timor Sea Intrigue
Bernard Collaery
Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing Academic, 2020
Paperback 277pp RRP $39.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, June 2020
The Vietnam War
An Intimate History
Geoffrey C Ward and Ken Burns
London: Ebury Press, 2019
Paperback xiii + 826 pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, June 2020
Radar Gunner
Dick Dakeyne, DFC
Coolalinga NT: David M Welch, 2015
Hardback 142pp RRP $29.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, August 2020
World War II at Sea
A Global History
Craig L Symonds
Hardback 792pp RRP $55.95
Reviewer: Michael Hili, May 2020
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