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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

All the Broken Soldiers

Private Kennedy’s War

 

Jan McLeod and Andrew McCleod

Newport, NSW : Big Sky Publishing, 2022

Paperback    264pp  RRP: $32.99

 

Reviewer: Robert Dixon, March 2024

Because Our Fathers Lied

From Boer to World War: Australia’s Baptism by Fire

 

Paula Astridge

Warriewood NSW : Woodslane Press, 2022

Paperback    220pp  RRP: $24.95

 

Reviewer: Rob Ellis, February 2024

Bloody Buna

The Battle for the Beachhead New Guinea 1942-43

 

David W. Cameron

Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2023

Paperback        440pp     RRP: $32.99

 

Reviewer: Rob Ellis, May 2024

Chasing Bandits in the Badlands

Australian Soldiers adjusting attitudes in Somalia 1993

 

Bob Breen

Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2023

Paperback 264pp   RRP: $29.99

 

Reviewer: Mike Arnett, May 2024

Desert Diggers

Writings From a War Zone

‘Somewhere in the Middle East’ 1940-1942

 

David Mitchelhill-Green

Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2023

Paperback    448pp   RRP: $32.99

 

Reviewer: Robert Dixon, May 2024

DREADFUL LADY OVER THE MEKONG DELTA

RAAF Canberras in the Vietnam War

[Australian Air Campaign Series – 7]

 

Bob Howe

Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2023

Paperback     223pp   RRP:$19.99

 

Reviewer: Adrian Catt, May 2024

Great-Uncle Harry: 

A Tale of War and Empire

 

Michael Palin

North Sydney, NSW: Penguin Random House, 2023

Paperback   326pp    RRP: $24.99

 

Reviewer: Rob Ellis, April 2024

Head Hunters in the Malayan Emergency

The Atrocity and Cover-up

 

Dan Poole

Barnsely, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword, 2023

Hardcover     176pp       RRP: $48.25

 

Reviewer: Neville Taylor, March 2024

HOW to WIN an INFORMATION WAR

The Propagandist who Outwitted Hitler

 

Peter Pomerantsev

London : Faber & Faber Limited, 2024

Hardback  304pp   RRP: $49.99

 

Reviewer: David Rees, May 2024

Sword and Baton

Senior Australian Army Officers from Federation to 2001

Volume Two: 1939 to 1962

 

Justin Chadwick

Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2023

Hardcover    752pp    RRP: $36.99

 

Reviewer: Rob Ellis, May 2024

The Battle of the Beams

The Secret Science of Radar that turned the tide of the Second World War

 

Tom Whipple

North Sydney, NSW: Penguin Random House, 2023   Paperback    320pp  RRP: $35.00

 

Reviewer: Robert Dixon, March 2024

The Battle Within

POWs in post-war Australia

 

Christina Twomey

Randwick, NSW: New South Books, 2018

Paperback    320pp    RRP:$39.99 

 

Reviewer: Adrian Catt, February 2024

The Eagle in the Mirror

In search of Australian War Hero, Master Spy and Alleged Traitor,

Charles Howard ‘Dick’ Ellis

 

Jesse Fink

Melbourne, VIC: Viking, 2023

Paperback ‎     352pp      RRP: $34.99

 

Reviewer: Adrian Catt, March 2024

The Home Front

The Never-Ending War within our Veterans

 

Patrick Lindsay

South Melbourne, VIC: Affirm Press, 2023

Paperback   288  RRP: $34.99

 

Reviewer: Andrew Keena, April 2024

The Savage Storm

The Battle for Italy 1943

 

James Holland

London : Bantam, 2023

Paperback ‎     624pp     RRP: $36.99

 

Reviewer: David Rees, February 2024

WALLABY AIRLINES

Twelve months flying the Caribou in Vietnam

[The Australian Air Campaign Series - 5]

 

Jeff Pedrina

Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2023

Paperback    224pp  RRP: $19.99

 

Reviewer: Rob Ellis, February 2024

1942: The Year the War came to Australia

The bombing of Darwin and the attack on Sydney by the Japanese

Peter Grose

Allen & Unwin,  2021

Paperback    592pp    RRP: $34.99

 

Reviewer: Robert Ellis, January 2024

The Factory

The Official History of the Australian Signals Directorate, Vol I

 

John Fahey

Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2022

Hardback      576pp    RRP: $79.50

 

Reviewer: Daniel Gluer, December 2023

He Belonged to Wagga

The Great War, the AIF and returned soldiers in an Australian country town

Ian Hodges

North Melbourne, VIC: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2022

Paperback    330pp     RRP: $44:00

 

Reviewer: Adrian Catt, February 2024

The Glass Cricket Ball

War · Art · Sacrifice

 

Jan William Smith

Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2022

Paperback    250pp       RRP:$29.99

 

Reviewer: Robert Dixon, February 2024

How They Fought

Indigenous Tactics and Weaponry of Australia’s Frontier Wars

 

Ray Kerkhove

Tingalpa, QLD: Boolarong Press, 2023

Paperback ‎     430pp     RRP: $39.99

 

Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2023

The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse

Peter FitzSimons

Sydney, NSW: Hachette, 2023

Hardcover ‎     512pp     RRP: $39.99

 

Reviewer: John Boyce, January 2024

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