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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

Invited to a War

Air Vice Marshall Alan Reed AO

16 December1933 – 24 July 2021

[Australian Air Campaign Series – 5]

AVM Alan Reed, AO

Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2022

Paperback   240pp   RRP $19.99

 

Reviewer: Neville Taylor, March 2023

Darwin Spitfires

The real battle for Australia

 

 

Anthony Cooper

New South Books, 2022

Paperback   568pp   RRP $34.99

 

Reviewer: Mike Rawlinson, February 2023

Command

How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War

 

Al Murray

London, UK: Headline, 2022

Paperback   352pp  RRP: $49.99

 

Reviewer: Rob Ellis, May 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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

The Battle of Long Tan

Peter Fitzsimons

Sydney, NSW: Hachette, 2022

Hardback   512pp   RRP $49.99

 

Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, 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

 Australia Remembers

Volumes 1 to 6

Various authors

Reviewer:  Neville Taylor, November 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’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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

Russia

Revolution and Civil War 1917 -1921

 

Antony Beevor

London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2022

Hardback 592pp   RRP $60.50

 

Reviewer: Roger Buxton, October 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 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

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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 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

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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

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

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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

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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  

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On Operations

Operational Art and Military Disciplines

B. A. Friedman

Annapolis, Maryland, US: Naval Institute Press, 2021

Hardcover.  256pp   RRP $56.43

 

Reviewer: Neville Taylor, August 2022

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Survivor

Life in the SAS

 

Mark Wales

Sydney, NSW: Pan Macmillan, 2021

Paperback   368pp   RRP $35.00

 

Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, August 2022

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

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