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.
Beyond Combat
Australian Military Activity away from the Battlefields
Tristan Moss and Tom Richardson (Eds)
NewSouth Publishing 2018
Paperback 256pp RRP: $39.99
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, April 2019
Duty Nobly Done
An extraordinary account of 11 family members in the Great War
Adam Holloway
Big Sky Publishing 2019
Paperback 528pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, May 2018
The Civilisation of Port Phillip
Settler ideology, violence, and rhetorical possession
Thomas James Rogers
Melbourne University Press Academic 2018
Paperback 254pp RRP: $44.99
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, April 2019
The Limits of Peacekeeping
Australian Missions in Africa and the Americas, 1992–2005
[The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping - Vol 4]
Jean Bou, Bob Breen et al (Eds)
Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne Vic 2018
Hardback 743pp RRP: $179.00
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, May 2019
Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors
Denny Neave et al (Eds)
Big Sky Publishing 2019
Hardback 264pp $69.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, May 2019
Ypres
Great Battles Series
Mark Connelly and Stefan Goebel
Oxford University Press, Oxford UK 2018
Hardback 288pp RRP: $56.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, April 2019
Australia’s Vietnam
Myth vs History
Mark Dapin
NewSouth Books 2019
Paperback 272pp RRP $32.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, June 2019
Beat PTSD
How a Combat Soldier Conquered Chronic PTSD to Live a Life that Truly Matters,
and How You Can Too
Kevin Lloyd-Thomas
Global Publishing Group, 2018
Paperback 240pp RRP: $29.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, June 2019
Hell of a Time
An Australian Soldier’s Diary of the Great War
Philip Owen Ayton (Elvala Ayton, Ed)
Text Publishing Company 2018
Paperback 287pp RRP $49.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, July 2019
Intelligence and the Function of Government
Daniel Baldino and Rhys Crowley (Eds)
Melbourne University Press Academic 2018
Paperback 295pp RRP $49.99
Reviewer: Tim Cook, June 2019
No Less Worthy
Acknowledging Western Australian Aboriginal Men in World War
Second Edition
Aboriginal History WA
Western Australia Museum 2019
Paperback 156pp RRP $35.00
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, July 2019
Playing Soldier:
The books and toys that prepared children for war, 1871-1918
Richard Cheek
The Groller Club, New York 2018
Hardcover 471pp RRP $86.88
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, June 2019
Politics of Forgetting:
New Zealand, Greece and Britain at War
Martyn Brown
Australian Scholarly Publishing 2019
Paperback 432 pp RRP $49.95
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, June 2019
Purple Patch
History of the 3rd Field Company Engineers in World War One
Darren Prickett
Big Sky Publishing 2019
Hardback 324pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, June 2019
Shadows on the Track
Australia’s Medical War in Papua 1942 - 1943
Jan McLeod
Big Sky Publishing 2019
Hardback 396pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, June 2019
The Battle of the Lys
April 1918
Australian Army Campaign Series
Colin Mattey
Big Sky Publishing 2019
Paperback 160pp RRP $19.99
Reviewer: Richard Batley, June 2019
The Hell Pits of Sendryu
A POW story of survival on the Death Railway and Nagasaki
Jim Brigginshaw
Big Sky Publishing, 2018
Paperback 188pp RRP: $29.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, June 2019
Australia Remembers
Anzac Day, Remembrance Day, War Memorials
Allison Paterson
Big Sky Publishing 2018
Hardback 64pp RRP: $24.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2019
The Battle of the Atlantic
How the Allies won the War
Jonathan Dimbleby
Viking (Penguin) London 2016
Paperback 584pp RRP: $24.99
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, January 2019
Dear Grandpa, Why?
Reflections from Kokoda to Hiroshima
John L Read
Wakefield Press, Adelaide 2018
Paperback 192pp RRP: $24.95
Reviewer: Ian Freer, January 2019
Australia’s First Spies
The remarkable story of
Australia’s intelligence operations, 1901-45
John Fahey
Allen and Unwin 2018
Paperback 456pp RRP: $34.99
Reviewer: Bob Hart, February 2019
Frederick Whirlpool VC
Australia’s Hidden Victoria Cross
Alan Leek
Big Sky Publishing 2018
Paperback 265pp RRP: $29.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, February 2019
First and Foremost
A Concise Illustrated History of
1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment,
1945-2018
Bob Breen
Big Sky Publishing 2018
Hardback 164pp RRP: $34.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, February 2019
Only One Place:
A man, a family, a war and a homecoming …
an Australian story of virtue and renewal
Robyn Whinfield
Robyn Whinfield, Darwin 2018
Paperback 398pp RRP: $30.00
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, February 2019
Military Law in Colonial Australia
Neil Preston
The Federation Press, Annandale NSW 2016
Paperback 344pp RRP $89.95
Reviewer: Paul Willie, January 2019
Pine Gap
The inside story of the NSA in Australia
David Rosenberg
Hardie Grant Books 2018
Paperback 288pp RRP: $29.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, January 2019
Our Corner of the Somme
Australia at Villers-Bretonneux
Australian Army History Series
Romain Fathi
Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne Vic 2019
Hardback 270pp RRP: $59.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, February 2019
The Looming Tower:
Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11
Lawrence Wright
Allen Lane (Penguin), NewYork 2006
Paperback 469pp
Reviewer: Rowan Story
Terrorism in Australia
The story of Operation Pendennis
Peter Moroney
New Holland Publishers, Chatswood NSW 2018
Paperback 221pp RRP: $29.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, January 2019
The Western Front Diaries of Charles Bean
Peter Burness (Ed)
NewSouth Books 2018
Hardback 644pp RRP: $79.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, December 2018
Mutiny on the Western Front: 1918
Greg Raffin
Big Sky Publishing 2018
Paperback 284pp RRP: $29.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, April 2019
John Curtin’s War Vol II,
Triumph and Decline
John Edwards
Penguin Australia, 2018
Hardcover 512pp RRP $49.99
Reviewer: Bob Hart, March 2019
Kangaroo Squadron
American Courage in the Darkest Days of World War II
Bruce Gamble
De Capro Press, Hachette Australia 2018
Paperback 400pp RRP: $27.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, March 2019
D-Day New Guinea
Phillip Bradley
Allen & Unwin 2019
Paperback 336pp RRP: $32.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, March 2019
1917 War, Peace & Revolution
David Stevenson
Oxford University Press 2017
Hardback 480pp RRP: $61.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, March 2019
Best We Forget
The War for White Australia, 1914-18
Peter Cochrane
The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne 2018
Paperback 272pp RRP: $32.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, December 2018
Highlands to Deserts
The History of 19th Chief Engineer Works
Michael Tyquin
Big Sky Publishing 2018
Paperback 294pp RRP $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, March 2019
The Man who Took the Rap
Sir Robert Brooke-Popham and the Fall of Singapore
Peter Dye
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis USA 2018
Hardcover 448pp RRP $44.95
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, December 2018
Secret Army
An elite force, a secret mission,
a fleet of Model-T Fords, a far flung corner of WWI
Barry Stone
Allen & Unwin, 2017
Paperback 248pp RRP: $29.99
Reviewer: Kevan Sanderson, December 2018
British Army of the Rhine
The BAOR 1945-1993
Paul Chrystal
Pen & Sword Military Barnsley, UK 2018
Paperback 127pp RRP: $26.50 + p&h
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, December 2018
Heroes of Hamel
The Australians and Americans
whose WWI victory changed modern warfare
Stephen Dando-Collins
Vintage Books (Penguin Random House Australia) 2016
Paperback 323pp RRP: $24.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, December 2018
The Afghanistan Conflict and Australia’s Role
Amin Saikai (Ed)
Melbourne University Publishing 2011
Paperback 304pp RRP: $59.99
Reviewer: Michael Hili, October 2018
The Battle of Menin Road 1917
Roger Lee
Big Sky Publishing, 2018
Paperback 188pp RRP: $19.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, August 2018
The New Zealand Wars
Philippa Werry
New Holland Sydney, 2018
Paperback 80pp RRP: $24.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2018
Hell to Pay
Operation DOWNFALL and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947
D M Giangreco
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis Maryland, 2017
Hardback 582pp RRP: $47.00
Reviewer: Michael Hili, October 2018
The Lost Battalions
A battle that could not be won. An island that could not be defended. An ally who could not be trusted
Tom Gilling
Allen & Unwin, 2018
Paperback 272pp RRP: $32.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, October 2018
Serving in Silence?
Australian LGBT Servicemen and Women
Noah Riseman / Shirleene Robinson / Graham Willett
NewSouth Publishing, Sydney NSW 2018
Paperback RRP: $39.99
Reviewer: Ian Lillie, October 2018
The Sydney Wars:
Conflict in the early colony, 1788-1817
Stephen Gapps
NewSouth Books, 2018
Paperback 432pp RRP: $34.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, October 2018
The Last 100 Days:
The Australian Road to Victory in the First World War
Will Davies
New South Books, 2018
Paperback 352pp RRP: $34.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, October 2018
Guide to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Peter Francis (Ed)
Third Millennium Publishing, 2018
Hardback 224pp RRP: $39.99
Reviewer: Mike O’Brien, November 2018
The Missing Man
From the outback to Tarakan, the powerful story of Len Waters, Australia’s first Aboriginal fighter pilot
Peter Rees
Allen & Unwin, 2018
Paperback 348pp, $32.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, October 2018
Malayan Emergency
Triumph of the Running Dogs 1948-1960
Gerry von Tonder 2017
Pen & Sword Military Barnsley, UK
Paperback 128pp RRP: $26.50 + p&h
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2018
Australians on the Western Front 1918
Volume 2 Spearheading the Great British Offensive
David W Cameron
Penguin Australia 2018
Paperback 560pp RRP: $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, October 2018
Iran-Iraq War
The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988
Anthony Tucker-Jones 2018
Pen & Sword Military Barnsley, UK
Paperback 128pp RRP: $26.50 + p&h
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2018
Defending the Ypres Front 1914 – 1918
Trenches, shelters and bunkers of the German Army
Jan Vancoillie & Kristof Bliek
Pen & Sword Military, 2018
Hardback 294pp RRP: $45.20
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2018
Australia’s Defence Strategy
Evaluating Alternatives for a Contested Asia
Adam Lockyer
MUP Academic 2017
Paperback 332pp RRP: $49.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, August 2018
Dien Bien Phu
The First Indochina War, 1946-1954
Anthony Tucker-Jones 2017
Pen & Sword Military Barnsley, UK
Paperback 128pp RRP: $26.50 + p&h
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, November 2018
Desert Anzacs:
the under-told story of the Sinai Palestine campaign, 1916-1918
Neil Dearberg
Interactive Publications, Clarindale Qld 2017
Paperback 320pp RRP: $33.00
Reviewer: Roger Buxton, August 2018
An Australian Band of Brothers:
Don Company, Second 43rd Battalion, 9th Division
Mark Johnston
New South Books 2018
Paperback 464pp RRP: $34.99
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, September 2018
Fighting the Kaiserreich
Australia’s epic within the Great War
Bruce Gaunson
Hybrid Publishers, Ormond 2018
Paperback 526pp RRP: $35.00
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, September 2018