BOOK REVIEW BY KEVIN RICKARD On Sunday September 3rd 1939, history was tumbling over itself. On board HMAS Stuart in the mess decks and the wardroom the radios were tuned for the latest news. That evening they heard the British PM, Neville Chamberlain announce that Berlin had not replied to the British ultimatum for Germany […]
This is Sir Anthony Beevor’s latest contribution to a series of monographs which detail some of the major military conflicts of The Second World War. ARNHEM is an absorbing realistic account of the fighting involved in Operation Market Garden. This was the brainchild of Field Marshall Montgomery assisted by Generals Brereton and Williams of the […]
By Mike Rossiter Reviewed by Kevin Rickard It was just before dawn in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945 when a bright flash filled the pre-dawn with a penetrating daylight. Next there was a huge shock wave as a great purplish column rose up into the sky, then there was a blast, duller […]
The Coast Watchers: Behind enemy lines; the men who saved the Pacific Book review by Jerry Lattin Lindsay, Patrick: The Coast Watchers: Behind enemy lines; the men who saved the Pacific. William Heinemann (London) 2010; Random House Australia. 416 pp; $34.95 (paperback). The Coast Watchers were an organised force established in the 1920s […]
Armidale ‘42: A survivor’s account Book review by Jerry Lattin Col Madigan, Jan Senbergs, Don Watson. Armidale ‘42: A survivor’s account. Macmillan Art Publishing, South Yarra. 1999. 69 pp; RRP $33.00. This book falls into no recognisable literary category, and comprises elements of formal history, personal wartime reminiscence, and theme-based graphic art. It […]
BOOK REVIEW: The path of infinite sorrow: The Japanese on the Kokoda Track by Fred Lane Collie C. and H. Marutani. The path of infinite sorrow: The Japanese on the Kokoda Track. Allen and Unwin: Crows Nest. 2009. 291 pp plus, maps, footnotes, references, index and 16 pp of photos. $28 to $35 […]
Book review by Kevin Rickard Frame,T. HMAS Sydney, Australia’s greatest naval tragedy. Hachette Australia: Sydney. 2008. pp. 412 rrp.$34.99. In the afternoon of 19 November 1941, two large ships sighted one another for the first time off the coast Western Australia. Within an hour, after a ferocious battle, both ships would be mortally wounded; by […]
Descent into chaos book review by Kevin Rickard Rashid, A. Descent into chaos. Allen Lane, Penguin Books, 2008. pp 477, RRP $65. More than a century ago the contest between the empires of Britain and Tsarist Russia for supremacy in Central Asia was a subtle conflict of spies and diplomats – rather than open war […]
Running the war in Iraq book review by Kevin Rickard Molan, J. Running the war in Iraq.Harper Collins Publishers: Pymble. 2008. pp.358, $32.99. (Seen at $3.99 on some remainder tables.) Australian Major General Jim Molan’s service in Iraq, outwitting a dangerous enemy and reporting exactly what it takes to fight and defeat violent […]
A man of intelligence book review by Kevin A. Rickard Pfennigwerth, I. A man of intelligence: The life of Captain Eric Nave, Australian codebreaker extraordinary. Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd: Dural. 2006. 304pp., 18 pp. of plates, illustrations and maps. $29.95 paperback. A man of intelligence is the biography of an enterprising and successful Australian Japanese […]
