Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/February 2016/Book reviews
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Thor Ballistic Missile: The United States and the United Kingdom in Partnership |
- By Hawkeye7
I bought this book as part of my growing collection of books on
Between 1958 and 1963, the
The decision was made to base the Thor missiles in Britain, and agreement was reached that they would be operated by the Royal Air Force. Every now and then a missile would be selected at random and transported, with its operators, to
This book details how things unfolded on both sides of the Atlantic. If you've read a lot about the British nuclear program then much in this book will not be new. If you want to know more about it, I would recommend Nuclear Illusion, Nuclear Reality: Britain, the United States and Nuclear Weapons, 1958-64 (2010). I can't help thinking that with more pictures this would have made a great coffee table book.
Publishing details: Boyes, John (2015). Thor Ballistic Missile: The United States and the United Kingdom in Partnership. Oxford: Fonthill.
Australia 1944–45 |
- By Nick-D
Australia 1944–45 is the third and final book in a recent series bringing together prominent military historians to cover Australia's experiences in the Pacific War (following on from Australia 1942 and Australia 1943). In line with the earlier books, it includes a large number of short chapters on the key thematic issues facing Australia and military campaigns its forces were involved in in the Pacific during the period, with most of the chapters being written by a leading expert on the topic. I was impressed with the first two volumes in this series and find the final 18 months of World War II to be fascinating, so I was very pleased when I saw the ad for this book.
Given the diverse nature of Australia's military effort in the Pacific and the transitions taking place on the home front, the authors of this book faced some unusual issues. For instance, the chapters covering military campaigns needed to cover the political background to the operations, the seemingly endless disputes among Australian and American officers that preceded them and the challenges the military personnel faced in professionally executing operations whose value was often questionable. Similarly, the authors of the thematic chapters on Australia's war strategy and war economy needed to cover a lot of complex ground in very little space. By and large they succeed, and the book provides excellent coverage of Australia's war effort.
The highlight of the book is the series of chapters covering the main Australian military campaigns in New Guinea and surrounding islands during 1944-45 and in Borneo during mid-1945. Lachlan Grant's chapter on the little-remembered
The book's thematic chapters are slightly less successful. While it seems churlish to criticise the extraordinarily prolific David Horner, his chapter discussing Australia's war strategy felt a bit incomplete - later chapters by other authors make up the gaps though. I found that the chapters on the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Australian Navy's efforts during this period also tried to fit too much in, and it seems odd to have allocated these services only a single dedicated chapter each. In contrast, John Blaxland's chapter on Australia's intelligence services and special operations forces provides a fantastic overview of this complex topic.
Overall, Australia 1944–45 deserves a place on the bookshelf of everyone interested in Australia's experiences in World War II, or the Pacific War more generally. While it's not perfect, it's an important addition to the surprisingly thin literature on this period, and is an excellent reference.
Publishing details: Dean, Peter J., ed. (2016). Australia 1944–45. Port Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.
Recent external reviews |
Marston, Daniel (2014). The Indian Army and the End of the Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Guha, Sumit (February 2016). "Daniel Marston. The Indian Army and the End of the Raj". H-Net Reviews. H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences Online.
Barczewski, Stephanie (2016). Heroic Failure and the British. Yale University Press.
- Porter, Bernard (19 February 2016). "Heroic Failure and the British by Stephanie Barczewski review – why have the defeated been prized in the UK?". The Guardian.
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