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Strategy and the Second World War: How the War was Won, and Lost
by Jeremy BlackA concise, accessible account of strategy and the Second World War. How the war was won . . . and lost..In 1941, the Second World War became global, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union; Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor; and Germany declared war on the United States.In this timely book, which fills a real gap, Black engages with the strategic issues of the time - as they developed chronologically, and interacted - and relates these to subsequent debates about the choices made, revealing their continued political resonances.Beginning with Appeasement and the Soviet-German pact as key strategic means, Black examines the consequences of the fall of France for the strategies of all the powers. He shows how Allied strategy-making was more effective at the Anglo-American level than with the Soviet Union, not only for ideological and political reasons, but also because the Americans and British had a better grasp of the global dimension.He explores how German and Japanese strategies evolved as the war went badly for the Axis powers, and discusses the extent to which seeking to mould the post-war world informed Allied strategic choices from 1943 onwards, and the role these played in post-war politics, notably in the Cold War. Strategy was a crucial tool not only for conducting the war; it remains the key to understanding it today.
Strategy and the Second World War: How the War was Won, and Lost
by Jeremy BlackA concise, accessible account of strategy and the Second World War. How the war was won . . . and lost..In 1941, the Second World War became global, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union; Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor; and Germany declared war on the United States.In this timely book, which fills a real gap, Black engages with the strategic issues of the time - as they developed chronologically, and interacted - and relates these to subsequent debates about the choices made, revealing their continued political resonances.Beginning with Appeasement and the Soviet-German pact as key strategic means, Black examines the consequences of the fall of France for the strategies of all the powers. He shows how Allied strategy-making was more effective at the Anglo-American level than with the Soviet Union, not only for ideological and political reasons, but also because the Americans and British had a better grasp of the global dimension.He explores how German and Japanese strategies evolved as the war went badly for the Axis powers, and discusses the extent to which seeking to mould the post-war world informed Allied strategic choices from 1943 onwards, and the role these played in post-war politics, notably in the Cold War. Strategy was a crucial tool not only for conducting the war; it remains the key to understanding it today.
Strategy and the Second World War: How the War was Won, and Lost
by Jeremy BlackA concise, accessible account of strategy and the Second World War. How the war was won . . . and lost..In 1941, the Second World War became global, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union; Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor; and Germany declared war on the United States.In this timely book, which fills a real gap, Black engages with the strategic issues of the time - as they developed chronologically, and interacted - and relates these to subsequent debates about the choices made, revealing their continued political resonances.Beginning with Appeasement and the Soviet-German pact as key strategic means, Black examines the consequences of the fall of France for the strategies of all the powers. He shows how Allied strategy-making was more effective at the Anglo-American level than with the Soviet Union, not only for ideological and political reasons, but also because the Americans and British had a better grasp of the global dimension.He explores how German and Japanese strategies evolved as the war went badly for the Axis powers, and discusses the extent to which seeking to mould the post-war world informed Allied strategic choices from 1943 onwards, and the role these played in post-war politics, notably in the Cold War. Strategy was a crucial tool not only for conducting the war; it remains the key to understanding it today.
Toxic and Intoxicating Oil: Discovery, Resistance, and Justice in Aotearoa New Zealand (Nature, Society, and Culture)
by Patricia WidenerWhen oil and gas exploration was expanding across Aotearoa New Zealand, Patricia Widener was there interviewing affected residents and environmental and climate activists, and attending community meetings and anti-drilling rallies. Exploration was occurring on an unprecedented scale when oil disasters dwelled in recent memory, socioecological worries were high, campaigns for climate action were becoming global, and transitioning toward a low carbon society seemed possible. Yet unlike other communities who have experienced either an oil spill, or hydraulic fracturing, or offshore exploration, or climate fears, or disputes over unresolved Indigenous claims, New Zealanders were facing each one almost simultaneously. Collectively, these grievances created the foundation for an organized civil society to construct and then magnify a comprehensive critical oil narrative--in dialogue, practice, and aspiration. Community advocates and socioecological activists mobilized for their health and well-being, for their neighborhoods and beaches, for Planet Earth and Planet Ocean, and for terrestrial and aquatic species and ecosystems. They rallied against toxic, climate-altering pollution; the extraction of fossil fuels; a myriad of historic and contemporary inequities; and for local, just, and sustainable communities, ecologies, economies, and/or energy sources. In this allied ethnography, quotes are used extensively to convey the tenor of some of the country’s most passionate and committed people. By analyzing the intersections of a social movement and the political economy of oil, Widener reveals a nuanced story of oil resistance and promotion at a time when many anti-drilling activists believed themselves to be on the front lines of the industry’s inevitable decline.
Vanished
by James DelargyFrom the groundbreaking author of 55 comes an extraordinary new thriller... The Kane family, Lorcan, Naiyana and their young son, relocate from Perth to Kallayee, an abandoned mining town in the Great Victoria Desert to start over again, free from their chequered past. The town seems like the perfect getaway: Peaceful. Quiet. Remote. Somewhere they won&’t be found. But life in Kallayee isn&’t quite as straightforward as they hope. There are noises in the earth, mysterious shadows and tracks in the dust as if the town is coming back to life. But the family can&’t leave. No one can talk sense into them. And now, no one can talk to them at all. They&’ve simply vanished. Now it's up to Detective Emmaline Taylor to find them… before it&’s too late. ** Praise for Vanished ** &‘Delargy manages to turn the wide-open deserted Outback into something intensely claustrophobic and chilling&’ Russ Thomas &‘Intense, insightful and impossible to put down, Vanished is a gripping tale of greed and betrayal, burning with tension under a harsh Australian sun&’ Caz Frear 'Powered through this in two sittings. Vanished ratchets up the tension page after page, playing out in a perfect isolated setting with such a claustrophobic feel, and so vividly painted you could step right in' Rob Scragg 'There is menace on every page of this atmospheric thriller. An abandoned mining town in the Australian outback is the desolate - almost surreal - backdrop to a tale of a disintegrating family. Perfect for fans of The Dry' Jo Furniss, author of the Amazon Charts best-seller All The Little Children ** Praise for 55 ** &‘A pulse-pounding psycho-thriller . . . splendidly-engineered plot and a masterly sense of pace allied to a haunting background make for a powerful debut&’ Crime Time &‘A clever concept for this fast-moving debut, fleshed out with a sympathetic hero haunted by grim memories&’ Sunday Times Crime Club &‘Brilliantly atmospheric…with a sense of menace that pervades every page. Even more impressive than 55&’ Kate Rhodes 'Fabulously atmospheric, a splendid slice of outback noir for fans of Jane Harper. The intricately woven plot sucks you into a hostile world and keeps you sweating until the final page' Adam Southward 'A gripping race through the bleak Australian outback to find a missing family: Vanished captivated and intrigued me from page one' Louisa De Lange 'If you liked the Dry you will like this' 'I enjoy a good psychological thriller and this was up there with the best' &‘I loved this book from start to finish . . . the ending is still on my mind today&’ &‘A real page-turner. Gets a grip on you from the start. Best book I&’ve read in years!&’ &‘I found it impossible to tear myself away from this small, isolated community as they stumbled into a territory more hostile and unpredictable than any place on earth. LOVED IT&’
Vanished
by James DelargyFrom the groundbreaking author of 55 comes an extraordinary new thriller... Lorcan and Naiyana are desperate to move their young family far away from the hustle and bustle of modern city life.The abandoned town of Kallayee seems like the perfect getaway: no one has lived there for decades. It will be peaceful. Quiet. Secure.But life in Kallayee isn&’t quite as straightforward as they hope. Lights flicker at night. Car tracks appear in the dust even when the family hasn&’t driven anywhere. And six-year-old Dylan is certain he can hear strange sounds.Lorcan and Naiyana refuse to leave. No one can talk sense into them.And now, no one can talk to them at all.They&’ve simply vanished.Praise so far for Vanished: &‘Delargy manages to turn the wide-open deserted Outback into something intensely claustrophobic and chilling&’ Russ Thomas * * * Readers love 55 by James Delargy* * * &‘A pulse-pounding psycho-thriller . . . splendidly-engineered plot and a masterly sense of pace allied to a haunting background make for a powerful debut&’ Crime Time &‘A clever concept for this fast-moving debut, fleshed out with a sympathetic hero haunted by grim memories&’ Sunday Times Crime Club &‘Brilliantly atmospheric…with a sense of menace that pervades every page. Even more impressive than 55&’ Kate Rhodes 'Fabulously atmospheric, a splendid slice of outback noir for fans of Jane Harper. The intricately woven plot sucks you into a hostile world and keeps you sweating until the final page' Adam Southward 'A gripping race through the bleak Australian outback to find a missing family: Vanished captivated and intrigued me from page one' Louisa De Lange 'If you liked the Dry you will like this' 'I enjoy a good psychological thriller and this was up there with the best' &‘I loved this book from start to finish . . . the ending is still on my mind today&’ &‘A real page-turner. Gets a grip on you from the start. Best book I&’ve read in years!&’ &‘I found it impossible to tear myself away from this small, isolated community as they stumbled into a territory more hostile and unpredictable than any place on earth. LOVED IT&’
Un viaje tan pequeño: Novela de escape en la Nueva Caledonia
by Céline FuentesCuando la felicidad casi ha llegado, cuando el camino está trazado, y fuera la hora de cambiarlo todo… «La felicidad no está tan lejos. Elisa la toca con un dedo. Sin duda, su futuro se resolverá con la boda y el confeti y todo saldrá bien. Sin embargo, en medio de ese perfecto día de tranquilidad, ese miércoles trece de febrero de 2013, hacia las catorce horas cuarenta y cinco, cuando todavía está en la oficina, su móvil empieza a vibrar. Número desconocido». Elisa, en la treintena, no sabe que una llamada telefónica puede cambiar una vida. Al aceptar las increíbles oportunidades que le ofrecen, Elisa se embarca en un sorprendente viaje que la llevará a descubrir el Pacífico Sur, en la Nueva Caledonia
Voyagers: The Settlement of the Pacific
by Nicholas ThomasAn award-winning scholar explores the sixty-thousand-year history of the Pacific islands in this dazzling, deeply researched account. The islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia stretch across a huge expanse of ocean and encompass a multitude of different peoples. Starting with Captain James Cook, the earliest European explorers to visit the Pacific were astounded and perplexed to find populations thriving thousands of miles from continents. Who were these people? From where did they come? And how were they able to reach islands dispersed over such vast tracts of ocean?In Voyagers, the distinguished anthropologist Nicholas Thomas charts the course of the seaborne migrations that populated the islands between Asia and the Americas from late prehistory onward. Drawing on the latest research, including insights gained from genetics, linguistics, and archaeology, Thomas provides a dazzling account of these long-distance migrations, the seagoing technologies that enabled them, and the societies they left in their wake.
Wandi
by Favel ParrettA young cub is snatched from his family and home by a giant eagle, then dropped, injured and alone, in a suburban garden. This is where he meets his first Human, and begins his long journey to becoming the most famous dingo in the world. He will never see his mountain home again, or his family. But it is his destiny to save alpine dingoes from extinction, and he dreams of a time when all cubs like him can live in the wild in safety, instead of facing poison and bullets and hatred. A children's literary classic in-the-making from one of Australia's most-loved authors is brought to life by Helpmann and AACTA award-winning actress Marta Dusseldorp.
The Wear of My Face
by Lizz MurphyThe sun is our closest star just average a middle-aged dwarf past its prime but still a few billion years to go and fierce is its heat It's domains: interior surface atmospheres inner corona outer corona Did someone say Corona? The Wear of My Face is an assemblage of passing lives and landscapes, fractured worlds and realities. There is splintered text and image, memory and dream, newscast and conversation. Women wicker first light, old men make things that glow, poets are standing stones, frontlines merge with tourist lines. Lizz Murphy weaves these elements into the strangeness of suburbia, the intensity of waiting rooms, bush stillness, and hopes for a leap of faith as at times she leaves a poem as fragmented as a hectic day or a bombed street. What may sometimes seem like misdemeanours of the mind, to Lizz they are simply the distractions and disturbances of daily life somewhere. There is a rehomed greyhound, a breezy scientist, ancient malleefowl, beige union reps and people in all their conundrums. You might travel on a seagull's wing or wing through the aerosphere.
Weather, Migration and the Scottish Diaspora: Leaving the Cold Country (Routledge Studies in Modern British History)
by Graeme MortonWhy did large numbers of Scots leave a temperate climate to live permanently in parts of the world where greater temperature extreme was the norm? The long nineteenth century was a period consistently cooler than now, and Scotland remains the coldest of the British nations. Nineteenth-century meteorologists turned to environmental determinism to explain the persistence of agricultural shortage and to identify the atmospheric conditions that exacerbated the incidence of death and disease in the towns. In these cases, the logic of emigration and the benefits of an alternative climate were compelling. Emigration agents portrayed their favoured climate in order to pull migrants in their direction. The climate reasons, pressures and incentives that resulted in the movement of people have been neither straightforward nor uniform. There are known structural features that contextualize the migration experience, chief among them being economic and demographic factors. By building on the work of historical climatologists, and the availability of long-run climate data, for the first time the emigration history of Scotland is examined through the lens of the nation’s climate. In significant per capita numbers, the Scots left the cold country behind; yet the ‘homeland’ remained an unbreakable connection for the diaspora.
"White Russians, Red Peril": A Cold War History of Migration to Australia
by Sheila FitzpatrickOver 20,000 ethnic Russians migrated to Australia after World War II – yet we know very little about their experiences. Some came via China, others from refugee camps in Europe. Many preferred to keep a low profile in Australia, and some attempted to ‘pass’ as Polish, West Ukrainian or Yugoslavian. They had good reason to do so: to the Soviet Union, Australia’s resettling of Russians amounted to the theft of its citizens, and undercover agents were deployed to persuade them to repatriate. Australia regarded the newcomers with wary suspicion, even as it sought to build its population by opening its door to more immigrants. Making extensive use of newly discovered Russian-language archives and drawing on a lifetime’s study of Soviet history and politics, award-winning author Sheila Fitzpatrick examines the early years of a diverse and disunited Russian-Australian community and how Australian and Soviet intelligence agencies attempted to track and influence them. While anti-Communist ‘White’ Russians dreamed a war of liberation would overthrow the Soviet regime, a dissident minority admired its achievements and thought of returning home.
Work. Love. Body.: Future Women
by Jamila Rizvi Helen McCabeIn 2020, the lives of Australian women changed irrevocably. With insight, intelligence and empathy, Jane Gilmore, Santilla Chingaipe and Emily J. Brooks explore this through the lenses of work, love and body, and ask: Will the Australia of tomorrow be more equal than the one we were born into? Or will women and girls remain left behind?While our country was shrouded in smoke in the early months of 2020, Australian women went about their daily business. They worked, studied, cleaned, did school runs, made meals. And they postponed looking after themselves because life got in the way.Then, in March, Australians were told to lock down. For all the talk of equality, it was primarily women who held the health of our communities in their hands as they took on the essential jobs to care, to nurse and to teach, despite an invisible danger. One year later, women across the country would march on behalf of those who were not safe in workplaces and their own homes.Never before has change been thrust so abruptly on modern Australian women - 2020 impacted our working lives, relationships and our health and wellbeing. And as a growing number of women agitate for change, it is time to demand what women want. So where do we go from here?One thing is very clear: the future is now, and it is female.
Worst Week Ever! Monday
by Matt Cosgrove Eva AmoresCould your worst week be funny too? Start Monday with a bang in the hilarious new series taking the world by storm. Justin Chase is having the WORST WEEK EVER! His Mum has just married a vampire. His Dad is driving a giant toilet on wheels. His cat has probably been abducted by aliens. A bully is making his first day at a new school miserable. And right now, he's hanging off the edge of a 10-metre-high diving tower in front of his entire class wearing nothing but rapidly disappearing crocheted swimmers! And it's only... MONDAY! The first book in the hilarious new seven-part highly-illustrated series for fans of the globally bestselling Treehouse series.
Animals of Australia
by Jo ParkerExplore the Australian Outback to find koalas, kangaroos, crocodiles, and more!Did you know kangaroos can jump 10 feet high? And they can travel up to speeds of 40 miles per hour!Learn more fun facts about some of Australia's favorite animals! In connection with the publication of Animals of Australia, Penguin Random House will donate a portion of the proceeds to support efforts to provide Australian bushfire relief.
American Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers
by Amanda QuaidAmerican Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers provides a comprehensive guide to learning a "General American" accent, made specifically for native English speakers. Unlike most American accent guides, which are geared toward ESL learners, this handbook covers only the shifts that English speakers need to make – nothing more, nothing less. In addition to vowel and consonant drills, it covers the finer points of American intonation and elision, features that often elude English speakers of other dialects. Finally, it provides exercises for "owning" the dialect, finding authenticity and making it work for each individual actor in their own way. This is an excellent resource for students of speech and dialects, actors from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and advanced ESL learners who need to use an American accent on screen or on stage. American Accent Drills for British and Australian Speakers also includes access to downloadable audio files of the practice drills featured in the book, to help students practice and perfect their American accent.
Australia in the Age of International Development, 1945–1975: Colonial and Foreign Aid Policy in Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia (Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World)
by Nicholas FernsThis book examines Australian colonial and foreign aid policy towards Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia in the age of international development (1945–1975). During this period, the academic and political understandings of development consolidated and informed Australian attempts to provide economic assistance to the poorer regions to its north. Development was central to the Australian colonial administration of PNG, as well as its Colombo Plan aid in Asia. In addition to examining Australia’s perception of international development, this book also demonstrates how these debates and policies informed Australia’s understanding of its own development. This manifested itself most clearly in Australia’s behavior at the 1964 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The book concludes with a discussion of development and Australian foreign aid in the decade leading up to Papua New Guinea’s independence, achieved in 1975.
The Australian Art Field: Practices, Policies, Institutions (Routledge Research in Art History)
by Tony Bennett Deborah Stevenson Fred Myers Tamara WinikoffThis book brings together leading scholars and practitioners to take stock of the frictions generated by a tumultuous time in the Australian art field and to probe what the crises might mean for the future of the arts in Australia. Specific topics include national and international art markets; art practices in their broader social and political contexts; social relations and institutions and their role in contemporary Australian art; the policy regimes and funding programmes of Australian governments; and national and international art markets. In addition, the collection will pay detailed attention to the field of indigenous art and the work of Indigenous artists. This book will be of interest to scholars in contemporary art, art history, cultural studies, and Indigenous peoples.
Australian Climate Policy and Diplomacy: Government-Industry Discourses (Routledge Focus on Environment and Sustainability)
by Ben L. ParrAustralian Climate Policy and Diplomacy provides a well overdue critique of existing, and high-profile, publications that convey the ‘greenhouse mafia’ hypothesis, which posits that Australia’s weak policy response to climate change is the result of a menacing domestic fossil fuel lobby. Ben L. Parr argues that the shared government–industry discourse about protecting Australia’s industrial competitiveness has had a more decisive influence in shaping and legitimising Australian climate policy than the direct lobbying tactics of the fossil fuel industry. Parr also reveals how the divergent foreign policy discourses and traditions of Australia’s two major political parties – as internationalist versus alliance-focused – have enabled and constrained their climate diplomacy and domestic policies over time. To demonstrate his argument, he presents a discourse analysis woven into a chronological policy narrative, comprising more than 1000 primary texts (media releases, interviews, and speeches) generated by prime ministers and key fossil fuel lobbyists. Overall, this volume illustrates how domestic forces have and are influencing Australia’s climate policy. In doing so, it also provides a framework that can be adapted to examine climate mitigation policies in other countries, notably Canada and the US. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of climate change, environmental policy and governance, and Australian climate change policy and politics more specifically, as well as policymakers and practitioners working in these fields.
Australia's Greatest Escapes: Gripping tales of wartime bravery
by Colin BurgessAustralia's greatest escape stories from two world wars Australia&’s Greatest Escapes is a collection of stories about the most hazardous aspect of the prisoner of war experience – escape. Here is all the adventure, suspense and courage of ordinary Australians who defied their captors; men who tunnelled to freedom, crawled through stinking drains, or clawed a passage beneath barbed wire in a desperate attempt to flee captivity. They were willing to risk the odds and even death in the loneliest war of all – the fight to be free. Each possessed in spades the noble qualities of boldness, resourcefulness, cunning, determination and mateship we have come to admire about our Australian service men and women under adversity. Featuring stories of Australian POWs from all theatres of war, including one who fled a German work camp during World War I, another involved in a mass tunnel escape from a notorious Italian camp, and an airman who brazenly attempted to steal a German fighter and fly it back to England. We also re-live the tragic saga of the Sandakan death marches in which six Australian escapers became the only survivors from 2000 POWs, and follow the perilous journeys to freedom undertaken by Australian infantrymen following the appalling massacre of their fellow soldiers on the Japanese-held island of Ambon.
The Awful Truth: My adventures with Australia's most notorious tabloid
by Adrian TameBefore Fake News, there was the real Fake News. There was Truth. Hailed as &‘a fearless exposer of folly, vice and crime&’ when it first hit the streets in the 1890s, Truth was later condemned by a High Court Judge as &‘a wretched little paper, reeking of filth, injurious to the health of house servants and young girls&’. Much later it earned the nickname &‘The Old Whore of La Trobe Street&’. Truth was called many things but it was never boring. Adrian Tame knows that better than anyone as he worked for Truth for more than a decade as a reporter and news editor. In the years it was owned by the Murdoch family he worked alongside young Rupert as he cut his teeth on the shock horror scandals that graced the pages of Truth when it was selling a whopping 400,000 copies a week. Funny, often outrageous and always thoroughly entertaining, The Awful Truth is a rollercoaster ride through an colourful era of newspapers and larger-than-life reporters that we will never see the like of again.
Baby Animal Friends: Book 2 (Baby Animal Friends #2)
by Tilda KellyA tragic bush fire sparks a beautiful friendship between a young girl and a baby koala. Ruby is dreading changing schools as her autism makes it hard to befriend other kids. But when her dog finds a baby koala and her family agrees to foster it, Ruby quickly becomes the koala's best friend. Ruby loves quiet and routine, which makes her a perfect koala carer! A talented artist, she names the koala Pablo - after her favourite artist. Through looking after Pablo, Ruby befriends a neighbouring girl who loves painting as much as she does. Soon Pablo is well enough to move to a koala kindergarten. But is Ruby ready to move to her own new school?
Benevolent Colonizers in Nineteenth-Century Australia: Quaker Lives and Ideals (Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series)
by Eva BischoffThis book reconstructs the history of a group of British Quaker families and their involvement in the process of settler colonialism in early nineteenth-century Australia. Their everyday actions contributed to the multiplicity of practices that displaced and annihilated Aboriginal communities. Simultaneously, early nineteenth-century Friends were members of a translocal, transatlantic community characterized by pacifism and an involvement in transnational humanitarian efforts, such as the abolitionist and the prison reform movements as well as the Aborigines Protection Society. Considering these ideals, how did Quakers negotiate the violence of the frontier? To answer this question, the book looks at Tasmanian and South Australian Quakers’ lives and experiences, their journeys and their writings. Building on recent scholarship on the entanglement between the local and the global, each chapter adopts a different historical perspective in terms of breadth and focused time period. The study combines these different takes to capture the complexities of this topic and era.
Braver: A Wombat's Tale
by Suzanne Selfors Walker RansonFor fans of the Warrior series and Redwall, Braver: A Wombat’s Tale is an exciting new fantasy adventure novel for young readers from Suzanne Selfors and Walker Ranson.Lola Budge isn’t your average bare-nosed wombat. While her parents and neighbors in the Northern Forest want nothing more than peace and quiet, Lola loves to talk. Bored by the quiet routine of wombat life, Lola desperately wants something, anything, interesting to happen. But when Lola follows the terrifying sound of unfamiliar screeching, she discovers a predator who has been kept in exile for many generations. And this creature has captured the peaceful wombats and carted them away—including Lola’s parents. To save her family, Lola will need help from the Queen of Tassie Island herself. But the road to the golden city of Dore is long and treacherous for a young wombat, especially with predators on the loose. To save the ones she loves, Lola will have to brave infested swamps, rushing rivers, and soaring heights, while encountering all sorts of strange critters, both friend and foe.At times exciting, at times heart-warming, this is the story of a wombat who is much braver than anyone imagined. An Imprint Book
Breaker Morant
by Peter FitzSimonsThe epic story of the Boer War and Harry 'Breaker' Morant: drover, horseman, bush poet - murderer or hero?Most Australians have heard of the Boer War and of Harry 'Breaker' Morant, a figure who rivals Ned Kelly as an archetypal Australian folk hero. But Morant was a complicated man. Born in England and immigrating to Queensland in 1883, he established a reputation as a rider, polo player and poet who submitted ballads to The Bulletin and counted Banjo Paterson as a friend. Travelling on his wits and the goodwill of others, Morant was quick to act when appeals were made for horsemen to serve in the war in South Africa. He joined up, first with the South Australian Mounted Rifles and then with a South African irregular unit, the Bushveldt Carbineers.The adventure would not go as Breaker planned. In October 1901 Lieutenant Harry Morant and two other Australians, Lieutenants Peter Handcock and George Witton, were arrested for the murder of Boer prisoners. Morant and Handcock were court-martialled and executed in February 1902 as the Boer War was in its closing stages, but the debate over their convictions continues to this day.With his masterful command of story, Peter FitzSimons takes us to the harsh landscape of southern Africa and into the bloody action of war against an unpredictable force using modern commando tactics. The truths FitzSimons uncovers about 'the Breaker' and the part he played in the Boer War are astonishing - and finally we will know if the Breaker was a hero, a cad, a scapegoat or a criminal.