PublishedNewsouth Publishing, April 2019 |
ISBN9781742236360 |
FormatSoftcover, 272 pages |
Dimensions23.4cm × 15.3cm |
2019 Nib Military History Prize Finalist
'This book should
be read by anyone interested in the way myths become accepted as history.' - Peter Edwards, author of Australia and the Vietnam War
Why everything you think
you know about Australia's Vietnam War is wrong.
When journalist and historian
Mark Dapin first interviewed Vietnam veterans and wrote about the war, he
swallowed (and regurgitated) every popular misconception. He wasn't alone. In Australia's
Vietnam, Dapin argues that every stage of Australia's Vietnam War has been
misremembered and obscured by myth. He disproves claims that every national
serviceman was a volunteer; questions the idea that Australian troops committed
atrocities; debunks the fallacy that there were no welcome home parades until
1987; and rebuts the fable that returned soldiers were met by spitting
protesters at Australian airports.
Australia's Vietnam is a major contribution to the understanding of
Australia's experience of the war and will change the way we think about memory
and military history.
