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Book Cover
Book
Author O'Lincoln, Tom.

Title Australia's Pacific war : challenging a national myth / Tom O'Lincoln
Published [Brunswick, Vic.] : Interventions, 2011

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  940.5426 Oli/Apw  AVAILABLE
Description x, 194 pages ; 22 cm
Contents 1. Breaking into the imperial club : Japan and Australia in the conflict of empires -- 2. Myth of liberation : it wasn't a war for freedom -- 3. Woe to the conquered : Australia and the occupation of Japan -- 4. Sons and daughters of Britishers : racism and the war -- 5. Kill or be killed : hatreds and atrocities in perspective -- 6. Crime and punishment : Mass killing and war crimes trials -- 7. 'Double cross them all' : unrest on the home front -- 8. 'Our fate is in the balance' : misconceptions of war
Summary War is such a nightmare. It's hard to believe any war can retain a positive aura for decades. Yet the vast conflict in the Pacific is a shibboleth for Australian politics to this day. Politicians in particular use its appeal to legitimize modern wars. Tom O'Lincoln's books questions every aspect of this syndrome. He argues that the Pacific War was an imperialist one on both sides, that the west cannot claim the high moral ground, and that wartime Australia was riven with class and other social conflicts. His aim is to challenge an Australian national myth
Analysis Atrocities
Defence policy
Imperialism
Just war
Military strategy
Pacific Ocean
Political conditions
Racial discrimination
World War 2
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [161]-194)
Subject World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Pacific Area.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Pacific Ocean.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Australia.
SUBJECT Australia -- Military policy http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008114306 -- History -- 20th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2002006165
Australia -- Military policy http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008114306 -- 20th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2002012476
Australia -- Politics and government http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85009597 -- 1922-1945
Australia -- Politics and government http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85009597 -- 1939-1945
ISBN 0646553534 (paperback)
9780646553535 (paperback)