Oceania Books

Daniel Rodgers' thesis in Atlantic Crossings is simple and direct: "the reconstruction of American social politics was of a part with movements of politics and ideas throughout the North Atlantic world that trade and capitalism had tied together." (3) He concludes that from the 1870s through World War II, America was not an internalist or an imperialist nation, but instead these years saw an "opening" for social reformers in the U.S. to import foreign models and ideals from other North Atlantic countries. Furthermore, these imported policies and reforms (mostly from Britain and Germany) were not adopted in America (if at all) unchanged upon reaching the Atlantic's western shores, but instead were adapted to the peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of American society and political structure. Finally, Rodgers argues, the seeds of the New Deal can be found in the activities and positions of the social reform activists of the last two decades of the 19th century and the first thirty years of the 20th century.
Rodgers convincingly supports his thesis by describing "a largely forgotten world of transnational borrowings and imitation, adaptation and transformation" (7) from the 1870s through the 1940s, a time during which Americans had an abundance of solutions to the myriad social problems of their day. This "borrowing" was a process that changed significantly over time. Initially, Americans were primarily recipients of reform ideas from abroad. Later, during the prosperity of the 1920s, a more even exchange of social solutions took place among North Atlantic countries, which eventually led to "a great gathering...of proposals and ideas" in the New Deal. Finally, by the end of World War II, the differing experiences of the nations of the North Atlantic world and the varying effects suffered by each from the conflict largely ended the former transnational exchange, and saw the Cold War rise of American exceptionalism.
Rodgers provides numerous convincing examples of the cross-national exchange process of ideas and reforms to illustrate his arguments. Workmen's compensation insurance in America, for example, was based upon a pre-World War I British model, a "ready made solution with a history of success behind it" (248) that made similar acts in the U.S. possible. Additionally, housing, health and streetcars were a major concern of American social reformers in large cities, who often borrowed ideas about municipally-guided urban and industrial projects from experiments and visions in Berlin and London. As Rodgers notes regarding the new "self-owned" city, "municipalization was the first important Atlantic-wide progressive project...[that] borrowed experience and transnational example." (159) European precedents gave American progressives "a set of working, practical examples." (144) "He describes, however, in chapters 5 and 6, the impossibility of wholesale American import of strong European municipality due to the unique and equally strong traditions in the U.S. in favor of property rights, a tradition buttressed and maintained by legal tradition and the courts. One need only look at excess condemnation, widely practiced in Paris and London, to see an example of reforms disallowed by the courts, which held that public interests of taste and beauty did not surmount the rights of property owners. Housing in America "was a private matter," (196) unlike the European examples progressives saw.
Although some reviewers have taken exception with Rodgers' claim that within the progressive movement's ideology one can see the footers of the New Deal, his argument is convincing. What New Dealers "did best," he asserts, "was to throw in to the breach, with verve and imagination, schemes set in motion years or decades before." (415) A large number of New Deal projects came out of the old Atlantic progressive connection, and in "gathering in so much of the progressive agenda, the New Deal gathered in large chunks of European experience as well." (416)
Perhaps the weakness in Atlantic Crossings is that which is left out, not in the arguments Rodgers articulately presents. First, it is surprising that Rodgers presents no detailed discussion regarding education reform, particularly when this issue was so important to the Germans at the time. Second, one would never know that there was an American South during this time period, a region where progressives were active even despite a lack of urban areas there. Nevertheless, Rodgers has done a masterful job of comparative history by emphasizing trans-national borrowing and cooperation.

This is the policy-side answer to Kloppenberg's UNCERTAIN VICTORY. While that book focussed on intellectual links between European (esp. German or French) thought and early American pragmatism, Rodgers seeks more practical applications, well into the 20th century. He is so well versed in the literature that scant references are made to secondary sources. It is rich in the literature of the time, particularly journals, magazines, and newspapers from several different countries. Interestingly, unlike Kloppenberg this book examines England and Scotland which provide springboards for American reforms. Rodgers' thesis is that the Europeans tried numerous policies which Americans learned about and then implemented, almost always later than their counterparts across the Atlantic--and sometimes with very limited success. The book is also noteworthy for some of the most practical applications of MODERNISM yet seen in contemporary scholarship. This is a hot topic, largely seen in discussions of art or literature. Here Rodgers takes all that knowledge, absorbs it, and then demonstrates it in action across the POLITICAL spectrum. Despite the enormous research behind it, Rodgers has written an enjoyable, readable work that is of considerable importance. After all, this is the author of the famous article, "An Obituary for the Progressive Movement," (1970) which claimed that there NEVER WAS such a movement. Here Rodgers answers his own claim, saying that the American reform impulse built upon a European foundation and produced policies which survive to the present. My only complaint is that this book is slanted TOWARDS Europe, with maybe 60% of the discussion dwelling across the Atlantic ... the format gets a little tedious, with most chapters beginning in Europe, then the Americans pick up on the policy (welfare, municipal gas/water etc) and then they try it themselves. This is nitpicking, though, for such a substantive, well-researched, lucid work that defines this generation's scholarship on the Progressive Era.

This book isn't exactly what I was looking for, but it's a great childrens book! Lots of pictures, in fact, I think there are probably more pictures than actual sentences. If you're looking for serious information on Australia, just stick to Frommers.

I really appreciate this series and the way it allows emergent readers to access sophisticated information. Nice work.

"The best guidebook [about Lord Howe island] is Australia: An Ecotraveller's Guide by Hannah Robinson," Mark Rowe, Travel Overseas, November 2005.

This is an odd little hybrid, but quite useful. With beautiful photos, like a coffee table book, but small in size; with many maps, but none detailed enough to really use; with travel suggestions, but little "getting there" or "where to stay" information, it is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. What it does, more than say "Watching Wildlife," is put the flora and fauna in an ecological and evolutionary context, explaining why a particular species or area is unusual, and worth seeing. There are many sidebars with interesting natural history, and references to recent scientific studies along this line. But it is also a guide to the highlights of where to see nature in Australia.
Bottom line is, you will need other guides to fully plan an ecotourist trip to Oz, but you will get a lot more out of the trip if you read this book first.

good book that will be great assistance in planning trip to Oz, as well as during my journey

This book is a wealth of information all contained in one volume. The travel tips, itineraries and even restaurant information are well researched. My only complaint is I'd like to see more detailed maps of some of the more off the beaten path areas - such as Kirra Beach, were I am going. Other than that, this book is a great product and I'd highly recommend it for anyone going to Australia for their first time.

Analysis of the Royal Australian Navy in the 20th century. Third volume in the Australian Centenary History of Defence series. Explores the effects of changing strategic circumstance, technological innovation, and differing national needs and expectations. Reviews Australia's naval involvement in operations that have ranged from global war through to peacekeeping and natural disaster. Includes illustrations, notes on contributors, notes, further reading and index. Editor served for 20 years with the Royal Australian Navy and became the inaugural Director of Naval Historical Studies within the Maritime Studies Program on retirement in 1994. He has authored or edited several books on maritime strategy and naval history. Series editors Professor Peter Dennis and Lieutenant-General John Coates are both connected with the Australian Defence Force Academy.

This is a well written book - Volume 3 of a series
"The Australian Centenary History of Defence Services". This volume is written by 6 contributors including the editor Dr D M Stevens.
All the contributors served in the Royal Australian Navy.
The first chapter deals with the formation of The Commonwealth
Naval Forces from five colonial naval forces and then the creation of the Royal Australian Navy in 1913.
The conflicts in which the navy was engaged are covered in some detail as well as the periods of peace with all the professional and political problems of how the navy should be developed.
There are good black and white photographs as well as fold-out plans of significant ships. There is a list of major ships giving the fate(i.e. sunk sold scuttled etc) of those no longer in service.
Also of value is a list of abbreviations for reference - for example
it may not be known to everyone that a DDG is a "Guided Missile
Destroyer"!

This is an interesting book for someone who has not been to Australia. Although there are variations between Aussie English and Standard Australian English, visitors will mostly encounter SAE. "Aussie" English is used in informal settings and is useful to know - but it is not as common as this book would suggest. The Australian accent may be difficult for some visitors and the use of works describing local peculiarities (beer's, local areas, etc) may seem strange at first. The section on Aboriginal languages is extremely good and gives an accurate introduction to this unique field. However, again be aware that the majority of Australians have no knowledge of Aboriginal languages and very few white Australians actually speak an Aboriginal language. The Anangu languages of the central Australian Outback are spoken by people living in communities in areas that require a permit to visit. You will hear these languages in communities that are attached to visitor centers or by Aboriginal guides to these areas. But do not assume that because book devotes half its content to Aboriginal languages that you will hear these in every day speech. Overall a good introduction to Australian "culture" and speech, but too much emphasize for a book of this kind on Aboriginal languages.

This book is a lot of fun! Our Australian friends really do talk like this.

This book has long been regarded as the ultimate on protocol and procedures in Australia. Sir Asher died some time ago but the book has been updated regularly. It is a pity that it is not so easily found in Australia. It is well written and clear. It also covers a myriad of areas that are so important. For me, particularly, it is important as I teach Meetings and Events. Protocal is one of the subjects in this discipline and therefore, particularly when managing a formal event, it is vital to understand all elements of the procedures involved as well as the general protocal. Our students handle events that could involve the Governor General of Australia (the Queen's representative) and the State governors, etc. It is very specific, especially with regard to flags that often cause major problems.

I like it!
Rgds
Gabrielle Cclara

This is the third edition of a book that is an invaluable source of information about Australian protocols and procedures, institutions and observances.

Much of the information contained here is available elsewhere. But in this handsome volume it is neatly presented in a form that invites browsing as much as it enables facts to be quickly ascertained.

Information about the Australian Parliament, and the parliaments of the states, the Constitution, flags and emblems is all included. As is information about life in Australia, the diplomatic service and a raft of other information which would be useful to those who need to work with (or to understand) Australia.

I'd recommend this book as useful addition to any library or organization that works with or has an interest in Australia. I'd also recommend it to those who like beautifully bound reference books.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This book belongs in any library of books on World War II.

At the beginning of World War II the Australians sent the cream of their army to fight in North Africa. And they did a supurb job there. The stories of Montgomery's success over Rommel is filled with the Australians did this, and the Australians did that.

But then came Pearl Harbor and the Japanese expansion to the south and east. The Japanese expanded to the Solomons in the east. To the south the Japanese landed on and controlled the northern coast of the island of Papua New Guinea. Their intent was to have their army march southward to meet a naval force going around the island. From there was the possibility of invading Australia.

To the east the Americans drew the line by establishing a series of bases in the New Hebrides. First the American Navy fought a battle with this Japanese naval force, it is called the battle of the Coral Sea. Then the Americans invaded the Japanese conquered Solomon Islands to prevent the Japanese from building an air base at a place called Guadalcanal. The Japanese got no further east.

No less important, but almost unknown here in the United States was the fighting in The Australians held the southern. In between lay the Kododa trail. It was indeed a Bastard of a Place. It's still a bitch of a place just to walk it without being burdened with equipment and someone trying to kill you.

The Australians wanted their army back from North Africa, the British said "No." So the Australians had to fight the battle with militia and conscripts. They did, and they won. They pushed the Japanese back to the northern coast and with a series of other battles kicked them off of the island completely. From here the march northward began.

During this time Dougout Doug MacAuthor was in Australia issuing press releases about how great he was doing. There was almost nothing in the American press about the Kokoda trail.

This book, written in Australia, is very well researched and very well written. It deserves wide distribution in the US to bring an understanding that the entire Pacific was wasn't won entirely by the U.S. Marines.

"Few Australians have heard of Gona, Buna and Sanananda - or for that matter Milne Bay. In commemorating the Papuan campaign we have, as a nation, got lost on the Kokoda trail" - Peter Brune.

I have never read a book that focuses completely on the Australian campaign in Papua (or part thereof) before, but only works that include the campaign as part of a more broad assessment of the whole South West Pacific Theatre of Operations. That said, I think it would be hard to find a better book on the Papuan campaign than Peter Brune's `A Bastard of a Place'.

The premise of Brune's book is that... "Kokoda's glory constitutes but one-fifth of the Australian legend of Papua during 1942. It is an integral part of that legend, but not its whole.

"...also, it is the sad saga of a nation still ignorant of this great Australian legend, still largely unaware of the feats of some of its most deserving military commanders and the soldiers they served. In some measure, regrettably, it is the story of others who have been accorded undue praise."

First and foremost in Brune's assessment of those who have received undue praise are Generals Douglas Macarthur and Thomas Blamey. Brune is scathing in his criticism of Macarthur's role as Supreme Allied commander in the South-West Pacific.

In Brune's assessment, Macarthur firstly was ignorant of the potential impact of a Japanese incursion into Papua and eventually was focused purely on achieving a quick land victory before his rival Admiral Nimitz could achieve a land victory on Guadalcanal in the neighbouring South Pacific Theatre of Operations, thus winning for himself the confidence of General George Marshall and the US Joint Chiefs and a greater share of US resources in the Pacific.

Macarthur's failure to understand the terrain and constraints in which the 2nd AIF's 7th Division and the AMF Militia Brigades in Papua faced, and the pressure he placed on Australian commanders in the field to achieve a quick victory, led to the unnecessary deaths of thousands of Australian soldiers in `Flanders-style' infantry assaults on heavily fortified and defended Japanese positions during the `Battle of the Beachhead' (Gona, Buna and Sanananda).

Blamey and a number of senior Australian commanders are willing accomplices in this process. While Brune acknowledges Blamey's successes as a leader and commander during World War One and in the Middle East in 1940-42, (as well as his many personal deficiencies), Papua is definitely the low point of Blamey's career and a period for which Brune finds little excuse - his notorious Koitaki address adding insult to the injury of the disloyalty he showed to senior Australian commanders in New Guinea including MAJ GEN Arthur `Tubby' Allen, MAJ GEN Cyril Clowes and BRIG Arnold Potts.

Potts is singled out as the unsung hero of the fighting withdrawal from Kokoda, beloved by the troops who served under him, `Pottsy' was sacrificed by Blamey on Macarthur's alter. MAG GEN Cyril Clowes, the victor of Milne Bay, is also singled out as a great unsung hero of the Papuan campaign, and yet another victim of Blamey's betrayal of his commanders.

But while the story of the commanders, both the heroes and the villains, is an important part of this book, it is by no means the focus.

Brune's work is meticulously researched - and much of the material he draws on is from the countless interviews and correspondence he has personally had with hundreds of veterans of the Papuan campaign over the last 15 years from Privates to senior officers. Along with the diaries and letters of the time, they paint a vivid and terrifying picture of what happened between July 1942 and January 1943.

It is these voices, of the men who fought the Japanese as well as the jungle, the swamps, the mountains, the disease and the climate who are the heart of this book and help to make it a definitive account, and Brune the definitive authority, on the Papuan Campaign.

The work, influence and legacy of wartime journalists and photographers like Chester Wilmot, Osmar White, Damien Parer and George Silk are also examined at some length in the book, (as well as the challenges they faced getting their work to the outside world), and some of the book's most interesting passages include the stories behind some Silk's incredible photos of the fighting at Buna, (unfortunately only a few of which are reproduced in the book).

One down side to the book are the maps. They aren't nearly detailed enough and given the detail which Brune goes into about the different phases of each battle, the maps are inadequate and horrendously over-simplified. As so much of the Papuan campaign hinged on the impact of the terrain contested, it seems a shame not to do that terrain more justice.

I also feel that while Brune justifiably seeks to address the glaring deficiencies in some of the official US accounts of the campaign, he goes a little too far with some of the swipes he makes at the Americans.

I would also have liked to see more about the Japanese side of the story. His excellent chapters on the Battle for Milne Bay included some diary extracts from some of the Japanese `marines' with the Naval Landing units which provide a fascinating insight into their perceptions of the Australians they were fighting. How we are viewed by an enemy will always shed some interesting light on how we view ourselves. It would also have been great to learn a little bit more about Major General Tomitaro Horii, who commanded the Japanese Forces during the Kokoda fighting and later died during the Japanese retreat - his background, personality, strategic grasp etc...

As far as I'm concerned, Brune has achieved his objective with `A Bastard of a Place'. Kokoda justifiably holds a high place in the Australian psyche, but it is not fully appreciated until it is understood within the broader Papuan campaign - and the battles at Gona, Buna, Sanananda, and particularly Milne Bay are just as much a part of the legend.

The man is a legend on Guam - he is "The Ultimate Paramount Boonie Stomping Leader of all time".

If you are planning a trip to Guam, get this book! We lived there for three years and the guide is the bible of Boonie Stomping. Five star rating...

For those who like to get out and see their surroundings, this book is ideal. Dave describes how to get to pretty much everything worth seeing on Guam. Be forewarned though, this book isn't for sissies looking for easily accessible locations. Each hike or 'trek' is rated by level of difficulty, with the most difficult be exactly that. Just because the author managed to get there, don't assume you can. The pictures are great and nicely depict each hike. Some instructions are vague, but if you do the hike, you will understand why. Guam is jungle and sometimes there just aren't any good landmarks. Included GPS coordinates are usefull for those who truly prepared. This book is a must for the outdoors type who visit Guam.

The book really presents an australia not as we know it, but one off a great divide between a strong patriotic belief, and then one of digust and resentment for the war. Never the less in the early years of the war this patroitic fever griped the hearts of many australian men, and there was great exitment and need for one to stand up and defend his infant australia, hirtho not yet recongnised as a real or threatning force to the germans or her allies. Many of these young men felt that it was not off choice to enlist but of civil duty, and in alliance to the throne and empire of england. But as the casualities of Gallipoli reched the shores of Australia and dark and realistic shadow was cast over the hearts and minds off all australians. The fantasy of war being glorious and adventrous, came to a grinding hault, the harsh reality had struck. The divide in the country had become stronger and unenlisted eliglbles were outcast from soicety, every consievalble tactic was used to encourage these men to enlist. The country was closer than every to tryanny,and there were two referendims to allow consrcriptions to be allowed.

Bill resonstructs with great sensitivity the valour and the tragedy off war. through this he shows us why the Great War was th have profound effects of the attitudes and ideals of Australians as a nation.

Australia at the time was a young enthusiastic country just wanting to be accepted in the empire and a lot of young people (about 1/2 of all young males)went away to prove themselves and were butchered - literally. Wars like these were common in the 'old world' but australlia, the land of the great social experiment was in every sense just a young child - the photo on the cover demonstrates that perfectly - a fresh faced young boy so young and whos mother would have been so proud, but so many of these people are now rotting in a strange country, no gum trees no nothing. Read the part about battle at Nek to find out what I mean - blood on the wattle means something to a lot of Australians and this is why - innocence lost but they kept on going - The best army since Genghis Khan. The diaries are so sad lost love and lost life. Literally peoples last words on this earth are noted in some of those diary extracts. the human condition at its most extreme. These days a lot of young Australians looking for role models are looking at the ANZAC tradition. These people were in every sense of the word 'superhuman' they did twice the work with half of the manpower and that's why they are still regarded so highly in france 80 years later.

I know this isn't really a book review but when i read the broken years it made me that emotional that i just want to say how it affects Australians. Others should read it too it's historical and its personal some times really personal. Some of these old guys would never say what when on in the great war but this is an insight into the rare archives which do exist. How exciting it all seemed at first then at one instant at Gallipoli realisation came, the blood shed, people told to run at machine guns, horses wailing, mateship Always remember that Australia was just little child when it entered the most gross expression of the human condition that I know of