New Zealand Books

An excellent history of the introduction of Red Deer to New Zealand, the meat recovery industry and red tape power of small government departments. Don't be fooled by the title. There is a lot to this little book and I wish I could get hold of another copy. The cretin I loaned it to never returned it to me.

After I have read this book it is clear for me the principle that said the strategic mistakes never could be corrected by tactical proficiency.
The authors tell us how to train an infantry unit, in the field, in all weather, day and night, with long foot marches. Sometimes infantry units think that if they have trucks or IFV they don't need foot marches. This is a mistake, especially in Malvinas. The unit training must be focused to develop the offensive attitude in offensive or defensive operations.
The authors describe us the moral status of the argentine forces, more of them, especially the senior officers, thought the conflict could be solve by diplomatic means, no by the war. They thought like diplomats, not like soldiers. Another point is the lack of training of the argentine forces in limited visibility combat. The argentine forces were surprised by the British night operations, but this ability shouldn't have been a surprise, in 1955 the "Biblioteca del Oficial - Circulo Militar - Argentina (Argentine Army Officers library) publicized the "Rommel Memories" where the Marshal said that night attacks were a British's specialty". The authors said that the night vision devices are important, but they're only part of the solution; more important is to develop skills to fight at night.
In the end of the book, they tell us about the fight for Tumbledown hill. They remark the importance of every soldier can request fire support. They add the need to overcome the lack of communications in the middle of the fight. In their opinion, the static defense was the worst tactical mistake of the Argentine Command. It should have kept the initiative with a dynamic defense organized in the deep of battlefield.
To finish the book, Robacio and Hernandez, write some conclusions like that the argentine forces should have attacked the British's logistics and communications more than their front line units. The book stressed the heroism of the argentine soldiers, privates, NCO`s and officers. They added some lessons learned about how to train units and how give them logistical support.
I think it is a very good book. It has a lot of lessons learned with blood but unfortunately forgotten.

The Book Description in the Editorial Review for this book published on Amazon is incorrect. The aircraft piloted by Capt Smirnoff did not land on an isolated beach in Java, but rather on an isloated beach on the north-west coast of Western Australia.

This book relates an important but relatively unknown event in the history of Western Australia, and is a valuable and very readable addition to other information available on the incident. Importantly it adds to the literature available on the history of Western Australia. The graphic descriptions of the bombing of the flying boats in Broome harbour are also valuable from a historical perspective. Historically valuable, but also a rollicking good read.

I read an abstract of this one day in a Doctors waiting room 2-3 years ago and have been waiting for the oportunity to find the full book. Written in the trenches, this is the most graphic depiction anyone could imagine about the harshness of war (Galipolli).
An engrossing read I only put down because I came to the end, unfortunately.

This book is for anyone wanting to research the origins of Western musical culture in the Antipodes, with a close look at "the grandfather of Australian music" the composer and teacher Alfred Hill. Almost forgotten by his countrymen today, author John Mansfield Thompson acknowledges for the first time in this authoratitive book the importance of a fascinating life in music lived "down under" far from the more universally known and appreciated cultural mainstreams of Europe and America at the turn of the twentieth century. Hill used enormous personal influence and creative resource to initially help found the early orchestras and choral societies in Australia and New Zealand and was a revered teacher and conductor in his own time. Receiving his musical training in Europe at a time when names like Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Grieg were around, he is in some ways the creative figure who brought the flavour of all this music and the culture surrounding it to his antipodean home. An important chapter in the musical history of "down under" for anybody interested in knowing what was going on there musically in the early part of last century.

This is by far the best I have read regarding the lives and hardships faced by early settlers of the Cooper's Creek region in the 1800's. John Conrick - a most remarkable man and a leader of his time. This book has made it possible to appreciate what life was like in the early years of inland exploration and settlement of Australia. A book obviously written after much research. Relates to the life of John Conrick who was brave enough to venture into the heart of Australia before white settlement. A must read.

Based on long field research in Dugum village in the early 1960es, this book deals with all aspects of the culture of the Grand Valley Dani. It is excellent and comprehensive, and will always remain the standard book written on this most famous of West Papuan ethnic groups.
See also Grand Valley Dani: Peaceful Warriors by the same author, which also covers recent changes/developments that have taken place since this book was written!

As Continental forces and Virginia militia units were engaged in winning independence, American quartermasters and provisioners struggled to provide these units with all the necessities of life, from meals and guns to meat, fodder for horses, the horses themselves, firewood, and every other type of material. Much of this was requisitioned from the civilian population and certificates were issued payable in either continental or state funds, depending on the units supplied, upon presentation to court authorities. Thousands of these certificates issued to Virginians were duly entered by the courts, and they provide a fascinating insight into the period of the Revolution. These "Publick" Claims booklets contain interesting and useful information about the contributions of ordinary people to the Revolutionary War. They provide some details of people's service in the militia or as guards for prisoners of war; they indicate where some bodies of troops were at particular times; and they identify providers of horses, wagons, cattle, grain, or other supplies. Much of the information in these booklets cannot be found anywhere else, which makes the surviving records particularly valuable. Also remarkable is the fact that records survived from virtually every county in the state at that time with the exception of the newly formed Kentucky counties. This makes the collection even more valuable in covering areas which heretofore in this time period have suffered from a lack of personal data. The "Virginia Publick Claims" are published by counties. In addition to a faithful transcription by Janice Luck Abercrombie and the late Richard Slatten, a complete index is provided for each county booklet. This series is an extremely important genealogical tool for searchers in Revolutionary-era materials.

This book, published in 1989, is a distillation of Thor Heyerdahl's research on Easter Island. It traces the history of Easter Island's interaction with the outside world, from Roggeveen's visit in 1722 up to the time of the book's writing. Along the way, Mr. Heyerdahl builds his case that two peoples, one from South America and one from Polynesia populated Easter Island.

This book is fantastic! I am not entirely convinced of Mr. Heyerdahl's case, but found his case compelling nonetheless. The book itself has many color pictures and maps, and is visually quite stunning. Now, not all of the book is about Mr. Heyerdahl's proposed history, so if you are merely interested in Easter Island, then you will still enjoy this book. This is a great book, one that you should read!

A book no avid military reader or serious historian of the Gallipoli campaign or should be without.

Echoes of Gallipoli, takes readers on a gripping journey with the men of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade from their mobilisation in August 1914 to the conclusion of the ill fated Gallipoli Campaign in December 1915. Using the official war histories, personal letters and diaries, Terry Kinloch has crafted a detailed and gripping account of the part played by the brigade in the ill fated campaign to seize the Dardanelles from the Ottoman Empire. The book vividly portrays the privations of everyday life on the peninsula, the bitter battles of annihilation, the comradeship and stoicism of men who lived with death as their constant companion. It is through these personal accounts, of both the officers and men who fought on the peninsula that the book springs to life; providing the reader with an intense account of the harsh realities of attrition trench warfare as experienced during the Gallipoli Campaign.

The book also briefly reflects on the relationships between the British Imperial Forces, New Zealanders and Australians prior to and during the Gallipoli Campaign, and the emerging sense of nationhood being forged at Gallipoli among the New Zealanders and Australians. Kinloch is certainly no revisionist historian and does not seek to vilify the senior Allied commanders; rather he portrays them as men ill suited and ill prepared for the rigors and challenges of industrial age warfare.