What's wrong with ANZAC?

Description

In recent years Anzac - an idea as much as an actual army corps - has become the dominant force within Australian history, overshadowing everything else. The commemoration of Anzac Day is bigger than ever, while Remembrance Day, VE Day, VP Day and other military anniversaries grow in significance each year. Pilgrimages to Gallipoli, the Somme and Kokoda are commonplace and popular military history dominates the bestseller lists. Anzac has seemingly become a sacred, untouchable element of the nation. In this brave and controversial book, some of Australia's leading historians dare to criticise Anzac. They show that the Anzac obsession distorts the rest of Australia's history. They investigate official sponsorship of Anzac through commemoration and education and show that this has mobilised it as a conservative force, often for political ends. Finally - and perhaps most devastatingly - they ask whether the grief and loss associated with bloodshed on foreign shores was all worth it.

Henry Reynolds is one of Australia's best known and most widely read historians. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Tasmania. His sustained and meticulous research has played a major part in the political and legal milestones, the Mabo and Wik judgements. Professor Reynolds' books include With the White People (1990), Fate of a Free People (1995), This Whispering in Our Hearts (1998), Why Weren't We Told? (1999, 2000), Fate of a Free People and Nowhere People

Here a group of distinguished Australian historians, for the first time, mount a brisk critique of an idea--'Anzac'--that has for too long been unchallenged. --Dr. Peter Stanley, director, Center for Historial Research at the National Museum of Australia