Overview
The achievements of Australian servicemen and women have played a central role in shaping Australia's national identity. While we rightly commemorate the sacrifices of Australians in war, we have ignored those who returned to Australia and their struggles to reintegrate into society. The Cost of War: War, Return and the Re-Shaping of Australian Culture focuses on the Anzacs who returned from the two world wars, the Korean War and Vietnam. Many of the challenges outlined in the book remain pressing and relevant for veterans of other conflicts - notably Afghanistan and Iraq - and conflicts yet to come. The Cost of War examines the effects of combat, the emotional and physical scars borne by returned men and women, the impact on their families and friends, and the efforts of Australians to understand the physical, psychological, and cultural wounds of war. Although the book presents the other side of the Anzac experience, it is also an appreciation of how Australians have turned something so painful into a mythology of enduring significance, shaping Australian culture in profound ways. It is also a plea for the importance of understanding the aftermath of war for ordinary Australians and our collective responsibility to consider how best to support veterans and their families into the future.
Full Product Details
Author: Professor Stephen Garton
Publisher: Sydney University Press
Imprint: Sydney University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 17.80cm
, Height: 1.90cm
, Length: 25.40cm
Weight: 0.410kg
ISBN: 9781743326756
ISBN 10: 1743326750
Pages: 308
Publication Date: 01 April 2020
Audience:
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Temporarily unavailable
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.
Reviews
'Written with admirable balance, insight, and imagination, The Cost of War deserves a wide audience ... Garton details the ongoing contest within Australian society over the meaning of warfare and individual sacrifice ... It is a provocative, insightful, and highly recommended study.' Review of the first edition. -- Robert J. McMahon * Journal of American History * 'The cost of war is borne by individuals, families, especially successive generations of Australian women, and broader society. We have a deeper and far more nuanced appreciation of these realities as a result of this book.' -- Stephen Loosley * The Australian * 'Stephen Garton's book is a long-awaited and very thorough study of the cost of war to Australian society ... It will be an important addition to an area in which there is a paucity of published material.' -- Carolyn Newman * Labour History *
Author Information
Professor Stephen Garton is a graduate of the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales and a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and the Royal Australian Historical Society.
