The ANZACS

by Patsy Adam-Smith

Paper Book, 1978

Status

Available

Call number

940.4/81/94

Genres

Publication

Melbourne : Thomas Nelson Australia, 1981, c1978.

Description

'If you have not read The Anzacsthere will always be a part of Australia you will never understand.' Les Carlyon, The AustralianGallipoli was the final resting place for thousands of young Australians. Death struck so fast there was not time for escape or burial. And when Gallipoli was over there was the misery of the European Campaign. Patsy Adam-Smith read over 8000 diaries and letters to write her acclaimed best-seller about the First World War. Soldiers sought her out to tell her why they went, what they saw, and how they felt about that great holocaust. Their simple accounts are more vivid than any novel; the years have not dimmed their memories of lost comrades and the horrors of war. These are the extraordinary experiences of ordinary men - and they strike to the heart. Winner of the AgeBook of the Year award when first published in 1978, The Anzacsremains unrivalled as the classic account of Australia's involvement in the First World War.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member RobertP

Ms. Adam-Smith has captured the Australian soldiers of the First World War. It is not an anti-war, or a pro-war book. It is a prose poem to the bravery and humanity and foibles of the Digger.
As a Canadian, I do wish we had our equivalent, but we don't.
Well worth reading.

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LibraryThing member bookmarkaussie

The story of Australia's Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors during the First World War and what a read it is. It tells the overall story of Australia during the war through the stories of individual men who served during the war. It covers nearly everything from the Infantry, to Nurses, Gallipoli, the

Western Front and Palestine Campaigns, as well as the war at sea and in the air. It is intelligently written which makes it readable to both those interested in military history and to the general reader, a remarkable achievement.

There are only two things to be wary of, the first is that it is very much of the time it was written in, the 1970's and the attitudes of that period come through at times. Secondly there are a handful of gruesome photographs, only a handful but if that kind of thing affects you be aware.

This is regarded as a classic in Australian history writing and it's easy to see why.

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