Drawn in part from the authors combat experience in France during WW I, the novel is an exploration of the lives of soldiers in the Australian Imperial Force from the Ypres campaign in 1917 until just before the Armistice. The plot follows three soldiers in the same battalionCharl Bentley, a naive and handsome raw recruit eager for combat; Frank Jeffreys, a schoolteacher whose intellect and anxiety have led to disillusionment; and Jim Blount, a resourceful and courageous warrior-hero who remains undaunted by battle despite being wounded. The novel bears an unmistakable Australian point of view, particularly in its wry sense of humor in spite of the dark subject matter and in its vehement disdain for British commanders who viewed the AIF volunteers as disposable.
This anthology reveals the many ways in which going to war has formed a cultural bridge between Australia and the world. From the Sudan in 1885 to Afghanistan in 2001, the connection of war to travel is illustrated in the observations of many writers.
In a world where war is a persistent reality in media and in film, there is a larger, consequential war being waged everyday that is often neglected: the Spiritual war inside of us. Written in the English Puritan era but just as powerful and inspiring today, William Gurnall's timeless epic The Christian in Complete Armour serves as a beautifully written and action-packed spiritual guidebook A call to arms for Christians, Gurnall's expounded sermons on Ephesians 6:10-20 are as practical as they are illuminating. With stunning prose and page-turning excitement, the battle for the soul and the descriptions of the God-given protections and weapons ascribed to the believer are detailed and explained. Gurnall's masterpiece has been inspiring Christians since the 17th century, and has never been as applicable and urgently needed as the present day. Praise of the work: "If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose The Christian in Complete Armour." -John Newton "Peerless and priceless; every line full of wisdom." -C. H. Spurgeon "A beautiful feature in Gurnall's book is its richness in pithy, pointed, and epigrammatical sayings. You will often find in a line and a half some great truth, put so concisely, and yet so fully, that you really marvel how so much thought could be got into so few words." -J. C. Ryle
In The Purpose of Futility, Clare Rhoden surveys Australian Great War narratives, demonstrating their particularly Australian features which help to explain the unique and disputed position of the Great War in Australian history.--Provided by publisher
A thorough and original study of the linothorax, the linen armor worn by Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great led one of the most successful armies in history and conquered nearly the entirety of the known world while wearing armor made of cloth. How is that possible? In Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor, Gregory S. Aldrete, Scott Bartell, and Alicia Aldrete provide the answer. An extensive multiyear project in experimental archaeology, this pioneering study presents a thorough investigation of the linothorax, linen armor worn by the Greeks, Macedonians, and other ancient Mediterranean warriors. Because the linothorax was made of cloth, no examples of it have survived. As a result, even though there are dozens of references to the linothorax in ancient literature and nearly a thousand images of it in ancient art, this linen armor remains relatively ignored and misunderstood by scholars. Combining traditional textual and archaeological analysis with hands-on reconstruction and experimentation, the authors unravel the mysteries surrounding the linothorax. They have collected and examined all of the literary, visual, historical, and archaeological evidence for the armor and detail their efforts to replicate the armor using materials and techniques that are as close as possible to those employed in antiquity. By reconstructing actual examples using authentic materials, the authors were able to scientifically assess the true qualities of linen armor for the first time in 1,500 years. The tests reveal that the linothorax provided surprisingly effective protection for ancient warriors, that it had several advantages over bronze armor, and that it even shared qualities with modern-day Kevlar. Previously featured in documentaries on the Discovery Channel and the Canadian History Channel, as well as in U.S. News and World Report, MSNBC Online, and other international venues, this groundbreaking work will be a landmark in the study of ancient warfare.
