A Nation at War: Australian Politics, Society and Diplomacy during the Vietnam War 1965-1975 by Peter Edwards (Second Hand Book)

SECOND HAND BOOK – EX LIBRARY

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Australia was a nation at war in two sense. After the Menzies Government sent a battalion of troops to the Vietnam War in 1965, the involvement soon became Australia’s largest military commitment apart from the two world wars. But in Australia this commitment created bitter divisions in Parliament, churches, universities, unions and families, until supporters and opponents fought in the streets of Australian cities. The Vietnam War, together with the selective form of national service which sent thousands of young conscripts to fight in Vietnam, dominated Australian politics for ten years.

A Nation At War tells the story of Australia during this tumultuous decade. It shows how the initial support for the Vietnam commitment was eroded until a majority of the population came to think that it was mistaken, if not immoral. The book traces the growth of the protest movement against the War and conscription, giving the most detailed account yet published of the three Moratorium protests in which tens of thousands of Australians demonstrated. A Nation At War discusses the decisions of the Menzies, Holt, Gorton, McMahon and Whitlam Governments, as they responded to these unprecedented protests while wrestling with diplomatic pressures emanating from powerful allies and strife-torn neighbours. The book also analyses the incidents which shaped the debate and which long remained in public memory–the alleged ‘water torture’ incident, the episodes involving conscientious objectors like Simon Townsend and William White, and many more.

Specifications:

Condition: Fair. Ex-library — library stickers and stamps, a lot of wear and some staining on dust jacket and exterior plastic film, some mild wear and signs of age on pages and internal annotations.

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Year: 1997

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 460

ISBN: 1864482826

$25.00

Out of stock