Anzac journeys : returning to the battlefields of World War II / Bruce Scates ; with Alexandra McCosker [and three others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scates, Bruce, author.

McCosker, Alexandra, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Australia.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Battlefields--Australia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 307 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Australians have been making pilgrimages to the battlefields and cemeteries of World War Two since the 1940s, from the jungles of New Guinea and South-East Asia to the mountains of Greece and the deserts of North Africa. They travel in search of the stories of lost loved ones, to mourn the dead and to come to grips with the past. With characteristic empathy, Bruce Scates charts the history of pilgrimages to Crete, Kokoda, Sandakan and Hellfire Pass. He explores the emotional resonance that these sites have for those who served and those who remember. Based on surveys, interviews, extensive fieldwork and archival research, Anzac Journeys offers insights into the culture of loss and commemoration and the hunger for meaning so pivotal to the experience of pilgrimage. Richly illustrated with full-colour maps and photographs from the 1940s to today, Anzac Journeys makes an important and moving contribution to Australian military history.

Contents:

Introduction

Part One: Captivity narratives

'If only I knew what has become of him': the loss of Australia's prisoners of war

Witness to war: the first journeys

Bringing up the bodies: commemorating our war dead

Unspeakable histories: from Singapore to Hellfire Pass

The Death March: journeys back to Sandakan

Part 2: Desert and Island

Death in the desert: North Africa

A post-war dream: Greece and Crete

Part 3: Air and sea

Seeking the unknown: remembering Sydney

Journeys into night: bomber command

Part 4: Australia's front line

Walking the Trail: Kokoda

A city at war: Darwin

Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-27319-6

1-107-27394-3

1-107-27720-5

1-107-27517-2

1-139-19642-1

OCLC:

898421677