War is such a nightmare it's hard to believe any war can retain a positive aura for decades. Yet the vast conflict in the Pacific is a shibboleth for Australian politics to this day. Politicians continue to use its appeal to legitimise modern wars. Tom O'Lincoln's book questions every aspect of this syndrome.
He argues that the Pacific War was an imperialist one on both sides, that the west cannot claim the high moral ground, and that wartime Australia was riven with class and other social conflicts. Despite the admirable intentions of rank-and-file soldiers, the campaigns were a war for imperial power, prosecuted by a government that misled the people in order to extract sacrifice.
Australia's Pacific War is a very readable and essential account of the myths of liberation.