What's Wrong with ANZAC?: The Militarisation of Australian History

In Recent Years Anzac - an idea as much as an army corps - has become the dominant force within Australian history. The commemoration of Anzac Day is bigger than ever, while Remembrance Day and other military anniversaries grow in number and significance each year. Pilgrimages to Gallipoli, the Somme and Kokoda are commonplace, and popular military history dominates the bestseller lists. Anzac has seemingly become a sacred, untouchable element of the national identity.

In this brave and controversial book, some of Australia's leading historians dare to ask questions about Anzac. They suggest that the Anzac obsession distorts our understanding of the past, replacing historical fact with mythology. They investigate official sponsorship of Anzac through the funding of commemoration and education, and show the ways it has been mobilised as a conservative political force. Finally - and perhaps most devastatingly - they ask whether nations are really made in war and whether the deaths and loss on foreign shores have been justified.