Search results for ""Author Craig Collie""
Allen & Unwin On Our Doorstep: When Australia faced the threat of invasion by the Japanese
'I can't understand the mentality of the Australian people. One day they are in a panic about the war and the next they want more race meetings.' - John CurtinBy March 1942, the Japanese had steamrolled through Malaya, laid siege to Singapore, and bombed Darwin with the same ferocity they had dealt Pearl Harbor. Nothing could stop them. Their next step was inevitable, surely: the invasion and occupation of Australia. Meanwhile, as Australian prime minister John Curtin was battling with Winston Churchill to get troops back from overseas to defend their homeland, he was also positioning to ensure the United States would be there with us to fend off the approaching enemy.And at home, people pitched in as best they could and in any way to frustrate the invader. They all played their part, torn between 'she'll be right' and near panic. On Our Doorstep is the story of how Australia and Australians - the government, the military and the people - prepared to face this calamity, and the events that persuaded them of its probability. In the end, Japan found it had stretched itself beyond the reliability of its supply line, but had it ever intended to invade Australia?
£21.55
Allen & Unwin The Reporter and the Warlords: An Australian at large in China's republican revolution
Set against the turbulent background of China in the first half of the 20th Century, this reads like a romantic novel; but it's a true story. The reporter is the intrepid Australian journalist Will Donald, who arrived in Hong Kong in 1903 and by 1908 was Managing Editor of the China Mail. As a freelance journalist based in Shanghai, Donald then became advisor to a number of influential public figures, including Sun Yat-Sen and Chiang Kai-Shek, entangling himself in their power struggles. He participated in the armed struggle to overthrow the last emperor of China and then wrote proclamations for Sun Yat-Sen, who ultimately became Provisional President of the Republic of China. Will Donald's most intriguing alliance was with the swashbuckling Manchurian warlord and morphine-addicted womaniser, Zhang Xueliang. The lives of these two extraordinary men became entwined over the decades and provide a compelling narrative. The role of both Australian and American advisors in these events has a particularly modern resonance.
£18.80
