PublishedWild Dingo, August 2014 |
ISBN9780987381156 |
FormatHardcover, 158 pages |
Dimensions27cm × 21cm × 2cm |
The Anzacs: 100 Years On in Story and Song is a unique contribution to the commemoration of the centenary of the Anzacs. Ted Egan weaves personal stories and songs into a highly readable history of the Anzacs and the two nations, with amusing anecdotes and tales of great courage and ingenuity serving to leaven somewhat the brutal truth exposed, of a tragic and senseless war.
The soldiers, nurses, politicians, wives, and the mothers who lost their sons, or welcomed them home severely damaged, all feature in this book and its songs.
Egan's stories and poignant songs infuse the facts with the pain and loss (of life and innocence) and suffering that this war created both on the battlefields and in every Australian and New Zealand home.
Listening to the songs is an unmissable, profoundly illuminating experience - you cannot fail to feel deeply and viscerally every chapter of this historical period, as if you were there - the excitement of the big adventure, the horrendous reality, the ultimate betrayal by the leaders of the day, the grim legacy of the aftermath for so many. The loss of innocence.
Ted Egan deplores the war, but in this book and songs, he salutes the spirit of the Anzacs - their blind impulsive bravery, their irrepressible larrikinism and steadfast loyalty to their mates that created heroes from these volunteers and conscripts.
