Gallipoli - Softcover

Les Carlyon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553815067 ISBN 13: 9780553815061

Publisher: Transworld Paperbacks, 2003

Synopsis

Because it was fought so close to his old home ground, Homer might have seen this war on the Gallipoli Peninsula as an epic. Brief by his standards, but essentially heroic. Shakespeare might have seen it as a tragedy with splendid bit-parts for buffoons and brigands and lots of graveyard scenes. Those thigh bones you occasionally see rearing out of the yellow earth of Gully ravine, snapped open so that they look like pumice, belong to a generation of young men who on this peninsula first lost their innocence and then their lives, and maybe something else as well. Gallipoli remains one of the most poignant battlefronts of World War I and L.A. Carlyon's account of that campaign brings this epic tragedy to life and stands as both a landmark chapter in the history of the war and a salutary reminder of all that is fine and all that is foolish in the human condition.

About this title

About the Author:

L.A. Carlyon was born in northern Victoria, Australia, in 1942. He has been editor of the Melbourne Age, editor-in-chief of the Herald and Weekly Times group and a visiting lecturer in journalism in a career that has established him as one of his country's most respected journalists, receiving the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award in 1993. Gallipoli was researched in Australia, Britain, New Zealand and, most importantly, on the Gallipoli Peninsula itself.

Review:

"'Superb...Carlyon's writing is so vivid that you almost imagine yourself present. A stunning achievement'" -- Saul David * Daily Telegraph * "'Incisive, emotionally-charged and visceral...blends a real feel for the fighting soldier with a firm grasp of the strangely beautiful countryside which saw such a bewildering mix of tragedy, missed opportunity and wasted heroism. A hard-hitting and heart-breaking book'" -- Richard Holmes "'Carlyon is a gifted writer...his book deserves to take its place alongside other classic accounts of Gallipoli. He conveys the beauty of the place and its ugliness 90 years ago'" -- John Keegan * Daily Telegraph * "'The book of the year...the most stunning account of the Anzac boneyard'" -- Alan Ramsey * Sydney Morning Herald * "'A brilliantly managed narrative and remarkably even-handed...a superb account'" -- Trevor Royle * Glasgow Herald *

About this edition

• Publisher: Transworld Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0553815067
• ISBN 13: 9780553815061
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 752