Tag: A Man, A Woman, and the War to End All Wars Review

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(More customer reviews)TAG (A MAN, A WOMAN, AND THE WAR TO END ALL WARS) by Barry Heard
Scribe Publications Pty Ltd ISBN (13): 9781921372766 [...]
Barry Heard, author of the bestselling Vietnam War memoir Well Done, Those Men, has
written his first novel, TAG, based on the experiences of a WW1 digger, whom Heard knew
as a boy. TAG is not just for military personnel, it has the ability to cross over to a wider
audience with this beautifully written anti war story.
TAG is the story of Tag Wardell and his mates who grew up in the High Country of Eastern
Victoria around the turn of the century. It chronicles Tag's experiences as a young
Blacksmith before the "War to end all Wars", and his involvement in WW1.
Growing up in the bush, Tag becomes a legend around the district with his horse whispering
talents and his love of horses. For Tag and his mates war begins as a great adventure. On
board the troopship, Tag is called upon to work closely with the distressed horses that are to
be used during the war.
Heard describes the hardships that Tag faced along with his boyhood mates in the trenches of
Gallipoli and the battle fields of the Western Front. Heard brings to life the horror and
extremely difficult task that the Australians had to endure in the trenches and field hospitals
at Gallipoli. During his time in Gallipoli on the front line, Tag brings about changes to the
handling of horses under fire. This is evident when Tag is shipped off to the Western Front to
face more madness working with the horses used for battlefield clearances.
While on leave in Egypt, Tag meets Jill, an Australian Nurse. Their romance blossoms
despite the chaotic surroundings of war, however their courtship is cut short with Tags
impending orders for Gallipoli. It is here where Heard reveals his talent for research, evident
with his graphic descriptions of the conditions and courage of the Australian Nurses. I believe
he could have another novel waiting here.
Heard made me forget that TAG was a novel. With all its mayhem, madness, appalling
carnage and war time love, I felt like I was in the trenches of Gallipoli and the Western Front
with Tag, Tiger, Bucket and Golly. Heard brings the reader to a deeper level of
understanding of the exceptional work our diggers did under a great deal of stress, both
physically and emotionally.
Reviewed by Gordon Traill
Iraq Veteran
Editor@peacekeepers.asn.au
[...]

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As a lad in the high country of eastern Victoria, Tag Wardell shows an extraordinary gift with animals-he is followed to school by his pets; his rapport with his horse, Dimble, becomes the talk of the district; and when he becomes a blacksmith, locals come to watch him at work, amazed at his ability to calm the meanest of nags. But 1914 brings war, and the government's patriotic fervor entices Tag and his friends to join the Light Horse Brigade. Tag's life soon spirals into a battle for survival in the day-to-day madness of the trenches, and he faces conditions that are terrible for man and beast, discovering the hardship and joy that accompany wartime love along the way. Based on the real-life experiences of a World War I veteran, this deeply moving, fiercely antiwar novel blazes with authenticity, revealing new insights into the Gallipoli legend and Australia's battles on the Western Front. A bush tale, a family saga, and a romance combined, this unforgettable revelation demonstrates the human spirit's ability to survive war's inhumanity.

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Howard's War (Scribe Short Books) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Howard's War" is the type of book read by only four groups of people. First, reviewers who have to read it. Second, close family members of the author. Third, those who simply want their existing political prejudices massaged to climax. And the final group are those who read such intellectual cowardice and tripe to keep their disgust fresh (include this reviewer in that number just in case there's any doubt).
The author, Alison Broinowski, is a retired diplomat (as an aside, how do these people get selected for such jobs....) and former academic who incidentally used to lecture as a guest speaker at the Australian Army's Command and Staff College - at the end of the course each year, three academics or prominent commentators would be invited to provide their perspectives on Australia's future from the left, centre and right of the political spectrum respectively. Broinowski spoke for the left on a number of occasions. Broinowski's polemic (that's all you can really call this), "Howard's War", reinforces the dogmatic and one-sided views she has long expressed. Parts of the book make some attempt at academic-style rigour but these sections are few and far between and are invariably marred by the general tone of shrill and unleavened condemnation, and by its continual deployment of flawed assumptions with no attempt at objectivity or balance.
If you hate John Howard, as most of the Australian left does, or indeed dislike any right of centre Australian politician since World War 2, you will relish this book for its subjectivity, inherent and unremitting bias and it's pandering to your prejudices and weaknesses, both intellectual and moral. The book is based on an underlying and not always unspoken assumption that the USA and its government are always the bad guys, and that Australia's alliance with the USA is both completely wrong strategically and utterly immoral. Her book spews up most of the simplistic and tired old anti-American prejudices common in Australian academic circles since the early 1950s. You really have to wonder whether Broinowski's views have matured since the days of the anti-Vietnam war protests (actually, you don't have to wonder at all - they very obviously haven't). Her polemic offers no real alternative proposals for Australian national security policy. There are some rather more than ephemeral suggestions of appeasement and moral isolationism, especially in her views about accommodating terrorism by Islamic extremists rather than fighting it.
Other Australian critics of John Howard's decision to join the "Coalition of the Willing" over Iraq have mounted reasoned and well though out arguments to support their view. It can be done if an objective effort is made, and while I might personally disagree with that view, I can appreciate the arguments for and against. However, this book sadly failed, in that the author's case lacks any real effort to make a balanced case. Her main argument, that Australia's alliance with the US makes us a target for Islamic terrorists, is simply shallow and reeks of moral cowardice.
All in all, this book's a complete waste of money and a sad waste of paper.

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A concise critique of the justifications used to support Australia's participation in the 2003 war against Iraq is set forth in this work. It inspects Prime Minister John Howard's motivation for entering a war that is contrary to Australia's interests and explores the apparent consequences of this decision on its citizens. Among the topics addressed is how Australia's involvement eliminated a profitable trading partner and ratcheted up the hostilities against Australia among Iraq's Muslim neighbors and in countries that would otherwise have paid little attention. The prime minister's zealous appeasement of Washington and London and his ensuing adoption of U.S. foreign policy are also scrutinized.

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