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The Nashos’ War: Australia's National Servicemen and Vietnam by Mark Dapin
Judges' Comments
In The Nashos’ War Mark Dapin has written an enthralling history of the Vietnam War from the perspective of the young Australians who were conscripted to fight in it. Composed with a novelist’s flair for narrative, an eye for character, and a deep respect for the fearful drama of combat, it is an exemplary instance of history from below. Dapin has drawn on the conscripts’ surviving testimonies to fashion a vivid, humane and personalised account of their dislocating and often harrowing experiences.
The Nashos’ War also provides a lucid explanation of the wider political context of the Vietnam conflict and is even-handed in considering the broader issues. On this point, The Nashos’ War is notable for its reassessment of many popular notions about how the war was perceived domestically. It ultimately challenges the idea — embraced in different ways by both the left and right of politics — that Australian veterans faced undue and widespread hostility upon their return. Dapin’s powerful and compulsively readable book brings to life one of the most controversial events in modern Australian history.