Full Circle by S F Rowell

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Foxing to top foredge. Dust jacket is covered with contact plastic. Interior and binding are still excellent.

This is a unique book. It tells the life story of Australia's first soldier, Sir Sydney Rowell, from staff cadet to Chief of the General Staff. It is the first book ever to be published by an Australian army officer who has held such high appointments.

Through service in the Light Horse in World War I, the uneasy years of peace that followed, senior command in World War II and the responsibilities of Chief of Staff afterwards, a dedicated officer and a warm human personality has served his country. The reader may well wonder whether the stress of war or the frustration of peacetime politics imposes the greater strain on the professional soldier.

The author illuminates many events of Australian military history; even civilian affairs are better understood from Sir Sydney's account of the army's role in the great coal strike of 1949. Rowell's stormy relations with his commander-in-chief during the Kokoda period are described with objective dignity.