The Puzzled Patriots: The Story of the Australia First Movement by Bruce Muirden

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Dust jacket has tiny tears to top edge and wear to corners. Dust jacket is now enclosed in a glossy protective cover. Interior and binding are still very good.

The Australia First Movement was a tiny fringe group whose philosophy comprised a chauvinistic Australianism, spiced with anti-British, quasi-fascist and anti-Semitic undertones.

In March 1942, sixteen Australian-born men were secretly interned in Sydney. In the tense atmosphere of wartime, they were arrested on suspicion that they might have helped the Japanese invaders. Most belonged to the Australian First Movement,

Bruce Muirden investigates the background to the odd movement of Australia Firsters, the individuals who belonged to it and the nature of the threat they posed. He probes the methods and reasoning of the authorities who interned them and sifts through the evidence presented at the Clyne Inquiry.

This book provides not merely a fascinating episode of history but also matter for present and future reflection.