Peter Rees
Guts and Glory
HarperCollins, 2025
From one of Australia's leading military historians and biographers, Peter Rees, comes Guts and Glory, an enthralling history of the way in which sport is ever present in the wars fought by, or involving, our Australian defence forces.
The spirit of Australia can be seen so clearly in how we play and how we fight. From the famous cricket match played on the beach at Gallipoli as a decoy for the evacuation of Australian troops; to the hero of Tobruk, Changi and the Thai Burma railway, Colonel Sir Ernest Edward 'Weary' Dunlop AC, who so respected his hard-won Wallaby jersey, he insisted on being buried in it; to legendary Test cricketer Keith Miller, fighter pilot in WWII, who famously said 'Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not' - sport has always been part of our wars.
A collection of vivid, moving, funny, powerful and poignant sporting stories from the wars fought by the Australian Defence Force ranging from WWI right through to the present day, Guts and Glory is a book about the way that sport is so often an intrinsic part of war; how sport provides a means for the diggers to cope with the pressures of the battlefield; how the lessons that we learn playing sport can be applied to the art of leadership and warfare; and how mateship and the Australian character and spirit can be seen in the way we fight and the way we play.
“This is ultimately an uplifting book, which celebrates the bonding and healing power of sport, in times of war and after it. For history buffs who can’t miss Friday night footy or the Boxing Day Test, this is a book they’ll devour.”
Bearing Witness
Allen & Unwin, 2016
A full biography of the man known as CEW Bean - war correspondent and official historian of World War I - that for the first time captures and portrays the essence of the man, his work, his influence on Australian history, and how Australians have seen themselves in the century since the Great War.
Charles Bean was Australia's greatest and most famous war correspondent. He is the journalist who told Australia about the horrors of Gallipoli and the Western Front. He is the historian who did so much to create the Anzac legend and shape the emerging Australian identity in the years after Federation. He is the patriot who was central to the establishment of one of this country's most important cultural institutions, the Australian War Memorial. Yet we know so little about him as a man. Bearing Witness rectifies that omission in our national biography.
This is the first complete portrait of Charles Bean. It is the story of a boy from Bathurst and his search for truth: in the bush, on the battlefield and in the writing of the official history of Australia's involvement in World War I. But beyond this, it is a powerful and detailed exploration of his life, his accomplishments and a marriage that sustained and enriched him.
Insightful, unexpected and compelling, Bearing Witness gives rich personality to a remarkable life.
About the Author
Peter Rees has had a long career as a journalist covering federal politics and as an author specialising in Australian military history. His books include Anzac Girls; Desert Boys; Lancaster Men; Bearing Witness: The Remarkable Life of Charles Bean; and The Missing Man: From the Outback to Tarakan, the Powerful Story of Len Waters, Australia's First Aboriginal Fighter Pilot. Killing Juanita, about the still unsolved disappearance of heiress, newspaper publisher and anti-development campaigner, won the 2004 Ned Kelly Award for True crime.
