Mia Martin Hobbs, Carolyn Holbrook & Joan Beaumont, ed.
Challenging Anzac: Stories that Don’t Fit the Legend (NewSouth, Sydney, 2026)
The Anzac legend has shaped Australia’s national identity for more than a century. Yet many experiences of war do not fit comfortably within this.
In Challenging Anzac, leading historians explore some of these stories: Aboriginal activists, deserters on the Western Front, veterans who took their own lives and soldiers who became radicalized by their service. They reveal how episodes in Australia’s war history that unsettled the Anzac legend – from the relief of Tobruk, nuclear testing on Australian soil and feminist protests against war, to alleged atrocities in Afghanistan – have been elided or adapted to ‘fit’ the legend.
Edited by award-winning historians Mia Martin Hobbs, Carolyn Holbrook and Joan Beaumont, Challenging Anzac examines how the reality of warfare has always been at odds with mythic representation and considers why, despite this, the Anzac legend has survived. (blurb)
The book is reviewed for Honest History by Michael Piggott. Review notes: Canberra Times; The Age/SMH. ABC Nightlife: Philip Clark with Mia Martin Hobbs and Carolyn Holbrook. ABC Brisbane Drive. The Conversation includes an edited version of John Maynard’s essay in the book.
