uncommon-soldier

Shortlist year: 2013

Shortlist category: Non-fiction

Published by: Allen & Unwin

Chris Masters turns his penetrating gaze on the young men and women who make up the Australian Army. Having been taken into their ranks in a way rarely afforded an outsider, he gives heart and soul to the contemporary digger: how they are selected, how they are led, and how they are transformed from civilians to disciplined professional soldiers. And by sharing their experiences, he puts under severe challenge that soldiering is the province of dumb grunts.

Uncommon Soldier is a rich and powerful character study of the modern Australian soldier - war fighter, peacekeeper, street-level diplomat and aid-worker.

About the author

chris-masters

Chris Masters

Chris Masters is Australia's best-known investigative reporter, and is the author of the bestselling Jonestown (2006). In 1985, he won Australia's most prestigious award in journalism, the Gold Walkley, for his Four Corners report on the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. His reports 'The Big League' and 'The Moonlight State' both led to royal commissions that helped transform the nation.