Nancy Angelos

Kokoda was my introduction to Australian author Peter FitzSimons and I thank my son-in-law for sending my husband a copy from Australia a few years back. The book is about the little known role that the Australians played against the Japanese in Papua during WW II. FitzSimons has a great style of writing that makes you feel like he's reporting from the thick of things, in real time. To cite an article in KOKODA TREKKING "It was on July 21, 1942, that Japanese troops landed on the northern coast of then New Guinea and unexpectedly began to march over the Owen Stanley Ranges with the intent of capturing Port Moresby. Had they succeeded, the mainland of Australia would have come under dire threat." This is a substantial book, 512 pages, but you'll be hooked within a few pages.