‘Flawed Hero’ wins 2024 Australian Political Book of the Year
Chris Masters has won the 2024 Australian Political Book of the Year Award for the book Flawed Hero: Truth, Lies and War Crimes (A&U).
Prize judges said Flawed Hero ‘addresses some of the troubling questions of the ethics of war which echo through many of the world’s current conflicts’ and that Masters ‘takes us onto the frontline of Australia’s longest war and into the darker chapters of our involvement in Afghanistan’.
‘It is a book reflecting the lengthy and courageous reporting of Chris Masters and others which challenges the ideas Australians have of ourselves as a military nation whose soldiers’ actions on the battlefield are always beyond reproach,’ said the judges. ‘The trauma of the very long engagement in Afghanistan—and the demands on many … servicemen and women to go back there too often—has been part of the dark story that has unfolded in the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide that reported this year.’
‘The book also gives readers a rare look into the world of journalism itself, and the costs and consequences of defending it through Australia’s biggest defamation case,’ said the judges. ‘It documents issues that our political leaders—as well as the defence establishment—still need to confront at a time when growing regional tensions have only escalated the national commitment to defence.’
This year’s judges were emeritus professor of political science at Australian National University John Warhurst, author and ABC 7.30 chief political correspondent Laura Tingle, and political journalist Barrie Cassidy.
Introduced in 2022, the Australian Political Book of the Year Award recognises ‘the vital part political books play in better understanding Australian politics and public policy and celebrates contemporary Australian political writing’.
The winner receives $15,000 in prize money and each shortlisted author receives $1000.
Last year’s prize was awarded to Niki Savva for Bulldozed (Scribe). More information about the award is available on the prize website.
Category: Awards Local news
