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John Rowe is an Australian author, born on 20 March 1936. John Rowe’s first published book Count Your Dead was selected by the Sydney University Press in 2003 for inclusion in their Classic Works series of 25 books by Australian authors both living and dead. Only three other Classic Works authors are alive.

John Rowe was educated at Sydney Grammar School and the Royal Military College Duntroon. He graduated from Duntroon in 1957. He was then on active service in the Australian Army in the Malayan Emergency, Kashmir, Confrontation in Borneo, and Vietnam. He resigned from the Army after the publication of his first novel Count Your Dead when serving, as an exchange officer, with the American Defence Intelligence Agency in Washington in 1968. He has now published six novels and a history on the Vietnam War.

His first novel Count Your Dead was published in 1968 by Angus and Robertson in Australia and was a major best seller. It is a novel about the Vietnam war. A paperback edition was later brought out by Wren Publishing in 1972. Extracts from the Angus and Robertson book cover follow. What has it really been like in Vietnam? When the helicopters drop US troops to an ambush in the jungle? When the Viet Cong mortars open fire on a base camp on Christmas Eve? When the men are on leave in the cities? When Civil Aid tries to pacify and rehabilitate a province? This vivid, compassionate, well-balanced novel answers, these questions… it is the story, strong in character and action alike, of the steadily deteriorating relations between two men, a colonel and a major… “John Rowe puts his fingers into the open wounds of the Vietnam war. His book hurts, but it is essential reading for those who want to understand the war.” – Dennis Warner

His second novel McCabe PM was published by Collins as a Pan paperback in 1972. It too was highly controversial and was also a major best seller. Extracts from the book cover follow. What will happen in election year… in Australia? Could a violent event alter the course of Australian history? Could an Australian Prime Minister be assassinated? Are there grim currents of fascism in the conservative right wing of Australian politics that could lead Australia to civil war? These are some of the sober and disturbing questions examined by John Rowe in his second novel, McCabe P.M., a fast moving, chilling story of the darker possibilities of Australia’s political future. The novel is also a compelling human story of the fierce political rivalry between Mungo McCabe, Australia’s new Prime Minister, and Freddy Harrigan, his sexually disturbed Defence Minister… “John Rowe’s novel is a timely and serious evocation of certain political trends in Australia. His nightmare scenario of a possible road to Australian fascism is disturbingly plausible.” – Peter Hastings

His third novel, The Chocolate Crucifix, was also published in 1972 as a hardback by Wren Publishing. Extracts from the book cover follow. Politician Dan O’Brien, a hard-drinking, hard-swearing and cynical innocent, is the central figure in this latest novel from the author of McCabe P.M. The Australian government faces its biggest foreign-policy crisis since the outbreak of the Second World War. Should it declare war and fight with the Dutch against Indonesia to prevent Soekarno’s Russian-equipped armed forces from ’liberating’ West New Guinea? The Australian Prime Minister dispatches Army Minister Dan O’Brien as his personal emissary … to Indonesia. But the actual purpose behind O’Brien’s mission is to convince the Indonesian President and his generals that Australia is a warrior nation to be feared, and by doing so, to bluff the Indonesians into backing down. O’Brien is a complex character. A much-decorated ex-fighter pilot, farmer and Liberal politician…he is a gifted and poetical speechmaker, with a deep belief in the mythology of the RSL and the Anzac tradition. Accompanying O’Brien in the role of devil’s advocate is Colonel Alec Boland, Australia’s military attaché… The Chocolate Crucifix moves at an unrelenting pace, unfolding scene after brilliant scene of the realities of power politics, of ambition and emotional crises…

His fourth novel, The Warlords, was published in 1978 by Angus and Robertson. Extracts from the book cover follow. … the 21st century. Two Asian nations have grown too huge and unwieldy to survive. Waldon, Singh and Tsao are the self-appointed gods of destiny who have arrived at the only two horrifying possibilities: cannibalism or nuclear devastation. This is a story of international intrigue, of callous minds at war with each other and with themselves. It couldn’t possibly happen…or could it? “John Rowe moves among the big themes of Asia with the confidence of one who understands the military and diplomatic elites” – Donald Horne, caustic observer of contemporary values. “John Rowe has built on his experiences in intelligence and foreign affairs to develop a gripping geopolitical plot…the best he has done yet.” – Major Peter Young, defence correspondent of The Australian.

His fifth novel, The Aswan Solution, was published in 1979 by Doubleday in the United States and as The Jewish Solution by Holt Saunders in 1980 in Australia. Extracts from the Doubleday book cover follow. When an American electronics genius falls in love with a beautiful Israeli sabra, he feels life is just beginning for him. But Miriam Heller is not what she seems: She is an Israeli agent on a mission crucial to Israel’s survival – and, although he doesn’t know it, crucial to David Laker as well. Israel desperately needs what only David Laker knows how to do. But for that knowledge to work for Israel, David Laker would have to commit treason … A highly charged story of nuclear brinksmanship in which a desperate decision by the Israeli leadership leads to a climax of devastating proportions. “A reading experience that combines pulsating storytelling, sound research and magnificent drama – creating masterly, entertainment right up to the last page.” – Gorgon Thomas, co-author of Voyage of the Damned.

“…the ending is apocalyptic…” – New York Times

John Rowe’s sixth novel, Long Live the King, was published in the United States by Stein and Day in 1984, and in Australia by Rigby Publishers also in 1984. Extracts from the Stein and Day book cover follow. The I.R.A.’s biggest bombing ever takes place in Wes-t minister Abbey during the Coronation of a new king. He and his mother are mortally wounded, and other members of the royal family are killed instantly. The next in line to the throne is young Prince George, a playboy officer of the Scots Dragoons who is involved in a love affair with an unacceptable American woman. The responsibilities and public life style of the ruling monarch are the furthest things from his mind – until the terrorists strike. Long Live the King is the riveting story of the playboy prince who suddenly finds that he must … become a man and King and come to grips with the realities of a once-great nation. The authenticity of the behind-the-royal-scene details makes this an unforgettable reading experience.

John Rowe’s Vietnam history was published by Time-Life Books in 1987 under the title, Vietnam the Australian Experience, as part of a major Time-Life series – Australians at War.

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