Military Technology, History of Technology 

The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948-1975 

Medicine at War is the third volume of the Official History of Australia's involvement in Southeast Asian conflicts from 1948-1975. It deals with medical aspects of Australia's military involvement in the Malayan Emergency, the Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation and the Vietnam War. Spanning the period from the initial despatch of Australian service personnel to Malaya in 1950 to the aftermath of Vietnam, the book details the medical experiences of the Australian Army in all three conflicts, as well as those of the Royal Australian Air Force in Malaya and Vietnam, and the Royal Australian Navy in its operations in Vietnamese waters. The volume presents for the first time a comprehensive account of the range of injuries and diseases to which Australian servicemen and servicewomen were exposed in Southeast Asia, and documents the measures that were taken to provide them with medical services. A special section of the book, written by F. B. Smith, a distinguished historian of medical issues, analyses the Agent Orange controversy that followed the Vietnam War.

Medicine at War draws upon an immense range of published and unpublished material, including archival sources and specialist medical literature, much of it hitherto unknown and inaccessible to the general public. Eschewing technical language wherever possible, the book transforms this highly complex material into a clear and readable narrative. Sensitive and controversial medical issues, such as the control of sexually transmitted diseases, the prevention and treatment of multi-drug-resistant malaria and the effects of exposure to chemical agents in Vietnam, are explained with clarity and precision.