The Odd Angry Shot
Text Classics
$16.66
- Paperback
144 pages
- Release Date
20 March 2013
Summary
The Odd Angry Shot is the seminal account of Australian soldiers in the Vietnam War. Brief and bracing, tragic yet darkly funny, it portrays a close-knit group of knockabout SAS fighters – their mateship, homesickness and fears; their practical jokes, drinking and fighting. The enemy is not just the Vietcong they’ve been sent to fight, but their superiors, the mud and torrential rain, and boredom.
This edition comes with a new introduction by the renowned military historian P…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781922079718 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1922079715 |
| Author: | William Nagle |
| Publisher: | Text Publishing |
| Imprint: | Text Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 144 |
| Release Date: | 20 March 2013 |
| Weight: | 120g |
| Dimensions: | 34mm x 198mm x 129mm |
| Series: | Text Classics |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
‘This autobiographical novel stands the test of time, revealing human faces caught in a tragic chapter of Australian history.’
‘Short, pithy and powerful.’
* Dominion Post *
‘This autobiographical novel stands the test of time, revealing human faces caught in a tragic chapter of Australian history.’ * SMH/Age/Canberra Times *
‘A savage and mordantly funny novel…Visceral and immediate, irreverent and agonised, the story pules with the plea to “remember…remember”…The narrative slams its way onwards, in brief, brutal, battering scenes like bursts of gunfire, unexpectedly modulating into moments of wistful hope…Nagle takes no prisoners, makes no excuses. It’s a story without sentiment, but packed with passion and compassion. Its damaged young men are the core of a shocking, sundering little book that punches far above its length.’ * Auckland Weekend Herald *
About The Author
William Nagle
William Nagle was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, in 1947. Educated at St Joseph’s College in Geelong, he left school at seventeen and enlisted in the army. He trained as a cook and in 1966 was deployed with the SAS to Saigon. There he was disciplined for refusing to cook egg custard and later was transferred to the infantry in Australia.
Nagle was discharged from the army in 1968, and went on to work in television, and on stage with the Melbourne Theatre Company. The Odd Angry Shot, his debut novel, fictionalised his experiences—and those of his SAS mates—in Vietnam. Nagle completed the first draft in one sitting, working around the clock for six days.
Published in 1975, the novel won the National Book Council Award and became an instant classic. In 1979 it was made into a film starring Graham Kennedy, John Hargreaves, John Jarratt and Bryan Brown. ‘It was a risky commercial venture,’ said director Tom Jeffrey. ‘The Vietnam War was a dirty subject. Few people wanted to be reminded of our involvement.’
Nagle wrote the screenplay for Death of a Soldier (1986) and co-wrote the screenplay for The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989), both about the Vietnam War. He worked in film and television for many years in the United States before his death, in 2002.
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