Links of Leadership: Thirty Centuries of Military Command

by John Laffin

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

John Laffin was a prolific author with nearly 130 books to his name. Many of his books concerned military history.

Laffin's parents both served in WWI, his father in the 20th Battalion and his mother as a nurse. In 1940, aged 24, having worked with Smith's Weekly and The Wagga Advertiser, he enlisted in the 2nd AIF. He trained as an infantryman and later completed an officer course before serving in New Guinea. While convalescing in Sydney in 1943 he met his wife Hazelle.

After the war Laffin worked for a number of newspapers and magazines, wrote short novels and began his own feature service and editing unit. With his family he left for England in 1956 where he resided for nearly 40 years. He wrote articles for Australian newspapers and taught English, history and geography in secondary colleges.

Laffin traveled extensively in Europe, especially the Western Front areas of WWI and in the Middle East. He returned to Australia in 1995 but Hazelle developed heart problems and died in early 1997. He is survived by his two daughters, Bronwen and Pirenne, and a son, Craig.

Reviews

[Rick Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the book was originally published in 1966, it is an interesting read. Laffin covers several centuries of combat and command and he did a good job of weaving together technological, tactical, and strategic advances and thought. He also illustrated that some thought patterns remained in place throughout the centuries. I believe the book would have had more strength if there was a summary at the end of each chapter. If that had been in place it would have been easier to keep up with the links the author intended to describe.