Japan At Our Gates: the Thermopylae of Australia is at Singapore (1942) By Kurt Offenburg
 
At the time of his death, Offenburg was regarded as ‘one of the most popular and provocative radio speakers in Australia’. An eloquent tribute came from Charles Bean (1879-1968), Australia's official First World War historian, in a radio broadcast devoted to Offenburg:
 
Kurt Offenburg stood particularly for the enlightenment of the average citizen as to the realities behind the claims or excuses of statesmen in their international dealings. He felt that, whatever statesmen might say about avoiding war, there was no chance of lasting peace unless the nations ceased to think and act as nations, and man recognized an overriding loyalty to all mankind: and he was too honest to let his hearers think that he saw signs of the growth of this loyalty, when as a matter of fact he saw none at all, or hardly any. Although his frank and penetrating broadcasts brought him a large and loyal audience, he was often enough made to feel, despite his Australian nationality, the provincial suspicion with which a large section of us regards anyone of foreign birth, appearance or accent. He knew that we were as far as any nation from the international allegiance which mankind must embrace before long, or perish. Australia needs nothing more than a persistent effort to establish and continue the frank and sane interest in the rest of mankind for which Kurt Offenburg stood.
 
In the preface to his book, Japan at our Gates: the Thermopylae of Australia is at Singapore (1942), he wrote:
 
To be blunt: this country is in deadly peril. The author's worst fears — owing to censorship guardedly expressed in War in the Pacific '44 — have come true.
 
And a few lines later:
 
I acknowledge the kind permission of the Australian Broadcasting Commission which enables me to use some material from my News Commentaries since 1936, including many formerly deleted passages. Perhaps I may say with some pardonable pride that almost every word has been confirmed by the relentless sequence of events, and that in no instance have any of my statements — first considered as ‘alarmist, fantastic, pessimistic’ — been proved anything but plain facts.
 
This is a very scarce copy.
 
Soft Cover
96 pages
In Good condition