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Non-Fiction
Thank God For The Salvos (The Salvation Army In Australia 1880-1980)
(1980) |
Harper & Row, 128 p, paperback
Someone at Harper & Row publishing decided to publish a pictorial history
in the Salvo’s centenary year. There were no in-roads into the Salvation
Army – no church members in the production team – this is simply
a victorious history written from the perspective of an appreciative outsider.
I notice a more recent book, Salvos by Focus Books seems to pointedly avoid
the use of Salvation Army imagery, whereas I did the opposite in deciding to
create a pictorial history. The Melbourne Salvation Army office granted me
access to their files, and allowed us to borrow the excellent photographs in
the book.
In the same year, journalist Barbara Bolton also released her book about a
centenary of the Salvos in Australia. She was a Salvo and consequently wrote
the more insightful history.
People who will enjoy it: Anyone with an interest in the history of the Salvation
Army.
Available from:
- It is extremely difficult to find a secondhand copy of this book.
It only ever had one edition
- Your local library. If they haven’t got it, ask for inter-library loan.
- www.abebooks.com and other online booksellers
Raving on:
Thank God For The Salvos was my first published book. Because of this book
I met a whole new breed of person, from book designers to publishers. This
opened up a dialogue with people in the industry, which I had not known before.
For example, publisher Neville Drury, was extremely encouraging about both
his manuscript as well as my (then) unpublished ‘Edges of Seventh-day
Adventism’ manuscript. He recommended it to Greg Tillett, who used it
somehow in his university course.
Although in terms of sales, it is undisputedly my least successful book, Thank
God For The Salvos still comes up every now and then – an email, a phone
call – something like that.  |
