Posted on August 25, 2009
A decade after it was promised, the final volume of Australia's official history of the Vietnam War has missed yet another publication deadline.
Allen and Unwin editor Ian Bowring has confirmed he does not have the final manuscript for Fighting to the Finish and he cannot say when the book will be published.
The revelation comes despite Australian War Memorial director Steve Gower telling Liberal senator Russell Trood during Senate Estimates in June the histories would be published in 2010.
The memorial's website also gives the publication date as 2010.
However, Mr Bowring said it was very unlikely Fighting to the Finish would be published in 2010 after a string of missed deadlines.
''We can't make a commitment on a publication date for next year as we don't have a final manuscript,'' he said.
''It was supposed to be with us quite some time ago, it's been a major task and the manuscript is very late so we just can't give a commitment on a publication date.
''If we had received it in June we could have published it next year, but we haven't received it. We need at least a year lead time, it's a major production job and until we get the whole manuscript we can't give a definite lead time.''
Source: The Canberra Times by James Massola - 22 August 2009