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Memoir

The lives of the saints

David McBride’s ethic of self-interest
by •
January-February 2024, no. 461

The Nature of Honour: Son, duty-bound soldier, military lawyer, truth-teller, father by David McBride

Viking, $36.99 pb, 288 pp

Memoir

The lives of the saints

David McBride’s ethic of self-interest
by •
January-February 2024, no. 461

Sometimes, for the faithful, it doesn’t do to look too closely into the life of your chosen idol. Saul of Tarsus had been an enthusiastic persecutor of Christians before his spiritual detour en route to Damascus. St Camillus de Lellis, patron saint of nurses and the sick, to whom we owe the symbol of the red cross, spent his early life as a con man, a mercenary, and a compulsive gambler – little wonder he went far in the Church. Where our secular martyrs are concerned, matters become still murkier. Mahatma Gandhi tested his chastity by sleeping naked with nubile young women and girls – one of whom was his grand-niece. And as for Julian Assange ...

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Kevin Foster

Kevin Foster is an Associate Professor in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University. His most recent book is Anti-Social Media: Conventional Militaries in the Digital Battlespace (Melbourne University Press 2021).

The Nature of Honour: Son, duty-bound soldier, military lawyer, truth-teller, father

The Nature of Honour: Son, duty-bound soldier, military lawyer, truth-teller, father

by David McBride

Viking, $36.99 pb, 288 pp

From the New Issue

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Comments (24)

  • Thanks for the biography of his life, but I thought this was a book review. How was the book?
    Posted by Margaret Rutherford
    07 January 2024
  • This is not a book review, it's a very unfair character assassination that seems personal. I'm appalled that it was published.
    Posted by Ken Ford
    07 January 2024
  • That's not a book review. That's a shameful personal attack.
    Posted by Melissa McLelland
    07 January 2024
  • Can’t wait to read your autobiography, Kevin.
    Posted by David McBride
    07 January 2024