Lord, Cliff, and Julian Tennant, Anzac Elite: the Airborne and Special Forces Insignia of Australia and New Zealand.

IPL Books, 2000. Distributed by IPL Transpress, 26 Ascot St, Wellington 6000, NZ, and John Reed Book Distributors, Unit 4F, 9-13 Winbourne Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100. Hard Cover, 160 PP, over 600 colour illustrations. NZ$69.95, A$59.95, plus p&p.

The authors have provided collectors of militaria with an invaluable reference tool that provides both an identification guide and a history of the units involved. The army of cloth patches and badges illustrated is stunning indeed, and this book has guaranteed itself a place on the shelves of collectors, museum curators and militaria traders.

The time span covered, from 1939 to the present, was sufficient to generate a bewildering army of badges and patches of the 1st Australian Parachute Battalion, Z and M Special Units, RAEME Rangers, the NZ LRDG, the SAS (of both countries), the RAN Clearance Divers, etc.

Besides the picture gallery, the identification guide and the unit histories, there is also a very useful glossary of abbreviations and terminology.