Kevin Foster, Fighting Fictions: War, Narrative and National Identity. Pluto Press, London, 1999
'To Foster, the Falklands War furnishes a particularly useful case study of the part played by the past in the framing of the contemporary experience, the role of conflicts and the myths they spawn in shaping the British experience and understanding of the present The Falklands War was, so Kevin Foster argues persuasively, in many ways written before it even took place' (Tony Shaw, The Times Literary Supplement 16 April 1999, 14).
'Kevin Foster's analysis of war as a "struggle for the hearts and minds of the global viewing public" could not be more timely' (Fiona Capp, The Age 15 May 1999, 8).
'Foster writes incisively and sympathetically of the common soldiers on both sides Fighting Fictions is an elegantly constructed, admonitory work a partisan, intelligent analysis of vital aspects of the the Britain that Blair inherited' (Peter Pierce, Australian Book Review April 1999, 14).
'Was Britain's victory in the Falklands a myth? Is modern combat -- beyond the contained and censored and "CNN live" battlefield -- an enormous fabrication, built on our need for mythic narratives? In a telling analysis, based mainly on the 1982 Falklands experience, Foster argues that modern wars are fought increasingly through a largely compliant media, fuelling back-home politicians' (Tony Maniaty, The Australian 13-14 March 1999, 14).