This book explores the history of East Timor's turmoil and Australia's involvement which began in World War II when Australian Commandos were fighting Japanese with assistance from East Timorese.

In the 1970s Australia and other neighboring nations abandoned the tiny East Timor while it was crushed by an Indonesian invasion. A referendum for independence in 1999 so the massacre of thousands of East Timorese.
This book mainly concentrates on the Indonesian invasion, the political considerations of Australia doing nothing, the history for independence, Interfet take over from the Indonesians.