Book Review – Liberalism and its Discontents

Book Review – Liberalism and its Discontents

Joshua Black reviews Francis Fukuyama’s Liberalism and its Discontents (Profile; 2022).   It is particularly timely to be reading and thinking about contemporary liberalism. The United States Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, the re-emergence of high inflation, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have given liberal intellectuals pause for thought. Against this backdrop, […]
Book Review – The Art of Coalition: The Howard Government Experience, 1996-2007

Book Review – The Art of Coalition: The Howard Government Experience, 1996-2007

David Lovell & Andrew Blyth, The Art of Coalition: The Howard Government Experience, 1996-2007 (Sydney: NewSouth, 2022).  Review by Zachary Gorman.   The Art of Coalition: The Howard Government Experience, 1996-2007 edited by David Lovell and Andrew Blyth is a timely contribution to both Australian political science and Australian political history. Coalition relations were often […]
Book Review – The Secrets of Emu Field: Britain’s Forgotten Atomic Tests in Australia

Book Review – The Secrets of Emu Field: Britain’s Forgotten Atomic Tests in Australia

Elizabeth Tynan, The Secrets of Emu Field: Britain’s Forgotten Atomic Tests in Australia, NewSouth, 384pp, $34.99. Book Review by Honae Cuffe.   In The Secrets of Emu Field: Britain’s Forgotten Atomic Tests in Australia, historian Elizabeth Tynan reveals the story of Britain’s burgeoning atomic capabilities, Australia’s own ambitions, and the Aboriginal communities who were harmed […]
Review – Australia’s Great Depression: how a nation shattered by the Great War survived the worst economic crisis it has ever faced

Review – Australia’s Great Depression: how a nation shattered by the Great War survived the worst economic crisis it has ever faced

Joan Beaumont, Australia’s Great Depression: how a nation shattered by the Great War survived the worst economic crisis it has ever faced, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2022. Review by Janet McCalman.   This is the first general history of Australia’s Great Depression that embraces city and the bush, all states and territories, politics, economics, and […]
Book Review – The Genesis of a Policy Defining and Defending Australia’s National Interest in the Asia-Pacific, 1921–57

Book Review – The Genesis of a Policy Defining and Defending Australia’s National Interest in the Asia-Pacific, 1921–57

The Genesis of a Policy – Honae Cuffe, ANU Press, Canberra, 2021 Review by Anna Kent   In the midst of an election campaign, with some nuanced foreign policy debate breaking through into the mainstream media, it is wonderful to read a book that challenges the conventional view on foreign policy history. Honae Cuffe’s book […]
Q&A with Stephen Gapps, author of Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance – The Bathurst War, 1822–1824.

Q&A with Stephen Gapps, author of Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance – The Bathurst War, 1822–1824.

Kristyn Harman  interviews Stephen Gapps, author of Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance – The Bathurst War, 1822–1824 (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2021).   Congratulations on the publication of Gudyarra, Stephen! It’s interesting to see that you’ve chosen to use the Wiradyuri word for ‘war’ as the title for your book. What informed your choice? And […]
Q&A with Isobelle Barrett Meyering, author of Feminism and the Making of a Child Rights Revolution, 1969–1979.

Q&A with Isobelle Barrett Meyering, author of Feminism and the Making of a Child Rights Revolution, 1969–1979.

Jacquelyn Baker interviews Isobelle Barrett Meyering about her new book, Feminism and the Making of a Child Rights Revolution, 1969-1979, which examines the way in which women’s liberationists spearheaded the new wave of child rights activism in the 1970s.   Congratulations on the publication of your book, Isobelle! It makes a significant contribution to the […]
Q&A with Karen Fox, author of Honouring a Nation: A History of Australia’s Honours System

Q&A with Karen Fox, author of Honouring a Nation: A History of Australia’s Honours System

Our Books Editor, Lyndon Megarrity, interviews Karen Fox, author of Honouring a Nation: A History of Australia’s Honours System (Canberra: ANU Press, 2022).   What inspired you to write a history of the Australian honours system? The history of honours is a subject that has intrigued me for a long time. I first became interested […]
Book Review – Symbols of Australia: Imagining a Nation

Book Review – Symbols of Australia: Imagining a Nation

Karen Fox has reviewed Melissa Harper and Richard White, eds., Symbols of Australia: Imagining a Nation (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2021).   Symbols of Australia: Imagining a Nation (NewSouth Publishing, 2021) is a marvellous new addition to our knowledge of Australia’s national imaginings. Encompassing 28 chapters on a range of national symbols, plus an informative and […]
Book Review – Australia & the Pacific: A History

Book Review – Australia & the Pacific: A History

Helen Gardner reviews Ian Hoskins’, Australia & the Pacific: A History  (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2021).    Titles of general histories generally reveal not just the broad parameters of their analysis but also the power relations of a specific historical period.  Australia and the Pacific: A History is an ambitious book which covers Australia’s engagement with […]
Book Review – Gum: The Story of Eucalypts and their Champions

Book Review – Gum: The Story of Eucalypts and their Champions

Cindi Davey (PhD candidate, James Cook University) reviews Ashley Hay’s Gum: The Story of Eucalypts and their Champions (Sydney: NewSouth, 2021).   The study of Australia’s eucalypts takes on a new urgency every time our fire season is particularly intense. Concerns around climate change and the ever-increasing carbon saturation of the global atmosphere also make […]
Book Review – Fighting Australia’s Cold War: The Nexus of Strategy and Operations in a Multipolar Asia, 1945-1965

Book Review – Fighting Australia’s Cold War: The Nexus of Strategy and Operations in a Multipolar Asia, 1945-1965

Peter Edwards has reviewed Fighting Australia’s Cold War: The Nexus of Strategy and Operations in a Multipolar Asia, 1945-1965, edited by Peter Dean and Tristan Moss (ANU Press, 2021).    The Korean War (1950-53) has often been called the forgotten war, but the term applies at least equally to the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) and the […]