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books
Books & arts
Close listening
Andrew Ford
16 October 2021
Critics Christopher Ricks and Wilfrid Mellers approach music from quite different directions
Books & arts
A miner meets its match
Andrew Dodd
12 October 2021
How Fortescue Metals Group was bested by a tenacious campaign in the Pilbara
Books & arts
Don’t ask, don’t tell
Hamish McDonald
12 October 2021
A rollercoaster account of life during China’s era of excess throws indirect light on Xi Jinping’s presidency
Books & arts
Feeding the machine
Susan Lever
11 October 2021
In what ways did the typewriter affect how — and how much — writers wrote?
From the archive
Self and Other
Zora Simic
4 October 2021
In a previously unpublished novel, Simone de Beauvoir traces a life-changing friendship
Essays & reportage
When Amazon comes to town
Alec MacGillis
1 October 2021
The online retailer expanded massively during the Covid-19 pandemic, but where does that leave the rest of the American economy?
From the archive
Home is where the mind is
Robin Jeffrey
27 September 2021
How two sons of empire became leading public intellectuals
Books & arts
That fella from Down Under
Brett Evans
27 September 2021
The first full biography of Scott Morrison tracks a sometimes rocky ride to the prime ministership
Books & arts
The many selves of Gillian Mears
Drusilla Modjeska
25 September 2021
A new biography captures the enigmatic Australian writer
Books & arts
A mania for reality
Jane Goodall
20 September 2021
Have the addictive qualities of Elena Ferrante’s novels distracted readers from their literariness?
Books & arts
Death in Shanghai
Linda Jaivin
16 September 2021
How Xu Shangzhen’s suicide gripped a city
Books & arts
Back to the future
Zora Simic
14 September 2021
Amia Srinivasan follows up her breakthrough
London Review of Books
essay with a rewarding but sometimes frustrating essay collection
Essays & reportage
Why the New Deal still matters
Eric Rauchway
13 September 2021
In ways that still resonate, the program to drag the economy out of the Great Depression changed Americans’ relationships with politics, economics and each other
Books & arts
Lupine or supine?
Graeme Smith
5 September 2021
Are China’s wolf warrior diplomats for real?
Books & arts
Stranger danger
Nick Haslam
3 September 2021
An American take on the benefits of talking to strangers has a message for Australians
Books & arts
Muddying the waters
Margaret Simons
31 August 2021
There’s plenty wrong with how the Murray–Darling is being managed, but Wall Street isn’t the culprit to target
Books & arts
The art of disagreeing
Jock Given
23 August 2021
“We should be civil with those we don’t know, and aim to know them well enough that we can be uncivil,” argues a new book
Books & arts
Yes they can (and should)
Paul ’t Hart
16 August 2021
A pragmatist’s vision for better government
Books & arts
Monarchs on my mind
Dennis Altman
16 August 2021
Could constitutional monarchies be the best of a bad lot?
From the archive
The heft of the visual
Sara Dowse
13 August 2021
Does the West see what it wants to see in Afghanistan?
Books & arts
Early childhood economics
Amanda Walsh
10 August 2021
Has business changed the culture of childcare?
Books & arts
Why not appreciate a Bartók… and a Parry?
Andrew Ford
10 August 2021
Gerald Finzi’s letters illuminate a time, a place and a composer’s mind
Books & arts
Have I been excommunicated?
Frank Bongiorno
7 August 2021
How a distinguished educator fell victim to church politics and personal enmities
Essays & reportage
Blood in the water
Nick Richardson
6 August 2021
Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya’s bid for asylum in Tokyo is a reminder of how the 1956 Melbourne Games were riven by politics
Books & arts
The trouble with history
Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe
6 August 2021
The authors of
Farmers or Hunter-gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate
respond to Bill Gammage’s “The Great Divide”
Books & arts
Beyond the headlines and hashtags
Zora Simic
6 August 2021
Amani Haydar illuminates kinship, migration and shattering loss
Books & arts
Ghosts in the machine
Ellen Broad
5 August 2021
A computer scientist takes on artificial-intelligence boosters. But does he dig deep enough?
From the archive
New tricks
Nick Haslam
30 July 2021
We might not be able to change who we are, but we can certainly change what we do
From the archive
Who does she think she is?
Brenda Niall
30 July 2021
A survey of women’s portraiture suggests there are as many answers as artists
Books & arts
The good life
Janna Thompson
28 July 2021
“I dine, I play a game of backgammon, I converse, and am merry with my friends,” observed philosopher David Hume, before dragging himself back to his desk
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