Essays & reportage
21 August 2015
Twenty great British films? Brian McFarlane explains how he chose them, and looks at one old and one new
National affairs
13 August 2015
Julia Gillard drew adulation at the Byron Bay Writers Festival, writes Brett Evans. It was another reminder of questions still hanging over the Labor Party
Essays & reportage
12 August 2015
Extract | Seventy years ago this week, prime minister Ben Chifley announced that the war in the Pacific was over. Planning for peace was already well under way, writes…
Books & arts
12 August 2015
Books | The best-ever account of an Australian director? Brian McFarlane reviews Jane Freebury’s survey of the director’s eclectic career
Books & arts
11 August 2015
Books | Political philosopher Daniel A. Bell wants us to see China as a meritocracy-in-progress, writes John Fitzgerald. But is he really defending autocracy?
Essays & reportage
10 August 2015
In the face of expert opposition, scientist Grafton Elliot Smith promoted the theory that ancient Egypt was the source of almost every major innovation. It was a campaign that…
Books & arts
31 July 2015
Television | Crime drama has been tipped upside down, writes Jane Goodall, as the BBC’s Line of Duty and Helen Piper’s The TV Detective reveal
Books & arts
28 July 2015
Books | A diverse new collection of essays lays out part of the roadmap for realising the potential of native title, writes Michael Dillon. But the political…
Essays & reportage
24 July 2015
Tom Griffiths welcomes a profound exploration of intergenerational memory
Books & arts
16 July 2015
… not to mention genuinely useful views and reviews. Emily van der Nagel assesses a new study of online comments
Books & arts
13 July 2015
Books | Why are we angered by stories of Greek hairdressers retiring at fifty on public pensions, asks Jane Goodall, yet unmoved at the thought of bailed-out…
Books & arts
26 June 2015
Books | Susan Lever reviews Steven Carroll's Forever Young
Essays & reportage
24 June 2015
Dean Ashenden takes on the sixties, GERM, and the world’s best-known educational revolutionary
Books & arts
15 June 2015
Books | Whitney Phillips set out to discover what motivates online trolls. She found part of the answer in mainstream culture, writes Emily van der Nagel
Books & arts
15 June 2015
Books | Stuart Macintyre’s history of Australia in the 1940s is a big book in the best sense
Books & arts
15 June 2015
Books | The excesses of Vladimir Putin’s first eight years as president are vividly brought to life by journalist Peter Pomerantsev, writes John Besemeres
Books & arts
10 June 2015
Books | What happens when a party of true believers led by a ferociously motivated politician takes on a dying government? Robin Jeffrey charts an enigmatic…
Books & arts
3 June 2015
Books | Usually a good thing in personal relationships, loyalty is less straightforward amid the pressures of organisational life, writes Janna Thompson
Books & arts
2 June 2015
Books | A new book by sociologist Steven Mintz offers insights into modern adulthood, writes Peter Robinson. But it’s limited by a near-exclusive focus on…
National affairs
28 May 2015
There’s no such thing as “us” and “them,” writes Andrew Leigh. A good social safety net is there for all of us
Books & arts
28 May 2015
Books | A new account of the boom in family history, and the insights it has revealed, informs in unexpected ways, writes Beverley Kingston
Books & arts
25 May 2015
Books | David Thomson’s exploration of acting is never less than gripping, writes Brian McFarlane. But his implied question never quite gets answered
Books & arts
21 May 2015
Cinema | Sylvia Lawson on Canberra’s last Electric Shadow, George Brandis and the Australia Council, and Testament of Youth and X+Y
Books & arts
19 May 2015
Books | Martin Edmond’s dual biography of Rex Battarbee and Albert Namatjira illuminates a remarkable friendship, writes Eleanor Hogan
Books & arts
15 May 2015
Books | A new biography captures Thea Astley’s idiosyncrasies and contradictions, and the qualities of her fiction, writes Susan Lever
Books & arts
14 May 2015
Books | Cass Sunstein and Reid Hastie want us to think differently about making decisions in groups. But there’s a small herd of elephants in the room, writes…
Books & arts
23 April 2015
Books | Tony Windsor made an indelible mark on federal politics, writes Brett Evans. And he might be considering a comeback
Books & arts
20 April 2015
Books | Sara Dowse reviews the autobiography of the former Queensland premier
Books & arts
1 April 2015
Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth, now in its second screen version, recounts a remarkable life amid the upheavals of a century ago, writes Brian McFarlane
Books & arts
30 March 2015
Books | Two new books highlight how Australian universities have changed in recent decades, writes Beverley Kingston