Inside Story

Essays & reportage The remarkable persistence of power and privilege Andrew Leigh 18 April 2014 A new study finds social status rippling across the centuries Books & arts Is Iraq lost? Matthew Gray 15 April 2014 Amid deepening divisions and political corruption, northern Iraq is one glimmer of hope in this unstable country, writes Matthew Gray Books & arts Hard yards Geoffrey Barker 10 April 2014 Florian Schui reveals the gap between the arguments for austerity and its real-world effects, writes Geoffrey Barker, and shows why the idea is still so attractive to so many Books & arts The God of big things Janna Thompson 1 April 2014 In Culture and the Death of God Terry Eagleton explores the persistence of religious ideas in political life and culture

Books & arts Between pernicious nationalism and watery liberalism Janna Thompson 25 February 2014 In her latest book political philosopher Martha Nussbaum looks at what drives people apart and how we can bridge those divides, writes Janna Thompson Books & arts What it feels like to be a doctor Frank Bowden 24 February 2014 We need our doctors to feel, writes Frank Bowden, but not so much that they stop thinking Books & arts Red in tooth and claw Brett Evans 21 February 2014 Politics is hard and democracy is messy. Brett Evans reviews two new books that help explain why it doesn’t all end in disaster Books & arts A short look at Medicare’s long history Gwendolyn Gray Jamieson 20 February 2014 Gwendolyn Gray Jamieson reviews an account of the genesis and chequered career of Labor’s national health insurance scheme

Books & arts What kind of noise annoys an oyster? Darren Tofts 14 January 2014 Melancholy and occasionally joyous, the story of two “squinty daughters” doesn’t quite justify the pictures, writes Darren Tofts Books & arts The internationalist dream Hilary Charlesworth 14 January 2014 Although they disagree on many points, Kofi Annan and Mark Mazower together illuminate the intricacies and rituals of international cooperation, writes Hilary Charlesworth Books & arts A different kind of war Kay Saunders 8 January 2014 Kay Saunders reviews Joan Beaumont’s account of Australia’s first world war Books & arts “When I forget, I’m well. Remembering, even now, I just go crazy” Klaus Neumann 23 December 2013 Does the equation that infuses the work of truth commissions – that more memory equals more reconciliation – always meet the needs of people affected by widespread…