Inside Story

Books & arts How Hamer made it happen Judith Brett 27 October 2014 Dick Hamer’s election as Victorian Liberal leader was a seachange in the state’s politics and culture, writes Judith Brett Essays & reportage Whitlam in China Billy Griffiths 22 October 2014 Gough Whitlam’s visit to China in 1971 was a turning point in relations between the two countries. But luck also played a part in this audacious mission Essays & reportage Caught out: Edna and Jack Ryan and the 1951 referendum Lyndall Ryan 13 October 2014 Expelled from the Communist Party for not toeing the line, Lyndall Ryan's parents were faced with a dilemma when Robert Menzies’s government tried to ban the party Essays & reportage “Queue jumpers” and the perils of crossing Sydney Harbour on a Manly ferry Klaus Neumann 1 October 2014 The treatment of boat arrivals during the 1977 federal election campaign shows that political orthodoxy doesn’t always prevail, writes Klaus Neumann

Books & arts Christopher Clark’s Sleepwalkers and the Germans. A misunderstanding? Andreas Wirsching 5 August 2014 An Australian historian’s reappraisal of the origins of the first world war has provoked enormous interest in Germany, writes Andreas Wirsching. But the debate… Essays & reportage “We must be careful to avoid seeking intelligence simply for its own sake” Alan Fewster 1 August 2014 Newly released documents reveal the intelligence community in the early 1970s through the eyes of a former senior bureaucrat, writes Alan Fewster Books & arts Remarkable acts of courage Sara Dowse 31 July 2014 Two books about the second world war show that humans are capable of lifting ourselves out of the mire Britain’s Great War: traps of memory David Hayes 17 July 2014 The centenary of the 1914–18 war reveals Britain to be a country of permanent involution, says David Hayes

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 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 Italy’s best-known comedian meets the ghost of Mussolini James Panichi 18 February 2014 Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement made stunning gains at Italy’s last election, writes James Panichi. But as the controversy over its guiding… Books & arts Picnics and politics Kate Bagnall 24 January 2014 Chinese-Australian community leaders created a new perception of the Chinese in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, writes Kate Bagnall