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Books & arts Jock Given 2 July 2014 Three police shows axed in just one year. For some observers, it seemed like much more than a coincidence, writes Jock Given
Essays & reportage Anna Johnston 27 June 2014 Blending journalism, romance and travelogue, The Great Australian Loneliness crossed a different set of borders during the second world war Essays & reportage Jack Waterford 30 May 2014 For years the Labor Party clung to the belief that the defection of Vladimir Petrov was orchestrated by the Menzies government to influence the 1954 election. But what really… David Hayes 8 April 2014 The Labour politician turned radical in mid-career and ended up a revered figure. His remarkable story can also reveal Britain to itself, says David Hayes Books & arts 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 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
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 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 Essays & reportage Alan Fewster 14 January 2014 As the Cold War intensified in the mid fifties, Australia saw a special role for itself in disseminating information and propaganda in Southeast Asia, writes Alan Fewster Books & arts Kay Saunders 8 January 2014 Kay Saunders reviews Joan Beaumont’s account of Australia’s first world war
Books & arts Tim Rowse 17 December 2013 As two Australian books show, the European Enlightenment rested partly on a global traffic of persons between widely separated spaces
Essays & reportage Frank Bongiorno 16 December 2013 The cyclones of the late 1960s and early 1970s didn’t shape the Whitlam government as much as gentler breezes of the 1950s and early 1960s Books & arts Klaus Neumann 9 December 2013 Klaus Neumann reviews two books that put displaced people at the heart of contemporary history Books & arts Tom Griffiths 3 December 2013 In his desire to find the evil in Douglas Mawson, David Day overlooks the awkward tenderness and vulnerability that may lie at the heart of this flawed and driven man, writes… Books & arts Frank Bongiorno 15 November 2013 Three biographies reveal twentieth-century Australians in the thick of things, writes Frank Bongiorno
Essays & reportage R.J.B. Bosworth 31 October 2013 Uzbekistan is still writing and rewriting its own history, reports a recently returned R.J.B. Bosworth
International David G. Marr 10 October 2013 David G. Marr describes the genesis of his new book, a detailed look at a turning point in modern Vietnamese history Books & arts John Besemeres 3 October 2013 John Besemeres reviews a remarkable book and recounts the career of its equally remarkable author Essays & reportage Alan Fewster 2 September 2013 A cross-dressing MI6 agent and a shadowy British anti-communist propaganda outfit were key players in the development of Australia’s cold war “soft diplomacy” program Essays & reportage Henry Reynolds 25 July 2013 The looming centenary of the landing at Gallipoli is a reminder of unfinished business between settler and Indigenous Australia after a decade of incomplete reconciliation
From the archive Sylvia Lawson 17 July 2013 This 1954 documentary has “a kind of radiance” that captivated audiences around the world
Books & arts John Besemeres 2 July 2013 A new account of Poland’s experience of the second world war helps fill a blank page in our historical consciousness, writes John Besemeres Essays & reportage Michael Cannon 29 June 2013 As managing editor of the Melbourne Herald, Keith Murdoch battled employers, sensation-mongering and overly large headlines in a remarkable series of notes to his senior… Books & arts Frank Sear 18 June 2013 What explains our fascination with the buried Neapolitan town? Books & arts Henry Reynolds 2 May 2013 Henry Reynolds reviews a new account of exploration on two continents
Books & arts Sylvia Lawson 28 April 2013 Sylvia Lawson reviews John Hughes’s documentary about the poet Judith Wright, and Pablo Larraín’s No
David Hayes 28 April 2013 The renowned director’s new film, which uses the socialist mood of 1945 to assail the world Margaret Thatcher created, is bad history and worse politics, says David Hayes Books & arts Duncan Hewitt 28 April 2013 Duncan Hewitt reviews two witty new books about China’s faultlines and prospects National affairs Richard Johnstone 24 April 2013 The State Library of New South Wales’s breathtaking trove of photographs from the 1870s Books & arts Brett Evans 18 April 2013 Rome’s greatest orator has a message for the current generation of political leaders, says Brett Evans