Australian Books

Bebop, swing and all that jazz

15 June 2024 9:00 am

I can still remember the first time I heard big band jazz. I was in my twenties (too long ago!)…

The puppet masters

17 February 2024 9:00 am

Among the Western democracies there are increasing signs that things are falling apart – our governments no longer know what…

Summer Books

16 December 2023 9:00 am

Some very good, and a few astonishingly bad

Rip-roaring satire in Iota

11 November 2023 9:00 am

This novel is the ninth book of the satirical series concerning Grafton Everest, a rambunctious, overweight, fictional academic who, as…

By hook or by crook

23 September 2023 9:00 am

Anne Henderson has produced a series of important books on the Menzies era. Her latest volume adds to this considerable…

Knight who climbed up a mineshaft

15 July 2023 9:00 am

For almost 130 years Australian Liberals have prided themselves on their ability to exercise their civic duty to speak and…

The enduring Orwell

1 July 2023 9:00 am

One of the things I most enjoy about George Orwell is his love of tobacco. It was essential to him…

What did the Brits ever do for us?

15 April 2023 9:00 am

A decade ago, American sociologist Michael Hechter quipped that ‘good alien government may be better than bad native government,’ a…

Writing about leaders

1 April 2023 9:00 am

Historian Chris Wallace, who currently holds a professorship at the Faculty of Business, Government and Law at the University of…

Voicing doubt

18 March 2023 9:00 am

When it comes to the Voice, Anthony Albanese is breaking all the rules for successfully changing the constitution. First, he…

Faking it

11 March 2023 9:00 am

When a radical feminist publisher suggested I review some of their books, I wasn’t quite sure I would enjoy the…

Dismantling the Aboriginal industry

25 February 2023 9:00 am

Integration into a wider society works. That is why Australia is one of the most successful countries on the planet.…

Voice of reason

4 February 2023 9:00 am

Governments and the woke elite are falling over themselves with taxpayer and shareholder money to promote the seriously dangerous proposal…

Summer books

17 December 2022 9:00 am

2022: good reads for a mixed bag of a year

Not camping out

3 December 2022 9:00 am

As is the case with one of my favourite Australian writers and playwrights, Louis Nowra, Sydney is also my adopted…

Skinful

19 November 2022 9:00 am

In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Dr Jordan Peterson remarked, ‘It’s really something to see, constantly, how many people…

A cinematic offer we could not refuse

22 October 2022 9:00 am

Francis Ford Coppola’s superb film The Godfather changed American cinema and, by extension, American culture. The film had it all:…

Fool’s gold

8 October 2022 9:00 am

With Australia heading toward a referendum next year on a constitutionally enshrined indigenous ‘voice’ to parliament, the need for a…

Preparing for war

13 August 2022 9:00 am

This is not a book for anyone complacent about the China challenge, yet it should be compulsory reading for everyone…

Trump’s legal eagle is candid

23 July 2022 9:00 am

There may have been irregularities in the processing and counting of ballots that warranted official investigation

Hockey sticks to diplomacy

28 May 2022 9:00 am

If you want an inside view on the Trump White House, there could hardly be a better read than Joe…

Atomic reading

14 May 2022 9:00 am

So you think you know the story of Britain’s notorious atomic tests in Australia? In that respect, the name of…

Presumption of guilt

30 April 2022 9:00 am

The Pell case is a contemporary Australian version of the infamous Dreyfus case in 19th century France and may even…

Blowing in the wind

9 April 2022 9:00 am

He’s still smiling but Scott Morrison might not be after reading this revealing book. If he reads it that is.…

French Kiss-Off

29 January 2022 9:00 am

For decades the purpose of British settlement in New South Wales seemed too obvious to question. The American War of…