June–July 2014 no. 362

Edward Snowden and the NSA – there has been no more riveting or consequential story in recent years. Much of the coverage has been reflexive and tendentious. In the June–July issue of ABR, James Der Derian reviews four books on the subject, including Luke Harding and Glenn Greenwald’s accounts of Snowden’s defection. Also, Neal Blewett reviews Bob Carr’s controversial diaries, and adds a twist of his own. Other contributors include Sheila Fitzpatrick, Bill Gammage, Jennifer Maiden, Richard Toye – and ABR Roving Blogger Fiona Gruber.

June–July 2014 no. 362

Tony Birch reviews Chris Flynn

Tony Birch
The Glass Kingdom offers readers a wild ride through a world of misfits, meth, and the shadowy recesses of society.
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The LRB of life writing

Ann-Marie Priest
Anne-Marie Priest finds much to enjoy in LRB's new anthology of life writing (Hilary Mantel, Andrew O'Hagan et al.), but wonders about the elastic definition of what constitutes a memoir.
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James Der Derian reviews 'The Snowden Files' by Luke Harding and 'No Place to Hide' by Glenn Greenwald

James Der Derian
1984 is back. George Orwell’s nightmare vision of governmental surveillance, secrecy, and deception clearly resonates with the revelations first leaked to the Guardian by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden. Indeed, it is practically impossible to find an account of the Snowden affair without at least one ‘Orwellian’ adjective ...
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Neal Blewett reviews 'Diary of A Foreign Minister' by Bob Carr

Neal Blewett

‘Dear Dr Blewett, I am writing to you ... concerning your intention to publish the diary you kept during the first Keating Government ... Whether any legal action, criminal or civil, is initiated would be entirely a matter for the Commonwealth government and relevant authorities ... 

Also in this issue

Janette Turner Hospital's new novel

Susan Midalia on Maxine Beneba Clarke

Don Anderson on John A. Scott's new novel

J. P. McKinney's Great War Novel

Claudia Hyles reviews Su Dharmapala

Sheila Fitzpatrick on history vs memoir

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Bill Gammage on notions of country

Letters to the Editor

Jane Sullivan is Critic of the Month

Mossad and the death of Ben Zygier

The missing Somali on the dance floor

Alison Broinowski: Malcolm Fraser on Foreign Policy

Stephen Atkinson: Indonesia and asylum seekers

Andrew Alexandra reviews 'In Defence of War' by Nigel Biggar

Peter Heerey reviews 'An Officer and a Spy' by Robert Harris

Sam Cadman: the death of animals

Terri-ann White: Amit Chaudhuri in Calcutta

Richard Toye: a major study of the literary Churchill

David Horner reviews 'Australia and the Vietnam War'

Amanda Laugesen on the ‘super-dictionary’

Dina Ross: A media personality's battle with shyness

Colin Steele: An Oxford don on his prolific past

Jeremy Fisher: a critical biography of Gerald Glaskin

Michael Shmith: A conductor's Bach pilgrimage

‘City Lights: San Francisco’, a new poem by Eileen Chong

'White Cyclamen', a new poem by Jennifer Maiden

'Roman bridges', a new poem by Simon West

'Happenings', a new poem by Alamgir Hashmi

Night on bald mountain

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Under the Skin

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Peter Hill: The fecundity of Lucian Freud

Fiona Gruber: For Auld Lang Syne

Ian Dickson revisits the Chelsea Hotel

The abiding impact of W.E.B. Du Bois

Gay Bilson reviews 'The Bloomsbury Cookbook'

Sonia Nair reviews 'Chasing Shadows'

Nathan Smith reviews 'The Snow Queen'

Simon Collinson reviews 'How I became the Mr Big of People Smuggling'

Ben Smith reviews 'Meatloaf in Manhattan'

Francesca Sasnaitis reviews 'Murder in the Telephone Exchange'

Sophia Barnes reviews Janet Frame's new collection of short stories

Des Cowley: 'Australian Poetry Journal'

Jay Daniel Thompson: 'Transnational Literature'

Peter Kenneally: 'Cordite Poetry Review'

Margaret Robson Kett reviews two young adult fiction novels

News from the Editor's Desk

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