December 2016, no. 387

Welcome to our much-anticipated December issue!
• Books of the Year - More than forty senior critics, writers, broadcasters, and booksellers have nominated their favourite books of the year
• Publisher’s Picks - a dozen major publishers/editors nominate 2016 books from other publishing houses
• Paul Genoni on George Johnston and Charmian Clift’s time on Hydra
• Peter Craven on Tim Winton’s ‘rich and brilliant’ essay collection The Boy Behind the Curtain
• Fiona Gruber on Scientology
• Philosopher Peter Singer is our Open Page guest
Full Contents
History
The Holy Roman Empire: a thousand years of Europe’s history by Peter H. Wilson
History
Crusoe’s Island: rich and curious history of pirates, castaways and madness by Andrew Lambert
Fiction
The Winterlings by Cristina Sánchez-Andrade, translated by Samuel Rutter
Music
Franz Liszt: Musician, celebrity, superstar by Oliver Hilmes, translated by Stewart Spencer
by David Larkin
Religion
Fair Game: The incredible untold story of Scientology in Australia by Steve Cannane
by Fiona Gruber
Sport
Stroke of Genius: Victor Trumper and the shot that changed cricket by Gideon Haigh
Open Page