May 2017, no. 391

Welcome to the May issue! Highlights include:

James McNamara on the Trump presidency
Morag Fraser’s tribute to John Clarke
Jan McGuinness on a study of Helen Garner
Open Page with Louis Nowra
Beejay Silcox on The Idiot
News from the Editor’s Desk

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Full Contents

Open Page

Open Page with Louis Nowra

Publisher of the Month

Publisher of the Month with Phillipa McGuinness

Film

Jake Wilson reviews 'Steven Spielberg: A life in films' by Molly Haskell

by Jake Wilson

Music

Gareth Hipwell reviews 'Strict Rules: The iconic story of the tour that shaped Midnight Oil' by Andrew McMillan

by Gareth Hipwell

Essay Collection

Andrew Fuhrmann reviews 'The Legacies of Bernard Smith: Essays on Australian Art, history and cultural politics' edited by Jaynie Anderson, Christopher R. Marshall, and Andrew Yip

by Andrew Fuhrmann

Philosophy

Tim Smartt reviews 'The Dream of Enlightenment: The rise of modern philosophy' by Anthony Gottlieb

by Tim Smartt

Biography

Simon Caterson reviews 'The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller: An Australian’s true story of adventure, danger, romance and murder' by Carol Baxter

by Simon Caterson

Memoir

Suzy Freeman-Greene reviews 'Insomniac City: New York, Oliver, and me' by Bill Hayes

by Suzy Freeman-Greene

Memoir

Dennis Altman reviews 'And Then I Found Me' by Noel Tovey

by Dennis Altman

Biography

Paul Giles reviews 'The Glamour of Strangeness: Artists and the lost age of the exotics' by Jamie James

by Paul Giles

Memoir

Katy Gerner reviews 'Beyond the Vapour Trail: The beauty, horror and humour of life: An aid worker’s story' by Brett Pierce

by Katy Gerner

Poetry

Benjamin Madden reviews 'The Poem Is You: 60 contemporary American poems and how to read them' by Stephen Burt

by Benjamin Madden

Poetry

Geoff Page reviews 'A Personal History of Vision' by Luke Fischer, 'Flute of Milk' by Susan Fealy', and 'Dark Convicts: Ex-slaves on the First Fleet' by Judy Johnson

by Geoff Page

Letters

Graeme Powell reviews 'Christina Stead: A web of friendship, selected letters (1928–1973)' edited by Ron Geering

by Graeme Powell

Fiction

Anna MacDonald reviews 'See What I Have Done' by Sarah Schmidt

by Anna MacDonald

Fiction

Benjamin Chandler reviews 'All Fall Down' by Cassandra Austin

by Benjamin Chandler

Fiction

Crusader Hillis reviews 'Down the Hume' by Peter Polites

by Crusader Hillis

Fiction

Tessa Lunney reviews 'A Hundred Small Lessons' by Ashley Hay

by Tessa Lunney

Fiction

Anna Spargo-Ryan reviews 'Jean Harley Was Here' by Heather Taylor Johnson

by Anna Spargo-Ryan

Fiction

Doug Wallen reviews 'Storyland' by Catherine McKinnon

by Doug Wallen

Literary Studies

Shannon Burns reviews 'Edge of Irony: Modernism in the Shadow of the Habsburg Empire' by Marjorie Perloff

by Shannon Burns

Literary Studies

Paul Kildea reviews 'The Novel of the Century: The extraordinary adventure of Les Misérables' by David Bellos

by Paul Kildea

Essay Collection

David McCooey reviews 'The Pleasures of Leisure' by Robert Dessaix

by David McCooey

Law

Kevin Bell reviews 'The Land is our History: Indigeneity, law, and the settler state' by Miranda Johnson

by Kevin Bell

Australian History

Philip Jones reviews 'Into the heart of Tasmania: A search for human antiquity' by Rebe Taylor

by Philip Jones

Politics

Michael Winkler reviews 'Losing Streak: How Tasmania was gamed by the gambling industry' by James Boyce

by Michael Winkler

Poetry

'I was the greatest art potter' by Christopher DeWeese

by Christopher DeWeese

Poem

'Zeitgeist' by Bronwyn Lea

by Bronwyn Lea

Anthology

Madeline Gleeson reviews 'They Cannot Take The Sky: Stories from detention' edited by Michael Green et al.

by Madeline Gleeson

Letters

Letters to the Editor - May 2017

by Australian Book Review

Fiction

Beejay Silcox reviews 'The Idiot' by Elif Batuman

by Beejay Silcox

Literary Studies

Nicole Abadee reviews 'Woolloomooloo: A biography' by Louis Nowra

by Nicole Abadee

Australian History

Frank Bongiorno reviews 'Fear of Abandonment: Australia in the world since 1942' by Allan Gyngell

by Frank Bongiorno

Literary Studies

Colin Nettelbeck reviews 'The Némirovsky Question: The life, death and legacy of a Jewish writer in 20th century France' by Susan Rubin Suleiman

by Colin Nettelbeck

Poetry

Jill Jones reviews 'The Metronome' by Jennifer Maiden

by Jill Jones

Politics

Lucas Grainger-Brown reviews 'The White Queen: One Nation and the politics of race' (Quarterly Essay 65) by David Marr

by Lucas Grainger-Brown

Tribute

The irreplaceable: A tribute to John Clarke (1948–2017) by Morag Fraser

by Morag Fraser

Literary Studies

Jan McGuinness reviews 'A Writing Life: Helen Garner and her work' by Bernadette Brennan

by Jan McGuinness

Politics

James McNamara reviews 'Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus' by Matt Taibbi and 'How The Hell Did This Happen? The Election of 2016' by P.J. O’Rourke

by James McNamara

Advances

News from the Editor's Desk - May 2017

by Australian Book Review