History
Clare Wright’s letter in response to Bain Attwood (ABR, August 2023) should profoundly disturb and unsettle anyone in this country concerned about the survival of active, rigorous, and engaged historical scholarship.
... (read more)Psychonauts: Drugs and the making of the modern mind by Mike Jay
Cruel Care: A history of children at our borders by Jordana Silverstein
Untied Kingdom: A global history of the end of Britain by Stuart Ward
Goldfish in the Parlour: The Victorian craze for marine life by John Simons
The Lives and Legacies of a Carceral Island: A biographical history of Wadjemup/Rottnest Island by Ann Curthoys, Shino Konishi, and Alexandra Ludewig
On election day in 2022, thousands of Australian voters – perhaps already in line at their local primary school, democracy sausage in hand – received this text message. Refugees had not been a hot-button issue in this election, and the messages were generally seen as an unsuccessful last-ditch effort by a Coalition government already on the ropes. But the new Albanese Labor government was quick to confirm, just a day after being sworn in, that it had turned the boat back without hesitation. A public warning was issued to people smugglers that Australia’s border policy remained iron-clad and inflexible. Such statements are usually for the benefit of the Australian public, rather than an imagined audience of people smugglers.
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