CHLOE DALTON Raising Hare. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Chloe Dalton’s memoir of raising an orphaned hare in the English countryside is both beautiful and unsentimental. Chloe Dalton never expected to raise a hare. In her professional life as a foreign policy specialist and political advisor, she spent her time in offices,...
SEAN SCALMER A Fair Day’s Work: The quest to win back time. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
How many hours comprise ‘a fair day’s work’? Sean Scalmer charts the history of Australian campaigns for shorter hours. Sean Scalmer has provided us with a history of working hours in Australia. Like other conditions of employment, what is worked in a given day or...
MICHAEL ADAMS They’ll Never Hold Me. Reviewed by Tom Kelly
A charismatic criminal, corrupt cops, and the brutality of Grafton Gaol – the story of Kevin John Simmonds is more than compelling true crime. In 1959 most people in Australia would have known the names ‘Simmonds and Newcombe’. They were the two prisoners who...
TIM WIGMORE Test Cricket: A history. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
From the birth of the Ashes to the present day, Tim Wigmore delivers an enthralling and comprehensive survey of Test cricket. There is always a place for Big History and Tim Wigmore’s Test Cricket: A history distils the essence of the highest form of the game played...
PETER GRESTE The Correspondent. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Peter Greste’s 2017 memoir The First Casualty has been reissued and retitled following the release of the film. It remains timely reading. In 2013 Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government was overthrown in a military coup. Australian journalist Peter Greste was reporting...
SIMON JAMES COPLAND The Male Complaint: The manosphere and misogyny online. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Why are lonely men drawn to online misogyny? Australian sociologist Simon James Copland explores this disturbing phenomenon. This book seeks to understand lonely and alienated men and their use of social media, as well as their impact on broader society, especially...
HUGH WHITE Hard New World: Our post-American future. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Can Australia pursue a defence strategy independent of the United States? Hugh White presents a compelling case to do so. In this Quarterly Essay, Hugh White is hoping to influence the politicians and advisors who make strategic decisions concerning Australia’s...
AC GRAYLING Discriminations: Making peace in the culture wars. Reviewed by Ann Skea
At a time when ‘woke’ has become a term of abuse, AC Grayling argues that respect for human rights needs to be the basis of open debate. ‘Wokeism’ and ‘cancel culture’ became terms of war – culture war – in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The war...
BARRY DILLER Who Knew. Reviewed by Naomi Manuell
Barry Diller has worked with some of the biggest names in entertainment in a career spanning Paramount, Fox and now his own media company. Serendipity, that variation on the idea of a happy accident or unexpected good fortune, is elevated to something of a theme in...
LYNNE OLSON The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Lynne Olson documents how, within the horror of a Nazi concentration camp, the women of the French Resistance continued to resist. In Paris, the granddaughter of Jacqueline Péry d’Alincourt remembers her grandmother entertaining three old friends to afternoon tea....
SARAH GILBERT Unconventional Women: The story of the last Blessed Sacrament Sisters in Australia. Reviewed by Suzanne Marks
Sarah Gilbert’s account of this religious order offers a rare insight into the women who chose to separate themselves from the world. In the 1950s and 60s, eight young women left their families to join an enclosed order of nuns in Melbourne. Gilbert’s book...
Recent Posts
JARED POON City of Others. Reviewed by Robert Goodman22 January 2026Set in Singapore, Jared Poon’s first novel is fantasy fiction that asks whether [ … ]
BARRY NICHOLLS Playing to Win: Australia and the 1972 Ashes. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress20 January 2026Barry Nicholls turns in a masterly review of the 1972 Ashes series, arguing [ … ]
2025 Readers’ Favourites8 January 2026With the new year barely begun, take a look back at our top ten reviews of [ … ]
Tributes to Jean Bedford18 December 2025Writer and editor Jean Bedford died after a long illness on 11 December 2025. [ … ]