Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Australian Journal of Politics and History, published by University of Queensland Press on March 1, 1998. The length of the article is 552 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Sir Joe: A Political Biography of Sir Joseph Cook.(Review) (book review)
Author: Colin Hughes
Publication: The Australian Journal of Politics and History (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 1998
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Volume: 44Issue: 1Page: 133

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Statesman (1996), published by New Statesman, Ltd. on October 21, 2002. The length of the article is 853 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Did the Sunday Telegraph really believe that the death of scores of Australians was less important than a classic new Labour spin story about the Lottery? (Watching Brief).
Author: Amanda Platell
Publication: New Statesman (1996) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 21, 2002
Publisher: New Statesman, Ltd.
Volume: 131Issue: 4610Page: 34(1)

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Australian Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on March 1, 1997. The length of the article is 961 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Autographs. Contemporary Australian Autobiography. (book reviews)
Author: Joy Hooton
Publication: Journal of Australian Studies (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 1997
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Issue: n52Page: p170(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Australian Literary Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on October 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1743 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Struggle and Storm: The Life and Death of Francis Adams.(two biography reviews)(Book Review)
Author: Chris Tiffin
Publication: Australian Literary Studies (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Volume: 20Issue: 4Page: 404(4)

Article Type: Book Review

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Reviews (8)

old age . I never thought the cornflakes would leave me .
For those of you who have visited Australia in recent years , it may come as a shock to you that Clive James was the man who discoverd it . Jumping from captain Cooks ship ,when the hostile crew had threatened to eat him if he risked another witism . He discovered that the land was free from parking meters . " Well boil mi billy can , cobbers , this is the place for me " . So young clive tried his hand at acting, but was disillusioned ,when James coburn was cast as the aussie in the great escape . " He sounds more real than you Clive " . "Strewth i'll have a lash at journalism " . The rest is history . A raft back to blighty . A year as an assistant to clark kent , then unexpected fame as a latex puppet on spitting image . Its all here the unreliable memoirs, of the boy from Melbourne ,The land bought by Batman .

Don't read this in a public place!
This would have to be the best offering from Clive James that I have read. His acerbic wit makes for great reading. I found this text on a bookshelf in a beach holiday house and was immediately captivated. I lost count of the amount of times that I not only laughed out loud, I snorted with appreciation and had to wipe tears from my eyes (much to the consternation of those around me) He captures the innocence of childhood with fleeting glimpses of maturity like no one has before, proving that he is not just a television presenter but a Rhodes Scholar to boot. If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would. It would be a shame to tell you more because this is a book that just has to be read to be believed!

Sheer brillance
I am only 13 but i could appreciate every bit in sheer briliance of a book. I could not put it down it was so funny. I strongly recommend this book, carefull through if you read it in public be prepared to laugh out loud and humilate your self.

Laugh until you cry
The imagery used in this story is the best I have read.

I could not put the book down and embarrassed myself by laughing out loud on the London Underground!

As a female with no brothers this book was an amusing insight into what goes on in (not so) little boys' minds.

Definately a must read book.

Written proof of James' humourous brilliance
Clive James fans will not be disappointed.

James writes as he speaks. He is quick witted, self-effacing, and sees the humour in the common incidents of life. Memories of the dunny collector, the kids down the street, and of his odd-shaped adolescent skull - all told with self-reflection, and always with a "glass half full" rather than "glass half empty" attitude. James seems to view his young life as a product of fortuitous circumstances, and he gives himself very little credit for the path he has taken. I found that quite unexpected, and pleasantly honest.

One small criticism. Occassionally James uses eloquent language, much of which will pass over the heads of anyone other than an ancient history and literature buff. But it doesn't detract from the quality of book. Instead it makes it even more obvious how intelligent and admirably self-educated this man is.

Highly enjoyable. I'm looking forward to starting on the second of the three volumes of his life. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Australian Academic & Research Libraries, published by Australian Library and Information Association on June 1, 1998. The length of the article is 466 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Dietrich Borchardt staunchly supported librarianship as a scholarly profession and began actively participating in the educational scene in 1963. His main contribution guided the establishment of courses in tertiary education institutions. His contributions were recognized when in 1985 the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences was conferred upon him by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Citation Details
Title: Dietrich Borchardt and education for librarianship.
Author: Jean Hagger
Publication: Australian Academic & Research Libraries (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1998
Publisher: Australian Library and Information Association
Volume: v29Issue: n2Page: p119(2)

Article Type: Biography

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Reviews (15)

A story with history behind it
I enjoyed "My Place." As an American from the Midwest, the only things I knew about Australia were what I learned in a college foreign politics class centered on Australia and New Zealand. I never sought out more information until I met an Australian friend who inspired me to learn more about his country. And he suggested this book.

I've started reading but just can't seem to finish "The Fatal Shore." But Sally Morgan's book gave me a feeling of reading fiction with some history behind it. I know that all her "facts" aren't to the tee. While I am not Native American, I live in South Dakota, where the Native Americans have been subject to much of the same treatment. This really opened up my eyes of what it must be like to live as Aboriginal, or part Aboriginal, Native American or part Native American in the modern day world. And how we've progressed to get where we are...if you can call it progression.

I think Sally Morgan does a great job of getting you in the story of her growing up, and then tying it all together with the dictated stories from her great uncle, mother and grandmother.

Reading "My Place" has made me eager to learn more about the Aboriginal culture, maybe a deeper knowledge. I believe I really enjoyed this book because it wasn't a straight history book. While it isn't as thick, it reminds me of another text that tells the history of London through a handful of families.

I recommend "My Place." From someone who doesn't have time to read 400+ page books, this one kept me turning the page. It was enlightening

An amazing personal history of one woman's maternal family
Sally Morgan writes from the heart as she explores her family's hidden Aboriginal history in a book that spares no punches. My Place is all about identity and what racism and prejudice can do to a people. The white settlers who colonized Australia have systematically tried to bury the Aboriginal people and their way of life but somehow against all odds they have survived, and people like Sally Morgan are standing up to be counted as the descendants lost tribes of mixed race people who were never given a chance to choose who they wanted to live with. Sally Morgan writes with startling clarity as she describes her childhood with her half Aboriginal Grandmother who would never admit to being native, and often told her Grandchildren to lay claim to an Indian heritage rather than admit the truth. Sally's Grandmother's fears lay deep within her own childhood when she was taken away from her mother, and it was this fear she passed onto Sally's mother who was three quarter's white. Both women were terrified of white authority and the power it had to tear families apart. My Place is a haunting, true story of one woman's search for her roots in a country that saw Aboriginal blood as a taint rather than a celebration. We need more books like this on our bookshelves, and even more people to read them...

Poorly written but interesting
Reading the other reviews on here, I find it interesting to note that just about everyone gives it either 5 stars or 1 star, but there's almost nothing in between. It's quite true that it is a poorly written book - the writing is dull and prosaic, and there's little to recommend it from a literary point of view. Had I not had to read it for a class, I doubt I would have bothered finishing it. The narrative of searching and redemption which runs throughout is so predictable and cliché that I have the feeling that if this had been an American story it would have been snatched up by Oprah's Book Club long ago. Having said that, however, I think there are some important things about this book that probably need consideration.

More than the book itself, what I find interesting is that this was a huge bestseller in Australia. And I mean HUGE. She may well be the highest grossing Indigenous author in the country, although I'd be guessing. The fact that so many people read the book says something about the mood of White Australia over the last twenty years, with this country trying to come to grips with its shameful past. I've inclined to believe that most of this is an attempt to ease collective white guilt than actually taking steps to reconcile and compensate for over two centuries of oppression. Sally Morgan's book is popular, I think, because she doesn't actually challenge her audience to move much beyond their comfort zone, and the construction of Aboriginality that she presents is quite problematic, stereotypical, and firmly entrenched in the past.

The book has attracted quite a lot of controversy in Australia, mostly in academic circles, but occasionally this rears its head in the mainstream media (for example, the issue of the Drake-Brockmans demanding DNA testing to prove Morgan is not descended from their ancestors). The idea of the 'truthfulness' of the book is largely a question of genre more than anything else: is it an autobiography or a non-fiction novel? 'My Place' raises a lot of questions about how we define these categories, and about the nature of history and memory work.

People might be interested to know that the book also attracted a considerable amount of backlash from the Aboriginal community itself: she is often criticised for asserting an Aboriginal identity that, by her own admission, she did not grow up with. Unaware of her Indigenous origins for most of her youth, she claims her Aboriginality without ever having lived with what it really meant to be Aboriginal in the 1950s-70s. Because she has fairer skin than the stereotypical Aboriginal person, she had the luxury of pretending to be of a different nationality - an option simply not available to many Indigenous Australians - and was thus not subjected to the same level of prejudice which she might otherwise have been.

If you're interested in Australian history and Aboriginal issues you should probably read Sally Morgan's 'My Place', not because it's good writing, but because it has certainly been a landmark in the recent history of Australian literature. However, I also suggest trying to lay your hands on some of the material which critiques Morgan's work in order to gain a more balanced perspective of Indigenous Australia. Alternatively, for an all-round better account of what is now known as the Stolen Generation, try Doris Pilkington's 'Rabbit Proof Fence', or the film by the same name. If read with a critical mind, 'My Place' is worthy of a look, but it is highly problematic taken at face value.

fails the basic test of literature
Stories about the historical oppression and continual discrimination against Aborigines should be told, but it is unfortunate that Morgan is one of those to do it. The book fails as literature simply because it is boring and very poorly written. As such, it does nothing to advance the Aboriginal cause here in Australia, and unfortunately, plays right into the hands of the redneck Hansonites and their views of white racial superiority.

my place on the shelf
I have been forced to study this book for my HSC(final exams at high school)and have found the book to be poorly written and rather bland next to other books we could have studied. The story, while being a realistic view of what has happened in Australian history, would not have been published as widely with out the recent reconciliation issues in Australia. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Meanjin, published by Meanjin Company Ltd. on March 1, 2003. The length of the article is 3206 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Kinship of failure: Tim Rowse appraises two recent biographies of Australian politicians in the light of his own biographical venture.(Book Review) (book review)
Author: Tim Rowse
Publication: Meanjin (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2003
Publisher: Meanjin Company Ltd.
Volume: 62Issue: 1Page: 168(9)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Australian Literary Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on May 1, 2002. The length of the article is 5121 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: `One of them kinds of kids': the lives of Les Murray.
Author: Martin Duwell
Publication: Australian Literary Studies (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Volume: 20Issue: 3Page: 192(10)

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Australian Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on December 15, 2001. The length of the article is 937 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Peter FitzSimons, Nancy Wake: A Biography of our Greatest War Heroine.(Book Review)
Author: Katherine Gallagher
Publication: Journal of Australian Studies (Refereed)
Date: December 15, 2001
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Issue: 71Page: 139(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Australian Literary Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on October 1, 1999. The length of the article is 6892 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The author discusses literary biography styles in a review of author Veronica Brady's biography of Judith Wright. Topics include writing style, readability, and quality of work.

Citation Details
Title: Veronica Brady's Biography of Judith Wright. (book reviews)
Author: Philip Mead
Publication: Australian Literary Studies (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 1999
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Volume: 19Issue: 2Page: 163

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Australian Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on September 1, 1997. The length of the article is 5019 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Jean Devanny is perhaps one of the most significant figures in Australian history. Her writings still await due recognition. Devanny's militant presence as a writer, orator and women's liberationist marked the turbulent 1930s and '40s. She thought of herself as a romantic, believing the political revolution she longed for would happen within her lifetime or shortly after.

Citation Details
Title: Jean Devanny: romantic revolutionary.(Battlers and Stirrers)
Author: Carole Ferrier
Publication: Journal of Australian Studies (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1997
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Issue: n54-55Page: p30(8)

Article Type: Biography

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Reviews (1)

A detailed, engaging, and informative biography.
Australia's Jean Devanny was an author, political activist and women's liberationist. Biographer Carole Ferrier's Jean Devanny: Romantic Revolutionary is a detailed, engaging, and informative political andliterary biography providing the reader with a complete account of herlife, times, and accomplishments. Devanny arrived in Sydney, Australia in1929 from New Zealand. Here first novel, "The Butcher Shop"having been banned in politically turbulent New Zealand at the time. In the1930s she joined the Communist Party and rapidly gained fame as aredoubtable public speaker. She clashed periodically with the party lineunder Stalin, and her open marriage and rumored love affairs led to a greatmany complications for her personal and professional life. Interested inissues of race, gender and sexuality, as well as class, Devanny was decadesahead of her time in her thinking on these questions. An outstanding work,Jean Devanny: Romantic Revolutionary is an impressive and clearlyrecommended biography which draws upon primary sources, oral historymaterial from people who knew Devanny, as well as unpublished archives andmanuscripts. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Antipodes, published by American Association of Australian Literary Studies on December 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1048 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Profiling Australian expatriates. (Biography). (book review)
Author: Anne Pender
Publication: Antipodes (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 1999
Publisher: American Association of Australian Literary Studies
Volume: 13Issue: 2Page: 139(1)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

This is a fascinating collection of the correspondence between six Australian women writers written between 1930 and 1957 and unpublished until now. Miles Franklin, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Jean Devanny, Marjorie Barnard, Flora Eldershaw and Eleanor Dark discuss their work, their personal lives and their views of the world in these letters, which were written with the purpose of providing sympathetic support and which bacome a source of friendship. Each of the women was centrally engaged with the social and political issues of her time, and these letters appear as a continuing dialogue written over three decades, from the Depression with its struggles and militancy, the nationalism and chauvinism of the Second World War, through to the conservatism of the Cold War. As non-fictional writing, the correspondence perhaps best articulates the complexity of the women's lives and the clashes between their private and the public worlds in a way which more polished literary genres fail to do. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Australian Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on June 1, 2001. The length of the article is 5036 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Marketing Frank Hardy: The Revival of Biography as Scandal.
Author: Jenny Hocking
Publication: Journal of Australian Studies (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2001
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Page: 146

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Book Description

A biography of Lieutenant General Sir James Whiteside McCay, a lawyer, politician and General in the First AIF. In the course of a successful political career he had been a member of Australia's first federal parliament, and while Minister for Defence he had introduced far-ranging reforms of the Australian Army's command structure. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Australian Studies, published by University of Queensland Press on June 1, 2001. The length of the article is 744 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Australia: a Biography The Beginnings from the Cosmos to the Genesis of Gondwana, and its Rivers, Forests, Flora, Fauna and Fecundity.(Review)
Author: George Seddon
Publication: Journal of Australian Studies (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2001
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Page: 188

Article Type: Book Review

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