flamingyouth
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Sat Feb-19-05 05:54 PM
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Looking for a good Australian history book |
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I'm reading Tony Horwitz's book "Blue Latitudes," where he traces Capt. James Cook's voyages and now I'd like to read more about the settling of Australia, both about the colonial settlements and the Aboriginal peoples. Can anyone recommend a good one? I saw this book on Amazon and it was pretty highly rated: "The Fatal Shore: The epic of Australia's founding," by Robert Hughes.
Thanks for any advice. :hi:
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NWHarkness
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Sat Feb-19-05 06:30 PM
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1. The Hughes book is good |
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And it's a fun read, too.
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flamingyouth
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Sat Feb-19-05 06:39 PM
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2. Thanks - I think I'll check it out |
no safe haven
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Sun Feb-20-05 02:22 AM
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3. Also try Manning Clark |
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...A Short History of Australia.
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Matilda
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Sun Feb-20-05 10:33 PM
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Left-leaning, although not the Marxist conservatives accuse him of being. Nice sense of humour too.
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no safe haven
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Mon Feb-21-05 05:05 AM
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5. Yes, and lashings of irony, too |
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I never quite figured out what the uproar was about regarding Clark's writing. To me, it fitted very well into my way of thinking. I mean, it's a breath of fresh air compared to Geoffrey Blainey's version of our history, the tyranny of distance and all that xenophobic nonsense - ho hum.
Also a good book on one small aspect of Aboriginal history in colonial and post-colonial Australia, 'Blood on the Wattle'. Cuts right to the chase on the genocidal agenda of British settlement.
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anakie
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Mon Feb-21-05 05:20 PM
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6. a secret country by John Pilger |
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is a pretty good read that offers alternative views from his leftist position. Not the sort of book that makes high school history texts.
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velvet
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Tue Feb-22-05 03:23 AM
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flamingyouth, I recommend these :
"My Place" by Sally Morgan
"The Other Side of the Frontier" and other books by Henry Reynolds
"Capricornia" and "Poor Fellow My Country" by Xavier Herbert
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SweetLeftFoot
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Tue Feb-22-05 07:13 AM
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8. All suggestions here are good |
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but I would also suggest "A Game Of Our Own" by Geoffrey Blainey. Baliney is a right-wing so-and-so but his study of the development of Australian Rules gives a good view of a uniquely Australian game and way of looking.
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Phoebe_in_Sydney
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Sat Feb-26-05 02:58 AM
Response to Reply #8 |
9. Blainey and Manning Clark |
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... were the university texts when I did Australian History at uni, but that was quite some time ago now.
"Tyranny of Distance" was the Blainey book and "A short History of Australia" the Mannning Clark one.
trivial connection: Tony Horwitz married an Aussie woman who was a school classmate of mine, Geraldine Brooks. she's also a successful author.
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canberra
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Sat Feb-26-05 10:12 PM
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10. go for Blainey and Manning Clark |
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The fatal shore might be a good read but isn't really a good history. Robert Hughes is an art historian, not a historian.
I'd go for the one by Blainey and the one by Manning Clark.
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rooboy
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Fri Mar-11-05 10:13 AM
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11. Donald Horne is interesting reading... |
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he's the guy who coined the term "the lucky country". But he deals with contemporary history (i.e. the 50's onwards).
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DU
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Wed May 01st 2024, 08:40 AM
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