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An insightful look inside the life of a hive and the bees that make it a home.

The recollections of Australia's leading public intellectualRobert Manne is one of Australia's most profound political analysts. His memoir traces his intellectual roots, revealing how his family background and early years informed the questions he would spend his life trying to answer. It also provides a fascinating portrait of key political controversies, including intellectual combat over Pol Pot, Wilfred Burchett, Quadrant, the Stolen Generations, Manning Clark, the Howard government, the Murdoch press and much more.During the Cold War and the culture wars, Manne clashed with some of the most influential thinkers, writers and polemicists - Noam Chomsky, Les Murray, Leonie Kramer, Tom Keneally, Isi Leibler, Helen "Demidenko" Darville, Peter Craven, Paddy McGuinness, Keith Windschuttle and Andrew Bolt. This memoir recounts with surprising and unknown detail what really happened and why.Often subverting conventional notions of left and right, Manne is an original thinker who has helped shape the nation's discourse for decades. This is the inside story of a life of engagement and reflection, and a book for anyone interested in the shape and meaning of the past nearly fifty years of politics.

A searing expose of institutional child abuse, and the remarkable story of the survivors who would not be silenced'A unique story of pain and triumph told superbly by Anne Manne, who follows victims of abuse as they shatter an old alliance between leading citizens of Newcastle and its Anglican cathedral on the hill which for decades protected brazen paedophile priests. In all the writing of the last few years about clerical child abuse, there's nothing like Crimes of the Cross.' - David MarrFor many years, Newcastle was the centre of a sinister paedophile network run by members of the Anglican Church - and protected by parishioners and community members who looked the other way.In this gripping book, Anne Manne reveals how this network avoided detection for so long, and how its ringleaders were finally exposed and brought to justice. At the heart of the story is a survivor, Steve Smith, who endured years of childhood abuse but refused to be silenced.Drawing on extensive research and interviews with survivors, clergy, lay people, police and others, Manne explores how the network operated and how it became entrenched in the upper echelons of Newcastle society. She offers deep insights into the minds and strategies of abusers and pays tribute to the victims and their tireless struggle for justice. Child sexual abuse has previously been thought of as an individual crime; Manne pioneers an examination of it as part of a network.This is an unforgettable story of courage in the face of unthinkable evil.'This story gripped me from the first page and refused to let go. The courage expressed, the clear criminality within the Anglican Church, the vividness of the writing - all of it has remained with me ever since. This book is a singular achievement, and I cannot recommend it more highly.' - Jess Hill

In Radical Hope, one of Australia's most original and provocative thinkers turns his attention to the question of education. Noel Pearson begins with two fundamental questions: How to ensure the survival of a people, their culture and way of life? And can education transform the lives of the disadvantaged many, or will it at best raise up a fortunate few?Pearson argues powerfully that underclass students, many of whom are Aboriginal, should receive a rigorous schooling that gives them the means to negotiate the wider world. He examines the long-term failure of educational policy in Australia, especially in the indigenous sector, and asks why it is always "Groundhog Day" when there are lessons to be learned from innovations now underway.Pearson introduces new findings from research and practice, and takes on some of the most difficult and controversial issues. Throughout, he searches for the radical centre - the way forward that will raise up the many, preserve culture, and ensure no child is left behind.

An anthology of David Marr's powerful ruminations on art, religion, sex, censorship and the law, his unflinching profiles of party leaders and forensic accounts of social and political controversy.David Marr is the rarest of breeds: one of Australia's most unflinching, forensic reporters of political controversy, and one of its most subtle and eloquent biographers. In Marr's hands, those things we call reportage and commentary are elevated to artful and illuminating chronicles of our time.My Country collects his powerful reflections on religion, sex, censorship and the law; striking accounts of leaders, moralists and scandalmongers; elegant ruminations on the arts and the lives of artists. And some memorable new pieces.'David Marr is as brilliant a biographer and journalist as this country has produced.' -Peter Craven

A landmark book - the first full political history of Australia. In this compelling and comprehensive work, renowned historian Frank Bongiorno presents a social and cultural history of Australia's political life, from pre-settlement Indigenous systems to the present day. Depicting a wonderful parade of dreamers and schemers, Bongiorno surveys moments of political renewal and sheds fresh light on our democratic life. From local pubs and meeting halls to the parliament and cabinet; from pamphleteers and stump orators to party agents and operatives - this enthralling account looks at the political insiders in the halls of power, as well as the agitators and outsiders who sought to shape the nation from the margins. A work of political history like no other, Dreamers and Schemers will transform the way you look at Australian politics.

A meditation on the burden and joy of inheritance, and the strange power of the objects and keepsakes that connect us'This is how I became interested in things. In their strange pull and power; in the ways they hold on to us and we to them.'After her father dies of cancer, Gemma Nisbet is inundated with keepsakes connected to his life by family and friends. As she becomes attuned to the ways certain items can evoke specific memories or moments, she begins to ask questions about the relationships between objects and people. Why is it so difficult to discard some artefacts and not others? Does the power exerted by precious things influence the ways we remember the past and perceive the future? As Nisbet considers her father's life and begins to connect his experiences of mental illness with her own, she wonders whether hanging on to 'stuff' is ultimately a source of comfort or concern.Intimate and wide-ranging, The Things We Live With is a collection of essays about how we learn to live with the 'things' handed down in families which we carry throughout our lives: not only material objects, but also grief, memory, anxiety and depression. It's about notions of home and restlessness, inheritance and belonging - and, above all, the ways we tell our stories to ourselves and other people.

Some of Australia's best political writing: a dazzling chronicle from the editor of The Saturday PaperDrawn from the first ten years of The Saturday Paper, these editorials tell the story of a country in trouble. They are a penetrating account of the people who have led Australia, fusing character studies with political insights and unvarnished rage. Taken together, they form a sparkling portrait of a lost decade. This is writing that is witty, curious and sharp-eyed.'These editorials are my guiding light in these terrible times.' -Marcia Langton AO

Is the US-Australia alliance now based on a fantasy?In this gripping essay, Hugh White explores Australia's fateful choice to back the United States to the hilt in opposing China. What led both sides of politics to align with the US so absolutely? Is this a case of sleepwalking to war? What tests might the new government face?White assesses America's credibility and commitment, by examining AUKUS, the Quad, Trump and Biden. He discusses what the Ukraine conflict tells us about the future. And he argues that the US can neither contain China, nor win a war over Taiwan. So where does this leave our future security and prosperity in Asia? Is there a better way to navigate the disruption caused by China's rise?This is a powerful and original essay by Australia's leading strategic thinker."Canberra's rhetoric helps raise the risk of the worst outcome for Australia: a war between China and America, in which we are likely to be involved. Over the past decade, and without any serious discussion, Australian governments have come to believe that America should go to war with China if necessary to preserve US primacy in Asia, and that Australia should, as a matter of course, go to war with it." Hugh White, Sleepwalk to War

Writer and columnist Benjamin Law revisits his joyous and much-loved family memoir, spilling the tea on his family's latest anticsThe book that inspired the major SBS television series!Meet the Law family - eccentric, endearing and hard to resist. Your guide is Benjamin, the third of five children and a born humourist. Join him as he tries to answer some puzzling questions. Why won't his Chinese dad wear made-in-China underpants? Why was most of his extended family deported in the 1980s? Will his childhood dreams of Home and Away stardom come to nothing? What are his chances of finding love?In this updated edition with a new chapter, Benjamin Law fills us in on his family's antics from the past decade. 'Benjamin Law manages to be scatagogical, hilarious and heartbreaking all at the same time. Every sentence fizzes like an exploding fireball of energy.'-Alice Pung'A vivid, gorgeously garish, Technicolour portrait of a family. It's impossible not to let oneself go along for the ride and emerge at the book's end enlightened, touched, thrilling with laughter.'-Marieke Hardy'The eccentric, clever and beautifully resonant The Family Law. It's sharply written, brilliantly observed and infused with an authenticity that makes it compelling.' -Saturday Age'Very funny...you may find yourself at times almost barking with laughter' -the Monthly'Law is a writer of great wit and warmth who combines apparently artless and effortless comedian's patter with a high level of technical skill.' -Sydney Morning Herald'Simultaneously weird and instantly recognisable, the Laws are an Australian family it's well worth getting to know' -The Enthusiast'Wonderful. Everyone should run to their nearest bookshop and buy a copy.' -Defamer'An addictive read.' -Courier-Mail

Today Australian Rules football is a multi-million-dollar business, with superstar players, high-profile presidents and enough scandals to fill a soap opera. The game has changed beyond recognition - or has it?In A Game of Our Own, esteemed historian Geoffrey Blainey documents the birth of our great national game. Who were the characters and champions of the early days of Australian football? How was the VFL formed? Why was the umpire's job so difficult?Blainey takes a sceptical look at the idea that the game had its origins in Ireland or in Aboriginal pastimes. Instead he demonstrates that footy was a series of inventions. The game played in 1880 was very different to that of 1860, just as the game played today is different again.Journey back to an era when the ground was not oval, when captains acted as umpires, when players wore caps and jerseys bearing forgotten colours and kicked a round ball that soon lost its shape. A Game of Our Own is a fascinating social history and a compulsory read for all true fans of the game.

A thoroughly absorbing, must-read examination of why Australia's relationship with India might hold the key to our future, by federal MP Andrew Charlton'A powerful declaration for the shared future between Australia and India'-Penny WongThe time has come for Australia and India to forge closer ties - and reap the benefits. But will Australia seize the opportunity? India is on the rise to become the next global superpower, with a population expected to be larger than the United States and China combined by 2050. For Australia, as the world grows more volatile, India has emerged as a new geopolitical partner offering hope for a more secure and balanced Indo-Pacific region. Australian cities are full of thriving 'Little Indias' created by a rapidly growing Indian diaspora estimated to become the largest migrant group in the nation in just over two decades. In Australia's Pivot to India, Andrew Charlton provides an authoritative analysis of Australia's relationship with India, explains why now is the time to seize the opportunity for collaboration and cooperation, and outlines a vision for the Australia-India partnership that will enhance Australia's security and prosperity in the twenty-first century. He argues that both Indians and Australians have an outdated view of each other, trapped in decades-old stereotypes and misunderstandings.Lively, thought-provoking and timely, Australia's Pivot to India is the go-to source for anyone interested in Australia-India relations, India's role in reshaping the global order and the impact this will have on Australia's future.

From the bestselling author of The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow,a hilarious and heart-warming memoir of teaching, treasure hunts and finding your own way in life.A hilarious and heart-warming memoir of teaching, treasure hunts and finding your own way in lifeA.J. 'Sandy' Mackinnon is best known to readers as a much-loved travel writer. But between eccentric voyages, he has for almost forty years taught at schools in Australia and the UK. In Quaint Deeds he brings his trademark wit and warmth to the classroom, recalling the ups, downs and unexpected detours of a teaching life. Along the way, he shares the lessons his students have taught him, often in the most unlikely moments - whether playing pranks, experimenting with home-made fireworks, or searching for buried treasure in the English countryside. Uproarious and insightful in equal measure, Quaint Deeds is an irresistible ode to the magic and mystery of youth.'Not just an adventurer, but an artist, philosopher and keen observer of the world around him' -The Canberra Times

A gripping reckoning with the bloody history of Australia's frontier warsDavid Marr was shocked to discover forebears who served with the brutal Native Police in the bloodiest years on the frontier. Killing for Country is the result - a soul-searching Australian history.This is a richly detailed saga of politics and power in the colonial world - of land seized, fortunes made and lost, and the violence let loose as squatters and their allies fought for possession of the country - a war still unresolved in today's Australia."This book is more than a personal reckoning with Marr's forebears and their crimes. It is an account of an Australian war fought here in our own country, with names, dates, crimes, body counts and the ghastly, remorseless views of the 'settlers'. Thank you, David."-Marcia Langton

Some secrets won't stay buried.'Scott's lost expedition was still here, she thought - frozen, preserved, waiting to be rescued from the thaw. The truth lay beneath the surface, and she was going to bring it up.'In 1912, five British explorers struggle across the Antarctic landscape, through howling winds and plummeting temperatures, seeking the safety of their camp.Today, as the world's ice sheets begin to melt and surrender their secrets, renowned glacial archaeologist Missy Simpson works to discover the true cause of the explorers' deaths - a subject that has intrigued researchers for more than a century.Her colleague, Cambridge professor Jim Hunter, is working on his own scientific mysteries - and is willing to risk everything to solve them.In hallowed halls of learning and on the icy polar plateau, these risk-takers must grapple with the unfathomable power of the natural world and the dramatically changing weather - while navigating their own complicated relationships.Drawn from the pages of history and cutting-edge science, Thaw is a gripping read that will forever change how you see the frozen continent - and those who seek to conquer it.

SUMMER IN MELBOURNE,1977. TWO YOUNG WOMEN ARE VICIOUSLY MURDERED. THE KILLER HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND.Forty-five years ago, Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett were fatally stabbed in their home on Easey Street, Collingwood, while Suzanne's toddler slept in his cot. Their murder remains one of the most infamous unsolved cold cases in Australia.Helen Thomas was a young journalist at The Age when the murders were committed and saw how deeply they affected the city. More than four decades later, she's still looking at the case - chasing down new leads and talking, again, to the women's families, friends and neighbours. What emerges is a portrait of a crime rife with ambiguities and contradictions, which took place at a fascinating time in the city's history, in one of its most notorious suburbs.Why has the Easey Street murderer never been found, despite the million-dollar reward for information leading to an arrest? Did the women know their killer, or were their deaths due to a random, frenzied attack? Could the murderer have killed again? This gripping and updated account addresses these questions and more as it sheds new light on one of Australia's most disturbing and compelling criminal mysteries.

A rollicking history of Australia's amateur scientists, from settlement to the presentTo the first European colonists, Australian wildlife was bewildering. Marsupials and gum trees seemed strange and hostile; rabbits, sheep and oak trees were familiar and safe. A bustling animal trade soon developed in both directions: foxes, starlings and other reminders of 'home' were unleashed on the Australian landscape, while countless Australian animals found themselves in Europe as stuffed specimens or living curiosities in zoos and private collections.Into this picture stepped a remarkable band of enthusiastic amateurs who were determined to get to know the fauna of the new colony. Equal parts inspiring and outlandish, over the next 150 years they would advance scientific understanding and transform public attitudes to Australian wildlife. From the 'snake men' who fearlessly thrust their arms into hollow logs just to see what might happen, to the top-secret plan to smuggle a platypus to Winston Churchill at the height of World War II, these are their stories.

Former chief scientist Alan Finkel shares his compelling insights and expertise and makes the case for Australia leading the way in the global transition to clean energy.The clean energy transition is humanity's biggest ever economic challenge. In Powering Up, former Australian chief scientist Alan Finkel shows how to remove the barriers that prevent nations transforming from petrostate to electrostate.Finkel considers the entire supply chain, from raw materials through power infrastructure, the workforce, transportation and household customers. He reveals the outlines of a new geo-economic order and explains in persuasive, practical terms how we can get there.If governments, investors, industry and consumers get this right over the next three decades, history will judge us as the generation who ushered in the Electric Age and helped to save the planet. The world will be transformed - with Australia, if we seize the opportunity, as a global leader.

Elected to federal parliament aged just twenty-eight, Tanya Plibersek has lived almost half her life in the public eye and is the longest-serving woman in Australia's House of Representatives. But how much do we know about what drives her, what she values, and what we can expect from her next? Plibersek was born in Sydney to Slovenian parents, both of whom fled post-war Europe as young adults. Their experiences as migrants would profoundly shape the lives of their children. Driven by a commitment to social justice, Plibersek joined the Labor Party at a time of intense factional battles for the party's future and emerged as part of a new generation of ALP leaders. Throughout her career she has campaigned for reform on issues such as violence against women, paid parental leave and rights for same-sex couples. Award-winning journalist Margaret Simons draws on exclusive interviews with Plibersek, her political contemporaries, family and close friends to trace this modern Australian story. She considers Plibersek's role in the Rudd and Gillard governments, Labor's soul-searching years in opposition and Plibersek's position in the Albanese cabinet. Simons also sheds light on the personal currents that have carried Plibersek, through moments of joy and tragedy, to become the person she is today.

The Golden Bird brings together the best of Robert Adamson's work from the last four decades, as well as many superb new poems. Selected and arranged by the author, it provides an accessible introduction to Australia's foremost lyric poet and an insight into the recurring themes that have shaped his remarkable body of work.'Robert Adamson is one of Australia's national treasures.' -John Ashbery'He is as deft and resourceful a craftsman as exists, and his poems move with a clarity and ease I find unique.' -Robert Creeley'This distinguished man of letters and major poet is one of the most significant gifts Australia can offer the rest of the world.' -Nathaniel Tarn'The spareness and taut energy of the more recent poems, for all Adamson's famous romanticism, seems classic; as if, like Yeats, he had discovered the exhilaration and enterprise of walking naked.' -David Malouf

The music and mayhem behind the seminal sounds of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Models, The Go-Betweens, Hunters & Collectors, Cold Chisel, The Saints, The Cruel Sea and so many more'The most obsessive, single-minded character I've ever seen, outside of the mirror' -Nick Cave'I first met Nick Cave ... at Richmond Recorders in January. I appeared shoeless, red-eyed and late. As usual. The grand piano was overflowing with bits of metal, microphone stands, anything that wasn't nailed down. "That should sound interesting," I said. It was the start of a great love affair.'Maverick music producer-engineer Tony Cohen defined Australia's punk and rock sounds in the late '70s, '80s and '90s. His long and celebrated career took him from the studios of Melbourne and Sydney to West Berlin and London's Abbey Road, working with innumerable bands up until his death in 2017.In candid reflections, Tony shares details of his decades-long relationship with Nick Cave (The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and provides behind-the-scenes access to recordings by Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Cat Stevens, Jim Keays, Lobby Loyde, The Ferrets, Split Enz, Laughing Clowns, Models, Magazine, The Reels, The Go-Betweens, Hunters & Collectors, Cold Chisel, Beasts of Bourbon, The Saints, X, Michael Hutchence, The Cruel Sea, TISM, Paul Kelly and so many more. Half Deaf, Completely Mad is a hilarious, tragic and triumphant memoir that reveals a chaotic genius who lived hard and LOUD.

"If ink on paper can reassemble a world ..." -Rachel KadishThe Jewish world of pre-war Europe was almost destroyed. If we hold up a lantern to that darkness, what can we discover about what was lost, what survived and what could have been? In Search of Lost Time illuminates the efforts to recover and remember that world. Menachem Kaiser sifts through recent discoveries of hidden troves of documents and artefacts, and examines their extraordinary lineage and the battle to preserve them. Eva Hoffman unearths the remarkable life and work of a forgotten Polish poet, and Rachel Kadish traces the story of the intriguing figure and the hotel that played pivotal roles in her family's past. Also included is a feature on the Jews of Provence by Benjamin Ramm , probing reviews by Benjamin Balint and Tali Lavi, and more.

Sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, this collection turns the rules of storytelling on their head. A series of graphs illustrates the disintegration of a marriage, step by excruciating step. A literary stoush - and an affair - play out in the book review section of a national newspaper. The heartbreaking story of a Rwandan boy is hidden within his English exam paper. A young girl learns her mother's disturbing secrets through the broken key on a typewriter. Ranging from Australia to Africa to China and back again, The Weight of a Human Heart heralds a fresh new voice in Australian literature. Praise: "Stories full of wit, irony, wild invention, love and pain - and sometimes shocking power." - Paddy O'Reilly "By turns acerbic, playful and serious, O'Neill is equally at home with satire and pathos." - Cate Kennedy "With each new story O'Neill redefines the boundaries of what is possible" - Patrick Cullen

Climate change is a planetary emergency. We have to do something now - but what? Australian visionary Saul Griffith has a plan. In The Big Switch, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint - optimistic but feasible - for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households. The same natural advantages - incredible resources on an enormous continent - that helped Australia prosper in the 20th century are the ingredients for becoming the most prosperous, entirely renewable, economy in the world.'The point is, we don't have to be perfect to solve climate change. We just need to be electric. If we go hard and go early on cutting emissions - and if by so doing we encourage other countries to increase their ambition and follow us - we have everything to win. We'll be winning so much, we'll win, win, win, win, win. Lower energy prices for all Australians. Driving our vehicles will be cheaper than it has ever been. Heating our homes and our showers will be cheaper too. The average household will probably save $5000 a year or more on energy and car expenses.'-Saul Griffith

The saga of Australia continues with ... GIRT NATIONDavid Hunt tramples the tall poppies of the past in charting Australia's transformation from aspiration to nation -an epic tale of charlatans and costermongers, of bush bards and bushier beards, of workers and women who weren't going to take it anymore.Girt Nation introduces Alfred Deakin, the Liberal necromancer whose dead advisors made Australia a better place to live, and Banjo Paterson, the jihadist who called on God and the Prophet to drive the Australian infidels from the Sudan 'like sand before the gale'. And meet Catherine Helen Spence, the feminist polymath who envisaged a utopian future of free contraceptives, easy divorce and immigration restrictions to prevent the 'Chinese coming to destroy all we have struggled for!'Thrill as Jandamarra leads the Bunuba against Western Australia, and Valentine Keating leads the Crutchy Push, an all-amputee street gang, against the conventionally limbed. Gasp as Essendon Football Club trainer Carl von Ledebur injects his charges with crushed dog and goat testicles. Weep as Scott Morrison's communist great-great-aunt Mary Gilmore holds a hose in New Australia. And marvel at how Labor, a political party that spent a quarter of a century infighting over how to spell its own name, ever rose to power.