The Mannix Era: Melbourne Catholic Leadership 1920-1970 by Patrick Morgan Publisher: Connor Court Publishing Pty Ltd, 2018 ISBN:  9781925826166 RRP: $29.95 Reviewed by Paul Henderson Patrick Morgan’s book is a sequel to his book entitled Melbourne Before Mannix.  Indeed, in the preface of The Mannix Era he goes back and mentions some of the interesting issues…

Before Wallis – Edward VIII’s Other Women by Rachel Trethewey The History Press 2018 ISBN: 9780750985604 RRP $49.99 (hb) Reviewed by Anne Henderson Imagine our contemporary world of social media and paparazzi at the time of Britain’s aristocratic Bright Young Things in the 1920s and 1930s. What gossip might have emerged. What sensational headlines might…

Before I Forget – Geoffrey Blainey Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, 2019 ISBN: 9781760890339 RRP: $45 Reviewed by Ross Fitzgerald As the Kenny Rogers country song says, you’ve got to know when to hold them and when to fold them. Here Rogers is talking about playing cards as a metaphor for life. Historian and author Geoffrey Blainey certainly…

Reasonable Doubt:  Spies, Police and the Croatian Six Author: Hamish McDonald Publisher: Doosa Press, 2019 ISBN:  978 0 646 99896 – 1 RRP: $30 Reviewed by Gerard Henderson Anyone who believes that the police, prosecutors, juries and judges always get it right would be well advised to read journalist Hamish McDonald’s Reasonable Doubt.  Likewise those…

Kindred – A Cradle Mountain Love Story by Kate Legge The Miegunyah Press 2019 ISBN:9780522874518 RRP $44.99 (hb) Reviewed by Anne Henderson The cover of Kate Legge’s Kindred – A Cradle Mountain Love Story, says it all. Two figures in the black and white photography of the early twentieth century stand in a snow covered…