MY ACCIDENTAL CAREER By Brenda Niall Text Publishing, 2022 ISBN: 9781922458148 RRP: $34.99 (pb) Reviewed by Gerard Henderson Thanks to the (anonymous) Private Eye (4 November 2022) reviewer of Suleika Dawson’s The Secret Heart: John Le Carré: An Intimate Memoir for reminding readers of the old gag: Question: “How do you know someone [...]
JOHN CURTIN By David Lee Connor Court Publishing (Australian Biographical Monographs 16), 2022 ISBN - 9781922815095 RRP: $19.95 (pb) Reviewed by Keith Harvey What a great idea Connor Court’s Australian Biographical Monographs are. They are short, readable biographies of notable Australian politicians designed to present an introductory overview of each chosen subject. In [...]
AGATHA CHRISTIE – A VERY ELUSIVE WOMAN By Lucy Worsley Hodder & Stoughton 2022 ISBN: 9781529303889 RRP: $34.99 (PB) Reviewed by Anne Henderson Dr Lucy Worsley is joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces but best known as a presenter for BBC TV of a number of series on historical topics and in particular historical figures of note. [...]
Bob Hawke By Mike Steketee Connor Court Publishing Pty Ltd, 2022 ISBN: 9781922815200 RRP: $19.95 (pb) Reviewed by Paul Henderson The Australian Biographical Monographs series covers the lives and roles of many Australian political leaders. As Mike Steketee, a former chief political correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald base in Canberra and political editor, [...]
ABOUT TIME – A HISTORY OF CIVILISATION IN TWELVE CLOCKS By David Rooney Penguin Books 2022 ISBN: 978 0 241 37051 3 RRP: $22.99 (PB) Reviewed by Anne Henderson In Lewis Carroll’s classic story of Alice and her adventures in Wonderland, time is a key player. The white rabbit that lures Alice down the [...]
THE WAR ON THE WEST – HOW TO PREVAIL IN THE AGE OF UNREASON By Douglas Murray HarperCollins Publishers 2022 HB – ISBN 978-0-00-849249-6 PB – ISBN 978-0-00-849279-3 RRP: $34.99 (PB) Reviewed by Anne Henderson In ancient times, seers and prophets traversed the countryside warning communities of impending doom or wayward paths such prophets [...]
SECRET LIFE OF THE SAVOY By Olivia Williams Headline Publishing Group 2020 ISBN: 978 1 4722 6980 5 RRP: $32.95 (PB) Reviewed by Anne Henderson The cover is certainly tempting, with its photo of Marilyn Monroe whispering in the ear of co-star Sir Laurence Olivier in a photo shoot for their movie The Prince [...]
The Art of Coalition: The Howard Government Experience, 1996-2007 By David W. Lovell and Andrew Blyth UNSW Press. 2022 ISBN: ISBN : 9781742237626 RRP: $39.99 (pb) Reviewed by Paul Henderson The Art of Coalition has two overall editors for the whole book, as well as others who have contributed to a number of chapters, which cover [...]
Pink Flower. Growing Up in Mao’s China by Amei Li & Rafe Champion First Mate Publishing 2022 ISBN-13 978-1922729019 RRP $32.99 (PB) Reviewed by William Coleman This strongly felt memoir recounts how the Cultural Revolution shattered the lives of the author and her classmates at the Beijing Fifteenth Girls High School. Amei Li was [...]
JACK LANG BY David Clune Australian Biographical Monographs – Connor Court 2022 ISBN – 9781922815019 RRP: $19.95 (PB) Reviewed by Anne Henderson In Dame Enid Lyons’ memoir So We Take Comfort, she wrote of how her husband Joseph Lyons, following one of his first acts as Prime Minister, had said that: … if he [...]
