New Australian Books: From Hawke’s Turmoil to Jakarta’s Bombings and Uruguay’s echoes
Table of Contents
- New Australian Books: From Hawke’s Turmoil to Jakarta’s Bombings and Uruguay’s echoes
- The Legend Unveiled: A New Look at Bob Hawke
- Chasing Shadows: Zane Grey’s Australian Obsession
- Unsettling Returns: Gothic Mystery in Rebecca Starford’s The Visitor
- Truth and Fiction: Unraveling Bryce Courtenay’s Legacy
- Navigating Privilege and Identity: Whitefella Country Explores Indigenous-Settler relations
- Decoding the Online World: Conspiracy Nation by Ariel Bogle and Cam Wilson
A compelling array of new books offers readers a deep dive into Australian history, politics, and culture, alongside gripping fiction and practical guides. From a revealing biography of Bob Hawke to a swashbuckling tale of a novelist’s obsession with great white sharks,and explorations of identity and belonging,this season’s releases promise something for every reader.
The Legend Unveiled: A New Look at Bob Hawke
David Day’s second volume of his Bob hawke biography, simply titled Hawke PM: The Making of a Legend (HarperCollins, $49.99), continues the forensic examination of Australia’s longest-serving Labor prime minister. Following Hawke’s journey to the top job, Day’s work reveals a leader grappling with familial turmoil while carefully crafting a public persona. According to a review by Paul Daley, the book rightly remembers Hawke as a “great” prime minister, acknowledging the significant reforms he oversaw alongside his treasurer, Paul Keating. Despite publicly overcoming personal demons, Day’s account suggests a more complex reality beneath the surface, making this a must-read for those familiar with the first installment.
Chasing Shadows: Zane Grey‘s Australian Obsession
Decades before Jaws captivated audiences, pulp novelist Zane Grey embarked on a perilous quest to film a great white shark in Australia. Vicki Hastrich’s The Last Days of Zane Grey (Allen & Unwin, $34.99) chronicles this ill-fated 1936 expedition for his film White Death. Beejay Silcox notes the book is a “swashbuckling tale” filled with “encrypted letters, love quadrangles, high-society hi-jinks,” and a man confronting his own mortality. Hastrich charts Grey’s final chapter and his lasting, if unlikely, impact on the Australian inventiveness.
Unsettling Returns: Gothic Mystery in Rebecca Starford’s The Visitor
Rebecca Starford continues to establish herself as a captivating Australian author with The Visitor (Allen & Unwin, $32.99). Following her acclaimed memoir Bad Behaviour and WWII thriller The Imitator, Starford delivers a quieter, yet equally riveting, novel. Sian Cain highlights the story of Laura, an Australian returning to Brisbane to sell her parents’ house after their mysterious deaths in the outback.The book’s “gothic quality” and “spooky sense of the uncanny” set it apart, culminating in a especially satisfying conclusion.
Truth and Fiction: Unraveling Bryce Courtenay’s Legacy
The public persona of bestselling author Bryce Courtenay is challenged in his son Adam’s biography, My Father Bryce (Hachette, $32.99). Adam Courtenay reveals a father who fabricated key details of his life, including claims of being an orphan and his father’s activism against apartheid in South Africa. this “unflinching and unsentimental” biography, as described by SCL, exposes how Bryce Courtenay prioritized a good story over strict adherence to the truth.
Ribeiro describes the book as a revealing glimpse into the lives of Australians representing their country abroad.
Decoding the Online World: Conspiracy Nation by Ariel Bogle and Cam Wilson
Ariel Bogle and Cam wilson’s Conspiracy Nation (Ultimo, $36.99) investigates the rise of conspiracy theories and online extremism in Australia. Michael Sun notes the book’s exploration of fringe ideas, from “Port arthur ‘truthers'” to the controversies surrounding Pete Evans, and its examination of the increasingly dangerous tenor of online life.
