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CURRENT ISSUE July-August 2008 No.303 $8.95

CONTENTS

ADVANCES
The latest literary news from the Editor's desk.

LETTERS
Patrick Allington, Irena Sibley, Laurie Clancy,
Sophie Cunningham, Adam Rivett, Alan Kirsner

COMMENTARY
An Orchestra of Ideas Vrasidas Karalis

LITERARY STUDIES
Susan Lever: David Foster James Ley
Nigel Hamilton: How to Do Biography Brenda Niall
W.F. Refshauge: Barcroft Boake Patrick Buckridge
R.S. White: Pacifism and English Literature Robert Phiddian

FICTION
Murray Bail: The Pages James Bradley
Nam Le: The Boat Louise Swinn
Diane Armstrong: Nocturne Judith Armstrong
Sophie Cunningham: Bird Ruth Starke
Alex Jones: Morris in Iceland Adam Rivett

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
Steve Coll: The Bin Ladens Peter Rodgers
Bill Emmott: Rivals
Kishore Mahbubani: The New Asian Hemisphere Nick Bisley
Andrew J. Rotter: Hiroshima Wayne Reynolds

POEMS
Vivian Smith
Andrew Taylor

POLITICS
Norman Abjorensen: Leadership and the Liberal Revival Don Aitkin
George Megalogenis: The Longest Decade Dennis Altman

ECONOMICS
Jurgen Brauer and Hubert van Tuyll: Castles, Battles & Bombs Geoffrey Blainey

MEMOIRS
Bob Carr: My Reading Life Neal Blewett
Andrew Riemer: A Family History of Smoking Andrea Goldsmith
Helene Chung: Ching Chong China Girl Joan Grant

ANTHOLOGY
Alice Pung: Growing Up Asian in Australia Helene Chung

FILM
Adi Wimmer: Australian Film Jake Wilson
Philip Brophy: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Henry Reynolds: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith Brian McFarlane

LANGUAGE
G.A. Wilkes: Stunned Mullets and Two-pot Screamers Chris Wallace-Crabbe

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Sheila Fitzpatrick and Carolyn Rasmussen (eds): Political Tourists John Thompson
John Hirst: Freedom on the Fatal Shore Peter Cochrane

HISTORY
Marnie Hughes-Warrington: Fifty Key Thinkers on History Beverley Kingston

EDUCATION
Ilana Snyder: The Literacy Wars Juliette Hughes

POETRY
Tracy Ryan: Scar Revision Lyn McCredden
Lucy Dougan: White Clay Paul Hetherington

FICTION IN BRIEF
Jarad Henry: Blood Sunset Tony Smith
Angus Gaunt: Prime Cuts Dan Toner
Debra Adelaide: The Household Guide to Dying Christina Hill

JOURNALS IN BRIEF
Ann Nugent (ed.): Blast, No. 7
Steve Grimwade and Lisa Greenaway (eds): Going Down Swinging, No. 26
Phillip Edmonds and Dominique Wilson (eds): Wet Ink, No. 10 Andrew Burns

YOUNG ADULT FANTASY
Sean Williams: The Changeling Lisa Bennett

PICTURE BOOKS
Hit with a Waddy Nigel Pearn

CONTRIBUTORS

 

  

Reviews from ABR June 2008

Stephanie Green: Sarah Hay's Texas
'A great strength of this novel is the way Hay
captures Susannah's feelings of ambivalence
about her new situation: the blur of exhaustion
and alienation through which she nurtures her
children and her husband; her loneliness;
the effort to keep some domestic order and to
discover a sense of herself'.' Read full review.

Ian Britain on Jeffrey Smart's Not Quite Straight
'What's frustrating about this for readers is that
there are occasional signs of real verbal flair
(in such pungent phrases as "rumoured to be
vegetarians" or "a Bloomsbury bacchanal")
and of a capacity for set pieces that can grip
without recourse to social and sexual chit-chat.'
Read full review.

Peter Rodgers on Blood and Rage
'The declaratory, polemic tone is set in the
book's first pages. Burleigh comments that the
cliché of yesterday's terrorist being tomorrow's
statesman does not get us very far. That may
be true, but the cliché provides an important
dose of both moral and political complexity to
any meaningful discussion of "terrorism"'.
Read full review.
 

 

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