Book Reviews

A global lesson for the West

2013-05-08T10:33:18+10:00

Australians have rarely had it so good, yet rarely felt so angry with and alienated from their polity. Kishore Mahbubani, a distinguished scholar and former diplomat from Singapore, explores the same paradox at the global level. Perhaps the explanation lies in Westerners feeling uncomfortable that the others are catching up… more»

Latino sizzle

2013-04-30T16:30:45+10:00

Tacos, Tortas, and Tamales: Flavors from the Griddles, Pots, and Streetside Kitchens of Mexicoby Roberto SantibañezWiley, 2012… more»

A reminder of evil

2013-03-21T17:50:18+10:00

The Impossible State: North Korea Past and Futureby Victor ChaEcco, 2012… more»

In praise of Nate Silver

2013-03-04T16:57:30+10:00

In the months before the 2012 election, conservatives launched an all-out assault against the polls. Despite a sluggish economy and a disastrous first debate, polls showed President Barack Obama maintaining a consistent, if narrow, lead over Mitt Romney. Such numbers contradicted the Right’s conviction that the election was a referendum on Obama’s failed presidency.… more»

Presidential in name

2012-11-20T12:47:24+10:00

The presidency has progressively assumed a greater importance in American politics. An individual president may enter office promising to curb the size of government, but the temptation to aggrandise his—so far, America has not had any female presidents, unless you wish to count the temerarious Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, who effectively ran government as her enfeebled husband Woodrow Wilson convalesced in… more»

Marred by deceit

2012-11-19T16:14:20+10:00

There are three revealing anecdotes about Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott in The Costello Memoirs, which I co-wrote in 2008. David Marr quotes two of them in full in his widely acclaimed and denounced polemic Political Animal, The Making of Tony Abbott. But he does not even mention the third, although it is the most problematic of all and… more»

A broadcaster’s life

2012-10-15T17:10:23+10:00

Howard Cosell was a gadfly who flitted across the American cultural scene, predominantly in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a sports broadcaster who worked his trade at a tumultuous time in American history. His era was one of the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement and the rise and… more»

Blindingly obvious

2012-10-15T16:36:45+10:00

When Jimmy Carter won the 1976 presidential election and formed his administration, he chose Zbigniew Brzezinski as his national security advisor. Brzezinski was perhaps an unlikely figure for such a role although a man of intellectual eminence. Born the son of an aristocratic diplomatist in Poland in 1928, Brzezinski had escaped the European catastrophe with his family and was educated… more»

Australian exotica

2012-08-21T09:50:10+10:00

Memoirs of a Young Bastard: The Diaries of Tim Burstallby Tim BurstallThe Miegunyah PressMelbourne, 2012… more»

Visas for prosperity

2012-07-19T17:24:27+10:00

There are many reasons why the United States remains the world’s strongest economy, chief among them its large market and its (somewhat) lower tax base. In his well-written and provocative new book, Robert Guest offers a third reason: America’s openness to immigrants.… more»

Perfect game

2012-06-06T11:53:07+10:00

There is a paradox at the heart of baseball, or any other sport for that matter. It is loved because on some level it is considered an art form. As Chad Harbach writes in The Art of Fielding “… baseball is a somewhat pointless affair, undertaken by people with a special aptitude, and which sidesteps attempts to paraphrase… more»

Power and panic

2012-04-19T11:57:26+10:00

Rupert Murdoch: An Investigation of Political Powerby David McKnightAllen & UnwinSydney, 2012… more»

The great debate

2012-04-19T10:07:19+10:00

US President Harry S. Truman famously wished for a one-armed economist, someone who would not explain “on the one hand, on the other hand.” Truman never met John Maynard Keynes or Friedrich Hayek. … more»

Luck or pluck

2012-02-25T20:42:54+10:00

Too Much Luck. The Mining Boom and Australia’s Futureby Paul ClearyBlack Inc.Melbourne, 2011… more»

Turn on, tune in, and drop out

2012-02-25T20:33:14+10:00

Steve Jobs’ life was the stuff of fiction. An orphan, raised by working class parents in Mountain View, California, a college dropout, a devotee of Zen Buddhism, LSD, and vegan cuisine, Jobs ended up becoming the iconic American entrepreneur of his era, as well as the 42nd richest person on… more»

The oracle

2012-02-25T20:23:22+10:00

In 1957, George F. Kennan was invited to give the annual Reith lectures on the BBC. On six successive Sunday evenings, Kennan, who was a guest professor at Oxford, drove to the BBC’s London studios. “I felt a tremendous sense of responsibility,” Kennan recalled. “Half of England was listening to… more»

Campaign lit

2012-01-31T09:22:16+10:00

A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism MattersBy Newt GingrichRegnery PublishingWashington DC 2011… more»

Fast flat world

2011-10-12T10:42:08+10:00

I must admit to being a fan of this type of book—a sweeping and self-confident examination of long periods of economic history. Given the need for generalisation and simplification, the end-result is often a take-it-or-leave-it option for the reader. I particularly admired Gregory Clark’s A Farewell to Alms, which investigated… more»

Double Bloom

2011-10-12T10:33:51+10:00

Harold Bloom is a marvel of a critic who is also the kind of walking mystery who seems an absolutely familiar character of the literary and critical worlds, a ham in search of his shadow. The explanation of the Bloom phenomenon and the fact that he is, since the death of… more»

A celebration of restraint

2011-10-12T10:12:03+10:00

In July 1956, the Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal, which was run by a company controlled by Egypt’s former colonial masters, Britain and France. This sparked a chain of events that led to the brink of war. Meanwhile, the US president who could influence the course… more»