Sense and Nonsense in Australian HistorySense and Nonsense in Australian History represents a lifetime's original reflection by Australia's most innovative and penetrating historian. Included here are classic essays on the pioneer legend, Australian egalitarianism and colonial culture. There are celebrated critiques of The Tyranny of Distance, multiculturalism and nationalistic history, as well as a substantial essay on Aboriginal dispossession and the history wars. ‘Sense & Nonsense in Australian History is an entertaining collection of essays which deserves to be read, re-read and debated by Australians interested in national identity.’ —Lyndon Megarrity, Overland ‘Hirst’s fine discriminations and historical digging helps us understand why Australia is one of the oldest and most stable democracies in the world’ —The Age ‘Essential reading for those who want to ponder, let alone write and teach about, Australian history’ —Robert Murray, Weekend Australian ‘A stimulating and engaging contribution to current debates over Australian history’ —Bulletin ‘One of Australia’s most productive historians’ —Ross Fitzgerald, Sydney Morning Herald ‘John Hirst is the gadfly of Australian history, stinging and provocative’ —Stuart Macintyre ‘One of the nation's most independent and original historians’ —Geoffrey Blainey ‘A powerful controversialist … a brilliant historian’ —Australian Book Review ‘Punchy, learned, witty’ —Canberra Times |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 58
... 246 Towards the Republic 262 Live Tallacies of Aboriginal Policy 280 The Distinctiveness of Australian Democracy 292 Envoi: Diversity and Unity 313 Publication Details 314 Index 317 Preface For over twenty years I have been quarrelling in.
... democratic society. My conclusion was that I had asked the wrong question. This was not a brutalised society; it was much more a normal British colony which had convicts as part of its labour force and which had always preserved crucial ...
... democratic programs of his day would meet humankind's deepest needs. I was myself living in a new age of revolution, the libertarianism of the s and after. I could not believe its promise that the loosening of social ties and ...
... democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, the fair-go, – all of course 'Anglo-Celtic' which it seems is not to be just one among many cultures. Multiculturalism interpreted in this way, a diverse society united by core institutions and ...
... apart from the book itself. It diverts attention from the mobility which has made the Australian experience distinctive. Women and History If history accepted a democratic commitment to Distance – Was It a Tyrant? 37.
Contents
11 | |
24 | |
38 | |
56 | |
How Sorry Can We Be? | 80 |
Convict Society | 107 |
Transformation on the Land | 114 |
Colonial Society | 123 |
Destiny and Identity | 197 |
Labor and Conscription | 210 |
The Gallipoli Landing | 230 |
Who Tugged the Torelock? | 246 |
Towards the Republic | 262 |
Live Tallacies of Aboriginal Policy | 280 |
The Distinctiveness of Australian Democracy | 292 |
Diversity and Unity | 313 |