Australia Books

I read this book for a graduate course in Roman history. It is an indispensable primary source for students of Roman history.

On the first page of his Annals of Imperial Rome, Tacitus wrote that Octavian "seduced the army with bonuses, and his cheap food policy was successful bait for civilians." Tacitus' description of Augustus' transformation of Rome from a republic into an empire is most illuminating as well. "Upper-class survivors found that slavish obedience was the way to succeed, both politically and financially. They had profited from the revolution, and so now they liked the security of the existing arrangement better than the dangerous uncertainties of the old regime."

Sir Ronald Syme relied heavily on the work of Tacitus for his cogent narrative of Octavian's rise to power as Augustus. Syme's in-depth study of Tacitus' life and work was published in 1958. Tacitus' historical accuracy was doubted for centuries and Syme made a project of re-evaluating the accuracy of his historical writings. Syme believed that Tacitus was in a unique position to write about the birth and early political history of the Imperial period in Rome due to his very active political life. Tacitus had served as a senator, consul, and proconsul of Asia. In addition, he was known to be an excellent orator in his day. In his writings, Syme believed that Tacitus provided excellent accounts of Augustus' rise to power and his career as Rome's first Emperor.

Tacitus delved into the machinery of the new government, including Augustus' use of patronage as well as his many thwarted attempts at planning for his own succession. What Syme found was a man that grew very adept politically and whose political maturity rapidly developed at an early age. At eighteen, he was named as heir to Julius Caesar. He grew into the greatest Roman princeps spanning fifty-six years until his death. Augustus knew that to retain power he had to maintain the general consent of the governed. He astutely maintained order not by following the constitution or past precedent, but by using the tremendous resources at his disposal. Augustus kept the plebeians in check making sure they were fed, kept them amused with games, and constantly reminded them that he was protecting them from the oppression of the nobiles.

Augustus became the "leader of a large and well organized political party as the source and fount of patronage and advancement."

Recommended reading for those interested in Roman history, military history.

It is real good

I was given a copy of this book cause I own a bell from this ship.
This book is very good the best part about it is the diary of Sarah Jane which tells of her trip to and from Russia. It gives you a feel of the times of when boats were the way to travel. Plus, Sarah Jane developed a good enjoyable to read writing style. I recommend this book for young and old. Though I would say that younger kids would mostly enjoy reading the diary and not all the other historical stuff that accompanies it. :-) I'm amazed I own a piece of this fascinating history!

David Walker's 'Anxious Nation' is a particularly interesting, entertaining and humorous investigation of Australia's relationship with Asia. In fact, it is one of the more innovative and insightful studies to come out on this topic in recent years. By exploring Australia's encounters with Asia, both real and imagined, Walker has revealed the complexities of the Australia-Asia encounter. By investigating themes such as: travel, trade, population, place, space, climate, 'race degeneration', intermarriage and invasion, he not only delineates Australian anxieties in regard to Asia but also outlines the extensive links that formed between Australia and its northern neighbours. Although Walker's study focuses on Australia and its relationship with Asia, it locates that particular relationship within the broader framework of relations between 'East' and 'West'. For example, the book draws out numerous American parallels and points of reference: appeals to Rooseveltian notions of manhood, the visit of the Great White Fleet, 'yellow peril anxieties', Nordic fetishes and links with the Insitute of Pacific Relations. As a result, 'Anxious Nation' will be of particular interest to anyone fascinated by the intricate and multi-layered history that surrounds interaction between 'Occident' and 'Orient'.

Many times I was in doubt what some names in coctail recepies reffered to, what kind of drinks those were. This book completely solved many of the doubts. There is almost every single appetizer included with nice photos, history, serving tips. Very useful! I was delighted when found such a book, so I give it all 5 stars.

Award winning Eileen Campbell from Melbourne Victoria (in S.E. Australia) takes us on a journey of wonder as she describes how the projects in her book were constructed. Garments, children's clothes, wallhangings and more with a unique Aussie flavor are depicted along with inspiring yet very detailed instructions. A must have book for any quilter who enjoys machine applique work or has wanted to try it. Eileen's work is exquisite.

This is book is an exploration of the prehistory of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia - and peoples they are, not just one homogeneous race that the name Aborigines seems to suggest. There is even a suggestion that there may be mixtures of robust and gracile forms of early humankind in their makeup - perhaps uniquely of all races.

The whole issue of human development, of arising consciousness, is one that fascinates me. I keep thinking of the strange hypnogogic and hypnopompic experiences I sometimes encounter and I wonder if in the dreamtime - in humankind's early beginnings - these shadowy forms of consciousness were all that early people experienced.

Josephine Flood explores the mysteries of Aboriginal peoples - such as how they could have so early in human history have reached so far south (such as at Lake Mungo). Compared to the colonisation of the American continent, the colonistaion of Australia is so much earlier and yet the continent is certainly not an immediately appealing destination. And then there is the mystery of why the isolated Tasmanian Aboriginals quite suddenly stopped eating fish and seafood.

Not all these explorations are encouraged by the modern Aboriginal people and yet I am sure that a true understanding of their uniqueness will return some respect to Aboriginals for being just that - Aboriginals - rather than trying to massage them into some creditable position in what is largely an alien society.

This is a wonderful story of discovery, of posing mysteries and suggesting possibilities.

Good question. What I really want to know is, when are more people going to wake up and start reading John Scott? With a small collection of novels, and some equally fine poetry, Scott has stunned me and every other reader to whom I've recommended him. (His "What I Have Written" is my all-time-favourite Australian novel.) "The Architect" is ostensibly a tale about two architects: an ageing German with drawers full of unrealized masterpieces; and a young, successful Australian devotee. When the master meets the student and proposes a collaboration, things very quickly get very dark. Scott takes us into some terrifying but fascinating moral territory here and, like the novel's German protagonist, the author is utterly relentless. For me, this novel is essentially an interpretation of, and a reply to, the Book of Job which famously explores the issue of undeserved suffering. Scott's novel seems to suggest that man develop a morality which transcends that of God, i.e. a morality predicated on human mortality rather than on some notion of heavenly reward. Yet for all its intellectual weight, this is a very visual novel and a surprisingly easy read. It wears its learning lightly. There is a general absence of interiority, which probably accounts for the powerful sense of inexplicable evil it generates. It does its work quietly, delicately, through the use of settings and symbols and finely turned phrases. It's a novel that rewards re-reading.

The author served along the British general in command of the Royal Marines Brigade in the Malvinas and later wrote Nine Battles to Stanley (published in 1999) that studied the ground war in much greater detail. Nicholas van der Bijl establishes that the 601st and 602nd Commando Units of the Argentine Army gave the British patrols a lot of trouble prior to the final battles. He sheds new light on the battle for Goose Green by proving that an Argentine company there was made up of tough hand-picked conscripts that had undergone Commando-training. I believe that this was the reason the Paras went through such a horrible time at Goose Green. I enjoyed this book for its colour plates and pictures of the elite RI 25. It is a good companion to his latest book Nine Battles to Stanley (click "Book Search" to find it or otherwise you will make no progress)in which he describes in great detail the ground war from the Argentine side, naming practically all the Argentine platoon commanders that saw action on Mount Harriet and Two Sisters, describing in detail the numerous Argentine platoon-sized nocturnal counterattacks that took place and which involved roughly 600 Argentine conscripts and regulars. The British commanders as his second books establishes, severely underestimated the Argentines, which resulted in higher (that could have otherwise been avoided)casualties among the British patrols and platoons that took the hills.

At first I felt awe, then dismay, at the amount of literature available on this most-studied culture, the Aborigine of Australia. The culture has been of intense interest since the ealiest days of formal ethnological and anthropological enquiry. Hiatt's book has given me a perspective into the history of scholarly enquiry that informs and conditions my reaction to the work of others. His format is subject-oriented according to his own scholarly interest in the Aborigine but is prefaced in each chapter by a review of the prejudices and aspirations of his predecessors. The book is highly readable and very stimulating. I consider it essential, at the least, to others like myself who have no formal anthropological training but who must discern and rely on the work and opinions of scholars.