Australia Books

Australian fiction is the best you will ever find (and I've read everything from King to Koontz) but 99% of books from Down Under are not released here in the United States. Why? I don't know. But I DO know what I've discovered. O'Fear by Peter Corris (a Cliff Hardy mystery) is fantastic! I've hunted down more Cliff Hardy mysteries over the internet and they're all great.

Other must reads by Australian authors are:

Any book written by Robert G. Barrett! (The Stephen King of Australia)

Jon Cleary's Scobie Malone mysteries! (As good as anything written by Nelson DeMille)
Blood Junction by Caroline Carver (As good as anything written by Dean Koontz)
Every book written by Peter Doyle! (Move over John Grisham)

My fellow Americans, fight to read the books the US publishers won't let you see! You will be glad you did.

Considering that the hard-boiled private eye novel is one of the distinctly American genres, it's perhaps surprising that one of the best current practitioners of the form is the Australian Peter Corris, with his detective, Cliff Hardy. If we forgive Hardy his affection for wine, which we'll assume is a cultural deal, and a long running relationship, which fortunately never quite achieved Susan Silvermanesque proportions, he's really quite traditional. Of course, it helps that Australia isn't all that different from America, particularly in terms of its cultural heritage. Corris has written 23 Cliff Hardy books, but they are not generally available in the U. S., which is a shame.

From what I've read of them, O'Fear is a fairly representative entry in the series, which is to say, it's quite good. Hardy is hired after an old friend dies in a car accident :

'Barnes Todd has left you some money.'

'Why?'

'To find out who murdered him.'

I sat back in the chair. Sackville unhooked his glasses and set them down gently on top of the file. He massaged the bridge of his nose and tried to look grave, but there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes. It irritated me, the way a lot of small things had lately. What's so funny? I thought. I'd been in this business for nearly fifteen years. I'd found murderers before, hadn't I? Well, stumbled across a couple. 'How much money?' I said harshly.

'Ten thousand dollars. His wife's not too happy about it.'

Hardy learns that with Todd's last breath he gasped the word : "O'Fear..." He recognizes this enigmatic phrase as the beginning of the name of a notorious, but relatively harmless, scoundrel named O'Fearna, who is currently in jail, awaiting trial. His bail just happens to be $10,000.

And he's off...sexy widows, unsavory secrets, random corpses, brutal henchmen, crooked lawyers, the whole nine yards. But what makes the book a real throwback is Hardy's vulnerability :

...I had strewn the contents of my wallet across the desk. I looked at the credit cards and the meagre amount of cash and the creased driver's licence and suddenly felt small and isolated. My only backup in the office was an answering machine; my only means of transport was the Falcon; I had an illegal Colt .45 and a properly licenced Smith & Wesson .38 for firepower. No helicopters, no armoured vans, no shotguns. Who was I kidding? This was too big for me.

If Corris does not quite have the comedic chops of a Robert B. Parker or a Robert Crais, he more than compensates by restoring the dramatic tension of a hero who is truly a lone knight, who can be hurt, even killed, and who has no one he can really trust.

This is good stuff, in a classic vein. Read him, if you can the books.

GRADE : A

This massive, oversize, extremely weighty and well-made (Made In Italy) book is a very broad survey of so-called Oceanic Art. This genre may be defined geographically as that area surrounding and surrounded by the Southern Pacific Ocean stretching from Irian Jaya (Indonesian Half of New Guinea), the Northern and Eastern coast of Australia stretching down to New Zealand, as far East as the Easter Islands and up North and West to the Sandwich Islands, and all of the vast number of islands that dot the surface of the ocean in between.
This is then, obviously, a huge undertaking and explains the sheer mass of this publication (along with the fact that the book's text is printed in the French, German and English languages). It also makes it inevitable that some very worthy objects will be left out or overlooked. I'll get to that but first would like to praise the author for having the foresight to place objects in the context of their cultural use, discuss the native flora and fauna (there is even a section dedicated to the ubiquitous betel nut) that go into the artwork (literally and figuratively), describe and explain the religious or secular significance of certain objects and speculate upon probable ancient migration patterns which peopled the region. There is much information here that I am certain you will be exposed to for the first time, and there is a surfeit of excellent photographic reproductions of objects and the people who created them. Because of the large scope of this survey it is likely that you will need to come back to it time and again as you make your way through the various island 'nations'. You may also wonder if, for the same reason, this book has missed anything. I think it has. For instance, I was a little disappointed to see no so-called 'Story Board' carvings from the Palau Islands. These are, as the name implies, carved pictorial representations of local legends, typically done in a single frame on a hand-carved board as long as four feet, and one foot high. There is probably a good reason for this omission, but it causes me to wonder if there are not more categories, knife sheaths, for instance, that were also left out. Still, one must trust the editorial judgment of the author if for no other reason than the overall quality of the book's content is so high that concern over possible ommissions somewhat recede into the background. At present, this book is available right here on Amazon for a ridiculously low price below the issue price. I strongly encourage anyone who collects art books to purchase this, as well as anyone who studies or is interested in the islands, people and cultures of the South Pacific, and anyone who collects books with an eye toward re-selling them for a profit as I predict that this book is one that goes into the 'rare' book category within a year or two.

Want to refresh your eyes amongst the visual boredom of thecity landscape? Feel like having a non-occidental approach tofigurative arts and religion? Then read this book and find the amazing collection of photographs along with a concise and effective study on representative arts in Oceania by Anthony J.P. Meyer. This edition could well be recommended as an obligatory visual encyclopedia for anyone who has read studies on art, magic and religion like that of Mircea Eliade on shamanism or J.G. Frazer's Golden Bough. As a visual artist I consider that this carefully selected collection of images is a golden mine until the present day for all creative person, like it was for cubist and surrealists long decades ago. Find a brilliant example of art and tradition that has given European painting and sculpture a new vitality and a wider perspective on Man. Sit back and enjoy a lavish design and a trustworthy source of info on Oceanic art for the demanding reader.

I cannot recommend this book more highly. Colin Burgess has previously written some excellent books on World War Two prisoners of war, and books of aviation humor, and here he writes with great flair on another subject- the first person born in Australia to journey into space. This book offers a fascinating insight into how someone born outside of the USA and Russia managed to make an incredible journey into orbit and study the oceans from above. However, I believe that this book will not only appeal to those interested in astronauts and Australian space achievements- the book also contains a wealth of breathtaking photos taken from orbit, guaranteed to inspire awe in even the most hardened reader. This book will be of immense interest to both adult readers and younger readers who wish to learn about the wonders of spaceflight. It makes a great companion piece to Burgess's fabulous book about Christa McAuliffe. I can't imagine my bookshelf without it, and would urge you to buy a copy if you can.

This is the remarkable story of Dr. Paul Scully-Power, who became the first Australian-born person to fly into space in October 1984. A brilliant student and accomplished athelete during his formative years, he went on to become the first oceanographer to view the world's oceans from the best vantage point of all- Earth orbit. As a youth with a passion for riding his surf board at Sydney's northern beaches, he managed to combine a love of the ocean with his academic studies. This led him on the path to oceanography. Later he went to the United States on a Navy exchange program, where he briefed and debriefed NASA's astronaut crews on what to look for and photograph as they circled the oceans. He continued to be involved in briefing space shuttle crews for many years afterwards. Through a series of circumstances Paul Scully-Power was chosen to fly into space aboard the Shuttle Challenger. He describes the many sights he saw from space, particularly Australia- the land of his birth. Author Colin Burgess's enduring interest in spaceflight history was kindled by the dramatic flight of John Glenn in 1962, and he is a noted and regular contributor to spaceflight magazines. His friendship with Paul Scully-Power began in 1985 when he asked him to pen a suitable foreword for his children's book, 'Space: The New Frontier'. He has authored an impressive variety of books on topics ranging from humorous anecdotes of flying for Quantas Airways through to best-selling books on the Australian prisoner-of-war experience. Join the first Australian-born astronaut on his incredible journey of discovery, and learn how his space flight has changed forever the way scientists regard our oceans- knowledge which should lead to more accurate weather forecasting.

Old New Zealand put legs under two opinions I've gained in the last ten years or so: 1) many pre-Christian societies were incredibly savage and no Westerner would want to live among them w/o the incentives of Christian missionary work or mistreating them by enslavement or unfair trading practices; 2) most moderns have idealized the "noble savage" by ignoring the "nasty, brutish, and short" aspects of their lives.

I reached conclusion #1 by reading of the savagery, cannibalism, or both in pre-Christian Rome and Greece, Ireland, Germany, Vikings, Fiji, Tasmania, Mexico (Aztec), Peru (Inca), and America (our word "cannibal" comes from the word for the Carib Indians). Try reading the Mohawk treatment of Isaac Jogues or the Auca treatment of Jim Eliot for a peek at the "noble savage."

Maning's experience and sympathetic writing of the "good old times" of the Maori culture stretches the mind to wonder just how anybody could live they way they did, and how any modern could possibly kvetch at Christian missionaries "for not respecting native customs."

How many murders of innocent children is the "right number" that the missionaries should have approved? How much foot-binding in China is good? How many widows should be burned in India with "Suttee?" How many people are the right number to have their hearts cut out while still alive to make sure the sun will rise in Mexico? (Does the Modern really believe that number is above zero? What if HE is the one?) Is Cortez really to be despised for putting an end to the ritual murder (and consumption) of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of innocent people each year?

If Maning put legs under my respect for Christians who brought the concepts of mercy and justice to benighted people, the review by Jacques Coulardeau put a centipede's legs under my belief that moderns---in their general rejection of Christianity, especially Catholicism---have let their animus blind themselves to a simple reading of history.

Of course I've heard the claim that more people have been killed in the name of religion than all other causes. And, if one will agree that Communism is a religion (answering man's deepest questions), albeit a godless religion, than I must agree. The Communists certainly killed more people in the 20th Century than all the "religious wars" of the prior 1.9 millennia.

Back to Coulardeau. He writes, "With the musket everything changed. It was necessary, for it being used in best conditions, for the Maoris to move their forts and villages to the lowlands. This made them live in swamps, in very unhealthy territories. Their wars were changed, some of their customs were also changed and their habitat was changed. This last element caused the propagation of serious diseases among the population, causing its reduction over a few decades. This book is thus a perfect testimony about the changes colonialization brought to those populations, those people who some like to describe as primitive."

Well, yes and no. What Coulardeau left out is that Maning described the need to move from the forts on the hills to the swamps near their crops was their survival need to get muskets, and they way they could get trade goods was from their farms (e.g., growing flax). What Coulardeau leaves out is the sad reason they needed muskets to defend themselves is that in this "primitive" (nay, let's call it SAVAGE) society. That sad reason is that they believed "might made right."

Simply put, pre-Christian Maoris considered quite OK, even admirable, for any man or group to murder and pillage any other man or group if strong enough to pull it off.

Viking raiders had the same opinion when they "went shopping" in England. In their society, it was morally right to swoop in, kill and plunder those who had eked out a living on the land. Imagine the Hatfields and McCoys running total amuck with revenge, murder, and even eating each other. Would any Modern admire THAT as a wee cultural pecadillo?

Today's Maori do not live in constant dread of an individual or marauding gang appearing at any time holding the belief that they have every right to "harvest" the possessions and even the flesh of their neighbors.

We Americans so respect the caribou that migrate twice each season for their economic benefit that we built parts of the Alaskan pipeline underground to preserve their travel patterns.

Cannot we extend to the English a similar respect vis a vis Australia or New Zealand? French, Spanish, Dutch, Irish, Scots, English, Italians, Germans, Russians, Norse, Greeks, Pakistanis, Sihks, Gujratis, and Mexicans who move to the USA? Or Americans themselves, such as Daniel Boone, who moved "out west" to have a little more room, or Mormons who moved for a more peaceful clime than Nauvoo, Ill.?

I think we should respect them when they did it peacefully. When they acted like Hitler looking for "lebensraum" or Maoris looking for plunder, we must chasten them. Why? Because they are not being "good Christians." The best Christians, e.g. Jogues and Elliot, were utterly peaceful. Cortez and many others fell short, yes, of the CHRISTIAN ideal. The Maoris, however, had no such ideals.

In modern times, nobody ever say Stalin was a "bad atheist." You might call him a "bad man," but when you do you're smuggling in from Christianity your very definition of good and bad.

Modernists! Admit your source for your belief in right and wrong: It emerged from Christianity not pond slime.

F.E. Maning was one of those Englismen who arrived in New Zealand before its being integrated in the British Empire. He became a Pakeha Maori, the personal « property » of a Maori chief, trading with his tribe in many articles particularly muskets and gunpowder. The book is interesting because it describes the Maori civlization before its being completely destroyed by colonialization. But it is of great interest in its showing the direct influence of European culture, particularly of the musket, on the fate of the Maoris from the very start of the European presence. Before, this warlike people was living in forts positioned on hilltops and on cliffs, that is to say in dry and healthy places. Only their agriculture was concerned by the low lands that were cultivated. This location of the forts and villages was perfectly well adapted to the use of the spear to defend them. With the musket everything changed. It was necessary, for it being used in best conditions, for the Maoris to move their forts and villages to the lowlands. This made them live in swamps, in very unhealthy territories. Their wars were changed, some of their customs were also changed and their habitat was changed. This last element caused the propagation of serious diseases among the population, causing its reduction over a few decades. This book is thus a perfect testimony about the changes colonialization brought to those populations, those people who some like to describe as primitive.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

At last the Pacific islands are beginning to take their rightful place in the annals of world history. It is this book that takes a major step to establish that historical perspective.

The Pacific islands are dispersed across one-third of the Earth's surface. All the major island groups have been inhabited for the last two thousand years, some for more than six thousand years, yet a detailed prehistory of the region has been lacking until now. This book, written by a noted Pacific anthropologist and archaeologist who has studied the area for more than thirty years, takes a tour of the diverse islands of the Pacific, beginning in the west in Melanesia, then across the many small islands of Micronesia. The tour concludes in the sprawling area covered by the islands of Polynesia, which extend from New Zealand to Hawai'i and eastward as far as Easter Island. Along the way, the author conveys the personal drama that he experienced in uncovering artifacts that reach back into a deep time. At one place he unearthed a small piece of carved white bone. When he turned it over, he saw the two eyes and the subtle nose of a stylized human face. On another island, while enjoying a beach picnic with his host family, spearing octopus and gathering mollusks, the author took a walk along the beach and discovered, a short distance from where they were camped, a distinct rock layer filled with pottery fragments. Those fragments would prove to be a record of people who had lived on the island more than two thousand years earlier. This book is both a personal narrative of modern-day exploration of the Pacific and an account of the rich prehistory of the region.

The book draws generously from the detailed archaeological work conducted by the author and by others in the Pacific region--most of it done since the Second World War--as well as from studies of language and biology that answer such fundamental questions as where did the Pacific islanders come from and when and how did they settle the thousands of islands at least two millenia before any Europeans entered the Pacific? To most people, the Pacific islands are no more than a place of idyllic scenery and the people of the Pacific are the willing subjects of fanciful tales. Now, through the enlightening text of this book and the many striking photographs that it contains, the Pacific islands take on a fuller meaning. And the many cultures of the Pacific take their proper place in the remarkable story of the development of civilization.

The pacific islands and people who inhabit them have long been viewed as seperate, isolated and somehow different from the rest of the world's civilizations. Patrick Kirch takes this view into contest in this revolutionizing book on the pre-history of Oceania.

He collects a myraid of information about life in the islands before European contact and strives to present it, not as isolated bits of evidence, but as pieces of a cohesive whole. These pieces can be fit together to give a greater understanding of the culture of Pacific Islanders and help place them as an intricate portion of humanities story, not as a group of people untouched and unrelated to the rest of the world.

Kirch shows that the culture and past of the people who came to inhabite the islands of the pacific are unique. But, he also contends that Pacific Islanders do have an important place in the story of humanities past as well as our future. By writing On the Road of the Winds, Kirch has helped make sure that this story gets told.

Pascarl is one of the most articulate and witty authors whose books I've read. Her story is tragic, attention-grabbing, and poignant. She spends a lonely childhood with a mentally ill mother, bullying classmates, and a sexually abusive "stepfather" figure. It's both frustrating and heartbreaking to read of an insecure teenager desperately trying to create a "normal" family life through marriage, unable to see the warning signs in neon lights that the match would inevitably end in greater pain.

Upon finishing the book, one cannot help but wonder how the "epilogue" of the story turns out. Although very subtle, it is palable that the book is very much a one-sided autobiography. I watched an interview of Pascarl on Youtube where she insists there was no custody fight between her and her first ex-husband. But in the novel she details the legal battle that ends in her victory. Having contradicted herself over this matter, I wonder if there's other questionable details in the book.

This book is excellent in everyway.
Very detailed. Finally after 14 years she got to meet her children, but she has still lost 14 years of their life. This gives courage to all mothers.
It is written in great detail and covers all aspects of Jacquelines Life.
This book is excellent in everyway. The details of the suffering and the introduction of the malaysian royal family is well described. This book relates and introduces each chapter and story well. There are many small stories broken up in this one big story about a father kidnapping his children and the consequences on the mother and how she builds herself to handle the situation. Also to see what the mother goes through afterwards and other peoples reaction towards her, her rejection and the effects on other relationships is reflected well and very saddening.

Very detailed. This gives courage to all mothers

I bought this book to learn more about the primal religious practices of the Aboriginal people. I got more than I bargained for. What I found was a comprehensive study of "The Original Australians," from their migration to the continent 40,000-50,000 years ago, to the present.

Flood's work is thorough, analytical, well-researched and unbiased. She obviously loves the indigenous people of whom she writes, yet she does not patronize them or romanticize their history or their plight.

Neither does she condemn the English, who first colonized "New Holland," or the Australian government, who enacted laws that forever changed the course of Aboriginal life.

Flood proves to be both a scholar, who honestly reports the facts, and a compassionate human, who cares deeply for the objects of her research.

I recommend this book highly. Where other books on Aboriginals tend to be anecdotal in nature, Flood's book is meaty, yet digestible; objective, yet heartfelt. It'll stimulate your mind and touch your heart.

Ms Flood has set herself the challenge of avoiding the political diktat of our times and trying to give an honest and thorough account of what aboriginal culture and life was like at the time of first contact with whites and following. my own interest is to look at a 50,000 year old culture - the oldest on earth - as the human roots of us all, and learn more about the basics of being human. it should come as no surprise to any sensible and honest person, that the picture is one of violence, mistreatment of all who are physically weaker, especially women. there is also a harsh lesson on the fruits of supernatural belief insisting on no change, no innovation, no learning, no progress. isolation and stasis bear terrible fruits.

Clearly, this is a well-researched, dynamic, and detailed history.

What I appreciated was simple -- the size of the book. A book on the crafting, the artistry, and the impact of metals needs to be big. We need nice, big illustrations of gleaming objects, of foundries spurting sparks, of locomotives, of sculptures, of various hulking objects. This book provides those things, without becoming a coffee table book.

This is a truly excellent book, and a wonderful companion to the made-for-television documentary of the same name. The book traces the history of metal, from discovery of metals in the Neolithic era, through to modern times. Now, this is not a staid and boring history book. The author does an excellent job of presenting the development of metal-working through history, focusing on such monumental discoveries as smelting (an accidental discovery of ancient potters!) and the existence of aluminum. Plus, as an added bonus, numerous interesting facts are laid out, including such things as the secret of Damascus swords, and the development of cast iron in China.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating book. If you have read history books, but want to understand how the tools of history were made, then this is the book for you. It is a surprisingly fun and interesting read, and I give it my highest recommendations!

Australian Aboriginal art is gaining international recognition, and rightly so. It is an art form driven by the culture of the artsists, and this book covers the traditional works of desert Australia, and also touches on more the more contemporary works of urban dwellers. These works are vibrant and alive, and the illustrations do justice to the richness of the work. The accompanying text is detailed and authoritative.

If you are interested in the art works of other cultures, or even art in its broadest sense, you will find many of the works presented in this volume to be quite different, even provocative. Others are as spectacular as any landscape known to the Western world.

This is an excellent introduction to a complex topic, and a worthy addition to any library.

This book was recently reviewed on the Sunday Arts program on ABC television in Australia. The book presents an authoratitive overview of the origins and development of Aboriginal Art and Culture in Australia.

It presents information in an easy to read format with enough detail to satisify most readers. It even includes sections on contemporary Aboriginal artists including Lin Onus. There are many colour illustrations of artwork to illustrate the narrative text.

A must have book for those interested in the history and contemporary state of Aboriginal Art and Culture in Australia.

"The Oxford Companion to Australian History," revised edition, is edited by Graeme Davison, John Hirst, and Stuart Macintyre. More than 700 pages long, the book is full of alphabetically organized articles. The book's preface notes that the articles range in length from 100 to 2000 words.

The "Companion" is truly vast in scope. Subjects covered include Aboriginal topics (art, history, languages, etc.); people (opera singer Harold Blair, Olympic athlete Betty Cuthbert, suffragist Alice Henry, etc.); cities (Adelaide, Hobart, etc.); newspapers (the "Argus" of Melbourne, the "Canberra Times," etc.); religious bodies and movements (the Uniting Church, etc.); important events (the Cape Grim massacre, the Castle Hill Rising, etc.); political parties; various ethnic groups in Australia, and more.

I particularly appreciated the entries on Australian colloquial terms like "Pommy" and "reffo." There are also many articles that address certain big topics in Australian context: agriculture, censorship, feminism, the film industry, literature, social justice, etc. And interspersed throughout are entries on many other interesting topics: the Bunyip (a mythic animal), convict history, "Waltzing Matilda" (a song), Internet resources, pubs, Vegemite (a food), etc.

Also included: maps, a useful subject index, and a 9-page directory of the book's many contributors. Many bibliographic references are incorporated into the individual entries, making this a good starting place for more in-depth reading on particular topics. The "Companion" is an achievement as big and colorful as Australia itself. While this book is certainly a logical choice for the reference section of any good library, it's also a good book for any individual with an interest in or love for Australia.

This book provides introductions to a wide variety of topics in Australian history. It has been edited by three of the most eminent Australian academic historians and many of the entries have been written by experts in their respective fields. The entries themselves deal with events, people, noted historians and current issues in Australian historiography.