From Paesani to Global Italians: Veneto Migrants in Australia

Loretta Baldassar and Ros Pesman, Nedlands: UWA Press, 2006, 256 Pages, Paperback, $29.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

From Paesani to Global Italians is a study of the migration history and experiences of migrants from the Veneto region in the north-east of Italy. As the Veneto, which includes the province of Venice, is today one of the most affluent regions in Italy, this book provides a contrast to the rather more well-known story of southern Italian migration. Migration from the Veneto to Australia began in the late 1800s, although the bulk of the migrants arrived immediately after the Second World War. Most northern Italian migrants to Australia come from this region. The authors explore the contribution made by this group of migrants to their new homeland, their settlement experiences and their ... click here to request to review.
 

the flower, the thing: a book of flowers and dedications

mtc cronin, St Lucia: UQP, 2006, 122 Pages, Paperback, $22.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

From the Winner of the 2005 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for poetry There is a goblet of lichen for the sun to feed from and a single wild iris with a mind so old that it came before invention Its condition is perfect It rests perfectly between our hands -- from 'Wild Iris' MTC Cronin's poems - expansive and intimate, dynamic and reflective - blaze with electrifying vision. Writing with honesty and wit, grace, and the courage to strip away illusions, she explores surfaces, interiors, myths and mysteries through a kaleidoscope of flowers - dandelions, impatiens, roses, azaleas, flowers real and imagined. Suffused with awe and wonder, these poems unveil 'urgently, now, before ... click here to request to review.
 

Race and the Crisis of Humanism

Kay Anderson, London: Routledge, 2007, 226 Pages, Paperback, $18.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

In Kay Anderson's provocative new account, she argues that British colonial encounters in Australia from the late 1700s with the apparently unimproved condition of the Australian Aborigine, viewed against an understanding of 'humanity' of the time (that is, as characterized by separation from nature), precipitated a crisis in existing ideas of what it meant to be human. As consternation grew not only about their inclination but about their very capacity for improvement, and particularly for cultivation, the Aborigines challenged the basis upon which the unity of humankind had been assumed. The intractable Aborigine came to supply seemingly irrefutable evidence for an essential, permanent and ... click here to request to review.
 

Culinary Distinction

Emma Costantino and Sian Supski eds, Bentley: API Network, 2006, 250 Pages, Paperback, $34.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

This collection brings together a diverse range of writings on food and drink inAustralia. Food studies is a burgeoning area of enquiry in Australia, and some ofAustralia's leading food scholars are included in this collection, as well as newerscholars whose work intersects with food in some way. Culinary Distinction aimsto showcase the distinctive nature of food and drink in Australia. Importantly,the articles highlight the ways in which food and drink have impacted on Australiaas a settler-society. Many would argue that Australia does not have a distinctivecuisine, but we suggest that, by exploring and interrogating the importance offood and drink in Australia, as the authors do here, we ... click here to request to review.
 

Peeling Apples

Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Canberra: Pandanus Books, 2005, 52 Pages, Paperback, :  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

Employing insight, wit and pathos, these poems address art, religious belief, old age, the natural world and the nature of perception. Tessa Morris-Suzuki uses both abstraction and imagery as the basis of a voice that is both passionate and compassionate with an acute awareness of mortality, beauty and the passage of time. Tessa Morris-Suzuki was brought up in England and the Netherlands and has spent much of her adult life moving between Canberra (where she lives) and Japan (where she conducts research). She has written widely on Japanese history and contemporary events in East Asia, and has also published a number of children's stories. ... click here to request to review.
 

For Australia and Labor: Prime Minister John Curtin

Geoffrey Searle, Perth: JCPML and Curtin University, 1998, Paperback, $24.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

This book on John Curtin provides a glimpse into the life and times of Australia's wartime prime minister by distinguished historian, author and Curtin biographer, Dr Geoffrey Serle, AO. His books have won several presitgious awards including the Age Book of the Year. For Australia and Labor: Prime Minister John Curtin contains photographs drawn from the JCPML's collection, several of which have rarely been seen. The book also contains a helpful glossary of names, a list of further reading and an index. ... click here to request to review.
 

Virtual Murdoch: Reality Wars on the Information Highway

Neil Chenoweth, Sydney: Random House, 2001, 399 Pages, Hardcover, $49.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

MURDOCH BLACKBANS NEIL CHENOWETH The Rupert minions in Brisbane are nervous about Neil Chenoweth's great new book, Virtual Murdoch. It seems News Ltd has just killed off Neil's sole Brisbane gig to promote the book. Neil was booked to give a breakfast address at the Royal on the Park which was organised by Brisbane's Better Bookshops. It wasn't a huge gig with only 22 people booked in but Better Bookshops had advertised the event through the City News, a publication which is owned by News Ltd. A city News executive called the general manager of the Royal on the Park, and abused them for holding a function that was 'anti-newspaper'. The hotel for undisclosed reasons pulled the plug on the ... click here to request to review.
 

Eileen Joyce: a Portrait

Richard Davis, Fremantle: FACP, 2001, 264 Pages, Paperback, $24.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

I remember distinctly the first time I heard Eileen Joyce's recording of the de Schlozer study. I had two physical reactions to the performance: my spine began to tingle and my jaw dropped ... [Eileen Joyce] has to be added to the list of great pianists from the past. Stephen Hough In the 1940s and 50s concert pianist, recording artist, radio performer and film star Eileen Joyce enjoyed enormous critical acclaim and popularity that bordered on adulation. In this frank and revealing biography Richard Davis, using previously unreleased material, tells the story of this remarkable and complex woman. The author is available for interview. ... click here to request to review.
 

Mixed Relations: Asian-Aboriginal contact in North Australia

Regina Ganter, Nedlands: UWA Press, 2006, 280 Pages, Paperback, $54.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

In Mixed Relations author Regina Ganter argues that it is not defensible to write national histories - which ought to speak for the whole Australian continent - as if they started in the southeast in 1788. Long before any white settlement, the Macassan trepangers had made contact with Aboriginal people along the northern coastline, weaving trading networks that extended from China to the Kimberley and Torres Strait. It was this Asian-Aboriginal link that gave rise to the northern pearling industry, a subsequent driver of regional economic development. Although white settlers were making inroads into the north by the 1860s, they remained a minority there until World War II. The dominant ... click here to request to review.
 

Hermit Woman and Butterfly

Clarissa Stein, Upper Ferntree Gully: Papyrus Publishing, 2005, 82 Pages, Paperback, $18.70:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

'Mindful of history, these poems present very effective intersections of cultures and times and languages. They are full of surprises - those insights, understandings and explorations that remind us of human variety'. - Brian Edwards 'These are poems of new life, the forward movement in time caught in a startling phrase: 'I've seen this face tomorrow'. It is life informed by earlier years and experience - father, towns in Europe, the gift of languages. Stein's muse is versatile: amid the resurgence of memory come calls of conscience, the undertone of grief. Brightest of all shine moments of the poet's charmed attentiveness, as 'when you suddenly felt watched'; and when 'Wind gently stirring ... click here to request to review.
 

Head Shot

Jarad Henry, Melbourne: Thompson Walker, 2006, 346 Pages, Paperback, $21.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

'A .22 calibre pistol. Good for a head shot. Nice and neat. Professional'. An acquitted cop-killer is shot dead in a St Kilda back street. Suspicion falls on Rubens McCauley, a maverick detective with a lot of motive and plenty of enemies. With his marriage in tatters and a team of elite investigators on his heels, McCauley needs some answers - and fast. Hi hunt for the killer draws him deep into an underworld of gangsters, hitmen and dance parties - and a past he'd do anything to forget'. ... click here to request to review.
 

Don't Call Me Grumpy: What older men really want

Francis MacNab, North Melbourne: Pluto Press, 2006, 206 Pages, Paperback, $26.95:  THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO REVIEW.

Men are living longer: thirty years longer than they did a hundred years ago. Francis Macnab reflects on getting-on with a cross section of older men including Jeff Kennet, Max Gillies, Glenn Wheatley, John Button and Sir Gus Nosal. ... click here to request to review.