Reportage from African war zones

 

Excellent condition. PB. 224pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.

During 1991-95 James Schofield was the only Australian journalist based in Africa to report regularly on the major crises in Somalia, Rwanda, Goma and Zaire. In this book Schofield records his personal experience of the trauma and horror of events in modern Africa: famine and clan conflict in Somalia; genocide in Rwanda; cholera in Zaire; and civil war in the Sudan.

Biographies of the Australian generation lost in the Great War

 

Two copies, both in excellent condition. PB. 608pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

For Australia, a new nation with a relatively small population, the death of 60,000 soldiers during World War I was catastrophic. It is hardly surprising, then, that Australians evaluating the consequences of the conflict have tended to focus primarily on the numbing numbers of losses - on the sheer quantity of all those countrymen who did not return. 

That there must have been extraordinary individuals among them has been implicitly understood, but these special Australians are unknown today. This book seeks to retrieve their stories and to fill the gaps in our collective memory. 

Farewell, Dear People contains ten extended biographies of young men who exemplified Australia's gifted lost generation of World War I. Among them are accounts of an internationally acclaimed medical researcher; a military officer described by his brigadier as potentially an Australian Kitchener; a rugby international who became an esteemed administrator and a rising Labor star; an engineer who excelled on Mawson's Antarctic mission; a visionary vigneron and community leader who was renowned for successful winemaking at an unusually young age' a Western Australian Rhodes scholar assured of a shining future in the law and/or politics; a Tasmanian footballer who dazzled at the highest level; and a budding architect from Melbourne's best-known creative dynasty who combined an endearing personality with his family's flair for writing and drawing. This magisterial book tells their stories for the first time. In doing so, it enriches the story of Australia immeasurably. 

'Farewell, Dear People is a powerful revelation of the lasting cost of the Great War - a deeply felt engagement with lost lives, and a superb union of research and writing.' Peter Stanley, author of Men of Mont St Quentin

About the author

Ross McMullin is a historian and biographer whose main interests are Australian history, politics and sport. He has researched and written extensively about the impact on Australia of its involvement in World War I. His books include the ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill- The Australian Labor Party 1891 - 1991, the award-winning biography Pompey Elliott, and So Monstrous a Travesty- Chris Watson and the World's First National Labour Government. He has also contributed chapters to many other books.

India's unruly politics

 

Mint condition. PB. 448pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

10 years ago, India was an emerging world power being courted by the world's most powerful political and business leaders, an upbeat story of unparalleled economic growth. Since then, it has failed to account for the human capital at the heart of its effort to modernize: more than one billion people clamoring for what has become known as the “Indian Dream”-an education, a career, and an opportunity to pull one's family out of poverty and into prosperity. Today, India is suffering an immense crisis of confidence-crippling political corruption, politicians mired in the status quo, economic inequality, brutal violence against women, and rampant social injustice.

Hilarious travel anecdotes from a former Australian politician

 

Excellent condition. PB. 224pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

A funny and charming account of life after politics by the retired Labor senator.

Button writes hilariously about everything under the sun, from Christmas shopping to minding the dog, from the rights of smokers to the joys of jogging-and muses on the republican debate, political correctness and parliamentary language. He globetrots to Hong Kong, Hanoi, New York and Ballarat, casting a keen eye over the locals wherever he goes.

Stories from Australia's top authors

 

Good condition. PB. 346pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.

How blokes deal with grief

 

Very good condition. PB. 224pp. $18 postage anywhere in Australia.

Explores men's reactions to the death of a loved one, and offers suggestions for enhancing the healing process.

"Men and Grief" is an insightful and thought-provoking look at the problems men face as they experience the emotionally painful times of their lives.

A book about Bogans

 

Mint condition. PB. 304pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Based on the popular website, Things Bogans Like is a revolutionary manifesto that lifts the lid on the secret sect of 'the bogan'. You don't have to come from QLD, WA or South Australia to understand this book.

The word bogan has a bad rap; first impressions are still associated with flannelette, VB, utes and mullets. But this would be wrong. The bogan has advanced and needs new explanation, evolution has cursed (or blessed, depending on your thinking) us with a modern version. The bogan with money. The bogan with aspirations. The bogan with Ed Hardy T-shirts. The new bogan will not rest until it owns a plasma TV so large that Rove McManus becomes six feet tall for the first time.

Today s bogan defies income, class, race, creed, gender, religion and logic. Now the bogan is defined by what it does, what it says and, most importantly, what it buys. Those who choose to deny the bogan on the basis of their North Shore home, their stockbroking career or their massive trust fund choose not to see the real bogan. Many bogans are affluent and perhaps are working in that same stockbroking firm and sharing a Corona with you over Friday night drinks. They set themselves apart by their efforts to stand out by conforming as furiously, and conspicuously, as possible.

The authors, six self-confessed snobs, have drawn on their friends, family, neighbours, workmates and that guy who always jumps the queue at the bar, to show the evolution of the much-loved Australian bogan, their modern desires, and how we can either join them or mock them.

This will be a groundbreaking sociological publication and, far more importantly, the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who has ever bought a Buddhist-themed water feature, Ed Hardy T-shirt or watched Today Tonight.