'Our second issue of 2020 arrives in very strange times and we wish our readers health and well-being in the face of a global pandemic. We extend particular thanks to the indefatigable Annalisa Giudici for helping us to produce this issue in this very challenging environment.' (Lisa Ford and David A. Roberts, Editorial introduction)
'Geoffrey Blainey and his lawyers have shown a close interest in this book. Author Richard Allsop has little to say about the bumpy journey to publication, recording cryptically that Blainey gave early encouragement and assistance to the project – originally a Monash University doctoral thesis – and then that he withdrew support. But although Allsop does not mention this himself, it is on the public record that an earlier plan to publish had to be abandoned after a threat of legal action from Blainey's lawyer (The Australian, 29–30 October 2016).' (Introduction)
'In a rather storied coincidence two biographies of Liberal Prime Ministers have appeared in the Liberal Party of Australia’s seventy-fifth year. The first, on the lionised founder of the party, Sir Robert Menzies. The other is about one of the party’s least glorious – and perhaps least understood – sons, Sir William McMahon.' (Introduction)
'The Transported Imagination, an elegantly presented offering from Victoria Kuttainen, Susann Liebich and Sarah Galletly, explores the intersecting themes of modernity, colonialism, glamour and travel in three ‘culture and leisure’ magazines in interwar Australia. Through their engagement with the varied content of Home (1920–42), The BP Magazine (1928–42) and MAN (1936–72), the authors argue that representations of travel functioned as a means for these magazines to both construct and negotiate what it meant to be modern in interwar Australia, particularly at a time where, they argue, ‘the Pacific was at the fore of the nation's consciousness and imagination’ (18). Organised across three parts – Geography, Cultural Value, and Temporality – the book endeavours to show that it was not just physical travel that was so crucial to interwar ideas of modernity but imagined travel as well. Indeed, the authors engage with the concept of ‘geographical imaginary’ and the ‘outward gaze’ to contend that, as cultural texts, magazines enabled readers to forge a connection to a world beyond Australian shores and understand themselves as on the cutting edge of global fashion, cinematic, literary, and artistic trends – even if they never left their armchairs.' (Introduction)
'This reviewer was privileged to have examined the thesis from which this book derives. Now in printed form, it is a wonderful work, not least because of the superb production by the University of Western Australia Publishing.' (Introduction)
'The last few years have seen a spate of new memoirs and biographies charting the lives of Australian women who were connected in various ways with the second-wave feminist movement. Iola Mathews’ Winning for Women: A Personal Story is a valuable addition. As a journalist, trade unionist and politician's wife, Mathews was uniquely placed to observe not only the internal workings of the women's movement but its impact on some of the country's most influential political institutions, including the Labor Party and Australian Council of Trade Unions. Her book is directed primarily at a feminist readership interested in questions of women, work and family. However, Mathews’ insider account should also prove useful to historians of Australian politics, industrial relations and the media more generally.' (Introduction)
