Shadowboxing : The Story of an American Pugilist single work   review  
Issue Details: First known date: 2022... 2022 Shadowboxing : The Story of an American Pugilist
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'In David Whish-Wilson’s new historical novel, The Sawdust House, it’s 1856 San Francisco, where the citizen-led Committee of Vigilance has convened to purge foreign undesirables from a city populace swollen beyond control by the gold rush. Of course, armed nativists ‘enthralled by their own performance’ are a common feature of U.S. history, from the Virginian lynch mobs of the late 1700s to that guy in the fuzzy Viking hat parading around the Capitol Building just last year. In an intriguing twist, however, the pitchforks are aimed this time at those ‘vermin from some hellish southern continent’, aka Australians, particularly a criminal element who congregate in a lawless quarter nicknamed Sydney-town.' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review no. 441 April 2022 24293321 2022 periodical issue

    'April won’t quite seem the cruellest month now that the latest issue of ABR has arrived. In our cover feature, Kieran Pender retraces the ignominious history of the case against the whistleblower Bernard Collaery, while in an extended essay review, James Ley assesses the impact of Amazon on contemporary fiction. There’s a rogues’ gallery of political biographies: Patrick Mullins looks at Bob Hawke, Iva Glisic combs through Stalin’s library, David Reeve revisits the young Soeharto, Sheila Fitzpatrick reviews the late Stuart Macintyre’s final book, while Joan Beaumont reflects on the peculiar institution that is Australian Studies at Harvard. In fiction, Robert Dessaix dives into the new Edmund White, Gay Bilson takes another turn with Craig Sherborne, and Patrick Allington bids adieu to Steven Carroll’s T.S. Eliot quartet. There’s also new poetry by Judith Bishop and Anders Villani, plenty of arts reviews and much, much more!' (Publication summary)

         2022     pg. 34
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()
Last amended 4 Apr 2022 11:22:15
34 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2022/april-2022-no-441/976-april-2022-no-441/8995-alex-cothren-reviews-the-sawdust-house-by-david-whish-wilson Shadowboxing : The Story of an American Pugilistsmall AustLit logo Australian Book Review
Review of:
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X