Issue Details: First known date: 2023... 2023 Lucky Donald : Australia 'Spellbound in Boredom'
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'Here we are again, luck ringing over the land. Ryan Cropp’s new examination of the life and work of Donald Horne (1921–2005) comes out as we resume unpicking the gordian knot of what exactly is Australia. As Cropp observes, it has become impossible to describe this nation without the word luck, as if a continent rolls dice. It is the language of gamblers, of the complacent. It wasn’t introduced by Horne – any survey of the country’s newspapers will find Australia panegyrised or dismissed for riding its luck, but with the publication of The Lucky Country in 1964 Horne caught a truth in a sentence: ‘Australia is a lucky country run by second-rate people who share its luck.’ It was Horne’s personal stroke of luck, changing him as it changed his country. In later years, when Horne became one of those people who ran the place, had Donald joined the second-raters, sharing the spoils of chance?' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Book Review no. 458 October 2023 26979794 2023 periodical issue

    'Two weeks out from the historic Voice referendum, ABR’s Indigenous issue features our strongest-ever representation of First Nations reviewers, commentators, interviews, poems, books, and themes. Lynette Russell and Melissa Castan discuss the mechanics of the Voice, Alexis Wright describes Indigenous time as interlinked and unresolved, members of the Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography describe their project, and Zoë Laidlaw explores university Indigenous histories. We interview Anita Heiss, Jeanine Leane reviews Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie, Mark McKenna grapples with David Marr’s Killing for Country, Tom Wright weighs a biography of Donald Horne, and Declan Fry endorses Indigenous economics. Reviews from Claire G. Coleman, Julie Janson, and Jacinta Walsh lead a stellar First Nations line-up.' (Publication summary)

     

    2023
    pg. 58-59
Last amended 7 Mar 2024 10:06:37
58-59 https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2023/october-2023-no-458/994-october-2023-no-458/11114-tom-wright-reviews-donald-horne-a-life-in-the-lucky-country-by-ryan-cropp Lucky Donald : Australia 'Spellbound in Boredom'small AustLit logo Australian Book Review
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