Cirrus@Austlit

'Reviewing a book that opens with a full six pages of endorsements from a veritable who’s who of Australia’s knowledge classes is an intimidating task, but here we are. Among others whose opinions I have no standing, or desire, to contradict, Melissa Lucashenko welcomes Julianne Schultz’s The Idea of Australia as a “valuable contribution to the debate over what Australia is, once was, and might yet become”. Here, I offer my critical engagement with the book in the context of this debate, which continues, interminably, to this day.' (Introduction)