'Bain Attwood takes us to the heart of the conflict about the Aboriginal past in Australia. He tracks the growing popularity of history and weighs the consequences for the nature of historical knowledge and the authority of the historian. He asks why and how Aboriginal history has become central to Australian politics, culture and identity. He examines the work of historical 'revisionists' and tests their promise of historical truth. Finally, Attwood ponders how the traumatic history of frontier conflict might better be remembered - and mourned - and why telling the truth about history matters for the nation and for all of us. ' (Source: Publisher's website)
This works is in three parts:
Part I: Present
1. Nation
2. Democracy
3. Politics
Part II: Past
4. Genocide
5. War
6. Law
7. Culture
Part III: Future
8. History
9. Memory
10. Truth and reconciliation
'Bain Attwood is an academic historian whose interests lie in historical method, particularly as it relates to Aboriginal history. With this book he attempts to reach a wider public. In it he sets out to address the debates that raged for many months in Australia over Keith Windschuttle’s attack on academic historians who have written about the experience of Aboriginal people in early colonial history, particularly in Tasmania.' (Introduction)
'Bain Attwood is an academic historian whose interests lie in historical method, particularly as it relates to Aboriginal history. With this book he attempts to reach a wider public. In it he sets out to address the debates that raged for many months in Australia over Keith Windschuttle’s attack on academic historians who have written about the experience of Aboriginal people in early colonial history, particularly in Tasmania.' (Introduction)
