Cirrus@Austlit

'Where is analysis in this age of banal tweets and narcissistic comments? Stephen Knight turns his modernly analytical and historically aware mind to current attitudes and actions in need of serious examination. What is the impact of the bush myth on the national consciousness of Australian fiction? What of the modern shift in writing about Indigenous issues, from white writers to First Peoples? What has suddenly happened to Australian crime fiction? Other essays look at unravelling travelling, the tiny machines that obsess us, then those bizarrely flourishing modern identity-enhancers & tattoos and personalised number plates; and of course, the state of the contemporary university. Here is 21st century national complexity, its origins and its international connections, explored in a socially referential and almost always serious way.' (Publication summary)

'In From Two Worlds, Ed Byrne explores the tensions, joys and contradictions of modern life.' (Publication summary)

'Malcolm Fraser is one of the most interesting and possibly most misunderstood of Australia's Prime Ministers. In this part memoir and part authorised biography, Fraser at the age of 79 years talks about his time in public life.

'From the Vietnam War to the Dismissal and his years as Prime Minister, through to his concern in recent times for breaches in the Rule of Law and harsh treatment of refugees, Fraser emerges as an enduring liberal, constantly reinterpreting core values to meet the needs of changing times.

'Written in collaboration with journalist Margaret Simons, Malcolm Fraser's political memoirs trace the story of a shy boy who was raised to be seen and not heard, yet grew to become one of the most persistent, insistent and controversial political voices of our times.

'The book offers insight into Malcolm Fraser's substantial achievements. He was the first Australian politician to describe Australia's future as multicultural, and his federal government was the first to pass Aboriginal Land Rights and Freedom of Information legislation, also establishing the Human Rights Commission.

'After his parliamentary career, Fraser continued to be an important player in public life, playing a key role in persuading the USA Congress to impose sanctions on South Africa as part of the battle against apartheid. He was also the founding chair of CARE Australia, one of our largest aid agencies.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Seven Poor Men of Sydney is a brilliant portrayal of a group of men and women living in Sydney in the 1920s amid conditions of poverty and social turmoil.

Set against the vividly drawn backgrounds of Fisherman's (Watson's) Bay and the innercity slums, the various characters seek to resolve their individual spiritual dilemmas; through politics, religion and philosophy.

Their struggles, their pain and their frustrations are portrayed with consummate skill in this memorable evocation of a city and an era.' (Publication summary)

'The great bequests of Russell and Mab Grimwade have opened up extraordinary opportunities for the University of Melbourne, enabling an exciting range of initiatives.

Through the Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellows program, Australia has benefited from the visits of more than a hundred international academics. The University's cultural collections have been enriched by the treasures of the Grimwades' collections of art, rare books and Australiana. Russell Grimwade's passion for chemistry, appreciation of art and sense of obligation to preserve the past has driven the development of the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation. Russell's first allegiance may have been to biochemistry, but he had a wider vision: to fund the 'birth of an antipodean Clarendon Press' at Melbourne University Press. The distinguished Miegunyah imprint has realised his ambition and this book is the most recent volume in that series.'

The Grimwades' bequests still remain one of the University of Melbourne's most significant gifts. This is the story of Russell and Mab Grimwade and their legacy to the Australian nation. (Source: Publisher's website)

'Stan Watson was among the first ashore at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, and survived battle, fear and disease to build the pier at Anzac Cove from which so many men later escaped. He faced what seemed like an impossible mission: to get every man out alive. Watson never claimed to be the last man to leave Gallipoli, but through to the very end he played his part and became a hero.

'Sixty-two years to the day after he stepped away from that fatal shore, Watson took a slow train to visit his family for Christmas and decided to finally tell his life story.

'A beautifully told mixture of fact and fiction, Watson's Pier traces not just one man's journey, but the history of a nation. It also challenges the historical record of what happened in the final moments at Anzac Cove. In doing so, it offers a new perspective on the meaning of Gallipoli.'

'Kathleen Fitzpatrick, born in 1905, was the grand-daughter of Melbourne real estate agent JR Buxton, whose investments in land and housing brought him wealth and significantly influenced much of his city's early development.

In her memoir, Solid Bluestone Foundations, described by her great friend Manning Clark as 'a magnificent book of memories', Kathleen painted an evocative picture of family life at her grandparents' mansion Hughenden in Middle Park, and of middle-class living in early twentieth-century Melbourne.'

'In adulthood she went on to become a brilliant academic and teacher whose former pupils became some of Australia's finest historians and intellectuals. But she was also a lonely woman with a low view of her own worth as a writer and scholar.'

'Through meticulous research, Elizabeth Kleinhenz uncovers what lay behind the mask that Kathleen Fitzpatrick presented to the world. Capable of deep love, she was almost vainly self-conscious. She was witty but cutting, proud but ashamed, could be arrogant and overbearing, but also modest to the point of subservience. An accomplished thinker, she allowed the major insights of second-wave feminism to pass her by. After her marriage failed she never again had an open relationship.'

'A Brimming Cup tells the story of Kathleen's outstanding academic career, her contributions to social and political debates of the day, her relationships, and her successes and disappointments as a historian, writer and woman of her time.' (Source: Publishers website)

'Anthony Waterlow left his decrepit room in a run-down boarding house at 4.45 p.m on Monday 9 November 2009. By 6 p.m, the 42-year-old was seen leaving another home: his sister Chloe's in Randwick. He left behind her slaughtered body and that of their father; celebrated art curator Nick Waterlow. The pair had been stabbed multiple times, in front of Chloe's three young children. The Waterlow Killings delves beneath the public face of a successful and affluent family, to reveal private suffering that even their closest friends could not have guessed. The story takes us deep into the world of musical, literary and visual artists who defy conventionality, push boundaries and become international celebrities. But behind that apparently glamorous life of the Waterlows; with British aristocratic blood lines and Nick's art world fame; lay a story of love, despair and torment. (Publisher's blurb)

'The much-anticipated second volume of former labor prime minister Gough Whitlam's biography.
'In the first volume acclaimed biographer Jenny Hocking illuminated Whitlam's path to power, and here she recreates the excitement of Whitlam's historic win in 1972, the forces that never accepted his ascendency and the tragedy that followed. Drawing on previously unseen archival material, extensive interviews with family and colleagues as well as exclusive interviews with the man himself, this second volume finally exposes the truth about the Whitlam years.' (Publisher's blurb)