Behind the evening news lies a world of political ideas and passionate conflict. The Passion of Politics unpacks the ideologies and theories which drive these political clashes, helping to explain why we admire some politicians and loathe others. The ideas driving today's politics all have roots in the political struggles of the past. They've been responses to great injustices and challenges, and they've underpinned enormous achievements. In Australia,...

Michael's parents are leaders of a new anti-immigrant political party called Aussie Values which is trying to halt the flood of refugees from the Middle East; Mina fled Afghanistan with her family ten years ago, and just wants to concentrate on fitting in and getting into college--but the mutual attraction they feel demands that they come to terms with their family's concerns and decide where they stand in the ugly anti-Muslim politics of the time....

Australia's failure to improve the quality of life among Aboriginal people is addressed in this book, which illustrates how despite billions of dollars of government spending, indigenous Australians have a life expectancy almost 20 years below that of other Australians and remain far more likely to suffer unemployment, poverty, domestic violence, imprisonment, and low levels of education. Arguing that Australia's political leaders have paralyzed the...

The election of the Liberal-National Party in 2013 was, meant to put an end to division within Australian politics, after three years of painstaking internal leadership warfare in the Labor Party. But, nobody told Tony Abbott. He assumed, quite wrongly, the electorate voted him in to pursue his conservative ideological projects, rather than restore stability to the political system. We start in the week before the 2013 election and travel through...

This book reveals Australia's radical past through more than 500 tales of Indigenous resistance, convict revolts and escapes, picket line hijinks, student occupations, creative direct action, street art, media pranks, urban interventions, squatting, blockades, banner drops, guerilla theatre, and billboard liberation. Twelve key Australian activists and pranksters are interviewed regarding their opposition to racism, nuclear power, war, economic exploitation,...

The London season is in full fling at the end of the 1920s, but the Honourable Phryne Fisher - she of the green-gray eyes, diamant garters, and outfits that should not be sprung suddenly on those of nervous dispositions - is rapidly tiring of the tedium of arranging flowers, making polite conversations with retired colonels, and dancing with weak-chinned men. Instead, Phryne decides it might be rather amusing to try her hand at being a lady detective...

Inspector Stephen Villani, head of homicide in Melbourne, Australia, has a full agenda: a murdered woman in a penthouse apartment, three men butchered in a sadistic rampage, a tattoo-faced drug dealer corrupting his rebellious daughter, a crumbling marriage. As these seemingly unrelated events begin to unfold, Villani finds himself immersed in an unfamiliar world of political scandal and ethical ambiguity. He must navigate the inept bureaucracy that...

It's 1933, and the political landscape of Europe is darkening. Eric Campbell, the man who would be Australia's Führer, is on a fascist tour of the Continent, meeting dictators over cocktails and seeking allegiances in a common cause. Yet the Australian way of life is not undefended. Old enemies have united to undermine Campbell's ambitions. The clandestine armies of the Establishment have once again mobilized to thwart any friendship with the Third...

A portrait of the lives of today's refugees cites an alarming percentage of the world's population that has been forced to abandon home and family in order to survive, sharing the personal stories of people struggling to make lives for themselves in such areas as Cairo, Lebanon, and Australia. By the author of Gellhorn. An arresting portrait of the lives of today's refugees and a searching look into their future The word refugee is more often used...

"The remarkable stories in Born Into This are eye-opening, razor-sharp, and entertaining, often all at once. From an Aboriginal ranger trying to instill some pride in wayward urban teens on the harsh islands off the coast of Tasmania, to those scraping by on the margins of white society railroaded into complex and compromised decisions, Adam Thompson presents a powerful indictment of colonialism and racism. With humor, pathos, and the occasional sly...