History > Political

Some events require many years before their impact is apparent. Some arrive as instant history. One of our most incisive and eloquent observers, Bob Ellis has reviewed the occurrences of 2011 and found it to be a year that may come to define the age.

Economist Vicky Pryce reflects on the current crisis in the Euro Zone - its causes and how Europe has responded, and offers her thoughts on what might and what needs to happen if the Euro is to survive in its current form. She pays particular attention to Greece, the country of her birth, the country first in the firing lin... read more

Graham Freudenberg, Australia's greatest speechwriter, says "the Australian Labor Party was built on speeches." This book brings together great Labor speeches which give voice to the party's enduring values and achievements, and place it and its principal figures at the centre of historic events. There are speeches that stir ... read more

One of the finest minds of the twentieth century New Yorker Noam Chomsky is a global phenomenon ... he may be the most widely read American voice on foreign policy on the planet today New York Times Book Review Will there ever again be a public intellectual who commands the attention of so many across the planet? New Stat... read more

The world is a battlefield. In this remarkable story from the frontlines of the undeclared battlefields of the War on Terror, journalist Jeremy Scahill documents the new paradigm of American war: fought far from any declared battlefield, by units that do not officially exist, in thousands of operations a month that are never... read more

Former investment banker and economist Brad Orgill believes that Australia is suffering from a crisis of confidence.

The author of "The French", "Happiness" and "A History of French Passions" writes about the history of human feelings, habits, emotions and perceptions across time. From Vikings and Aztecs to contemporary hypochondriacs, from ancient Arab writings to American theories of business management, Zeldin looks at the dilemmas of or... read more

Ron Suskind's book promises to be a bracing international thriller-an ensemble of uranium merchants and panicked diplomats, stealthy Jihadist soldiers and CIA operatives, anxious Muslim children and angry world leaders-a diverse cast of players who will define the struggle between hope and fear in the modern era. Suskind will... read more

The compelling and very human story of the first foreign assault on Australian soil since settlement - the attack on Darwin by the Japanese in February, 1942.

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Throughout history, rich and poor countries alike have been lending, borrowing, crashing - and recovering - their way through an extraordinary range of financial crises. Each time, the experts have chimed, "this time is different" - claiming that the old rules of valuation no longer apply and that the new situation bears litt... read more

From the acclaimed, award-winning author of "Dark Continent" and "Hitler's Empire", comes a visionary, far-reaching history of two centuries of international government that also goes to the heart of current world crises. In 1815 the shocked and exhausted victors of the decades of fighting that had engulfed Europe for a gener... read more

Upon assuming the presidency in 1953, Dwight Eisenhower came to be seen by many as a doddering lightweight. Yet behind the bland smile and apparent simplemindedness was a brilliant, intellectual tactician. As Evan Thomas reveals in his provocative examination of Ike's White House years, Eisenhower was a master of calculated d... read more

The essential work on Tony Abbott is now an expanded, updated short book - and a crucial election-year companion. Australians want to know: what kind of man is Tony Abbott, and how would he perform as prime minister? In this dramatic portrait, David Marr shows that as a young Catholic warrior at university, Abbott was alrea... read more

Geoffrey Robertson's Crimes Against Humanity is a superb and highly influential account of the history of the human rights movement up to the present day. From the French Revolution and the Nuremberg trials to 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, Robertson traces the developing concept of human rights and shows how far we still hav... read more

Internationally bestselling historian Antonia Fraser's new book brilliantly evokes a key period of pre-Victorian political and social history - the passing of the Great Reform Bill of 1832. For our inconclusive times, there is an attractive resonance with 1832, with its 'rotten boroughs' of Old Sarum and the disappearing vill... read more

There is a lot of nonsense written about the human body, and this book is no exception. In its 68 fully illustrated, 100 per cent fact-free chapters, What Body Part is That? will explain everything you ever needed to know about your body without the boring technical jargon and scientific accuracy that normally clog up the pag... read more

Congo Masquerade is about mismanagement, hypocrisy, naivete and sabotage. It is a unique and original study of aid inefficiency in one of the 21st century's major attempts at reconstructing a failed state in Africa. Whilst a number of books have examined war and plunder in the Great Lakes region, none have yet evaluated the i... read more

An eye-opening argument for a new approach to Iran, from two of America's most informed and influential Middle East expertsLess than a decade after Washington endorsed a fraudulent case for invading Iraq, similarly misinformed and politically motivated claims are pushing America toward war with Iran. Today the stakes are even... read more