This review was first published in The Weekend Australian * Running to almost half a thousand pages, prodigiously researched and immaculately written, David Marr’s Killing for Country is surely one of the books of the year. Modestly described as a ‘family story’, it is in fact as solid a work of history as one could […]
Literature
EVERY NOW AND then a sort of morphic resonance overtakes the world of literature. For reasons that are far from obvious, a number of books about (or around) the same broad subject will suddenly materialise in a way that itself transforms public interest and even shapes public sentiment. In 2023, for example, the name of […]
John Mitchinson explores the attributes of the character that long pre-dates 'Santa Claus’
John Mitchinson reflects on why the life of Saint Cuthbert still has important things to teach us
John Mitchinson on why Shakespeare’s most problematic play still has plenty to teach us
I did something both awesome and ill-timed. Well, first I should back up and remind you of something I told you before at some nebulous time in the past, and that is that I am an immersive daydreamer. I said that I was a maladaptive daydreamer but I didn’t even think that was right, because […]
John Mitchinson explores what the novelist behind a 1759 masterpiece can teach us about the importance of marketing as a publisher
Martin Shaw looks at Goodwin's new book and its claims that Britain is run by a ‘woke’ new elite
We must all examine our values and actions in relation to vulnerable populations, writes Iain Overton
Stefano Goodman explains how impairment can lead to sudden physical reliance on strangers – and how this shapes our personalities