Australia's Prime Minister and premier diplomat in the 1930/1940s, this new biography presents him as a consistent internationalist and places him in a global context. >
The prime ministership is indisputably the most closely observed and keenly contested office in Australia. How did it grow to become the pivot of national political power? Settling the Office chronicles the development of the prime ministership from its rudimentary early days following Federation through to the powerful, institutionalised prime-ministerial leadership of the postwar era.
In the years between the two world wars of the twentieth century leaders in Western countries worried about a food surplus. The hardships of the Great Depression were intensified by a glut of wheat and consequent low prices on the world market. Yet at the same time nutrition scientists protested that significant proportions of populations, even in affluent countries, were unable to afford a diet adequate for health. Fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meat were out of reach for the poor. This book traces the work of three men who sought to bring together the interests of farmers and the needs of the hungry: scientist and passionate campaigner for better nutrition, John Boyd Orr; Australian politician and international statesman, Stanley Melbourne Bruce; and Economic Adviser to Bruce at the Australian High Commission in London, Frank Lidgett McDougall. Bruce once said McDougall brings me a new idea every morning. One of those ideas became the genesis of their work, which helped bring about the formation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. All three undertook significant roles in the formative years of the organisation. The story of this contribution to the international world order is little known. The cooperation, diplomacy and persistence of these men provides inspiration for tackling the alarming prospect of food shortages in the present century.
This book provides a nontechnical account of human development that is particularly relevant to an understanding of psychiatric disorders. In describing the process of physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral development, the contributors emphasize the aspects of development of greatest interest to clinicians, and examine normal development in relation to its implications in clinical pathology.
Volunteering his services as a pilot to fly renowned international peace advocate Egon Kisch between Fremantle and Melbourne, Rowland is unaware how hard Australia's new attorney-general will fight to keep the "raging reporter" off Australian soil. In this, it seems, the government is not alone, as clandestine right-wing militias reconstitute into deadly strike forces. A disgraced minister, an unidentified corpse and an old flame all bring their own special bedlam. Once again Rowland Sinclair stands against the unthinkable, with an artist, a poet and a brazen sculptress by his side.
It was an historic moment in Australian political history. A sea of purple balloons filled a packed hall in Sydney's North Ryde, faces young and old beamed with the excitement of change, and one woman was set to make history and claim the seat from Australia's second-longest-serving Prime Minister. It had all the characteristics of a classic tale: David and Goliath, the tortoise and the hare, Don Quixote and the windmill. When Maxine McKew decided to run in Bennelong, she became the ultimate underdog. In The Battle for Bennelong, journalist Margot Saville hits the campaign trail with Maxine McKew, indulging in Maxine's obsession with dim sum, watching her draw yet another raffle and dance excitedly at the Granny Smith Festival. Saville's unprecedented access takes us to campaign dinners, fundraising meet-and-greets, behind the electioneering machine and inside Maxine's house on election night. Saville records her fleeting, tightly managed meetings with the Prime Minister, and the commensurate highs and lows in both camps during the six-week campaign. Saville also includes the episode of the Lindsay 'how to vote' scandal and its devastating repercussions. In a tight contest against John Howard fought on issues such as the economy, WorkChoices and succession plans, did Maxine's dancing affect her primary vote? You'll find out in The Battle for Bennelong.
A BIZARRE MURDER PLUNGES THE HAPLESS AUSTRALIANS INTO A QUEER WORLD OF BRITISH ARISTOCRACY, INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, SCANDAL, SPIES and FASCIST BLACKSHIRTS. A WORLD WHERE GENTLEMEN ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY ARE DRESSED UP TO BE. The Fifth Book of the Acclaimed Rowland Sinclair Mysteries Handsome, the epitome of stoicism and dignity, wry and witty despite his impeccable manners, protagonist Rowland Sinclair is an Oxford educated gentleman artist in his late 20s who enjoys being the black sheep of his conservative and wealthy family. Rowland has narrowly escaped Germany, damaged – physically and emotionally. Having spent time in Germany as a young man in the 1930s, he is horrified by the changes that have come about under the Nazi government. The country which he knew as the centre of modern art and culture is now, under Hitler, oppressed and brutalised. For the first time, he is moved to take a stance, to try and sway the political thought of the time. He doesn't really know what he is doing, or what should be done, but he is consumed with a notion that something should be done. Aristocrats with secrets. Scandalous rogues clad in tailcoats and sensational gowns. Danger is formally dressed. And Edna, siren, emancipated sculptress, the object of Rowland's deepest, unspoken desires, is by his side and yet out of his reach.
Andrew Tink’s superb book tells the story of Australia in the twentieth century, from Federation to the Sydney 2000 Olympics. A century marked by the trauma of war and the despair of the depression, balanced by extraordinary achievements in sport, science and the arts. A country underpinned by a political system that worked most of the time and the emergence of a mainly harmonious society. Australians at the start of the century could hardly have imagined the prosperity enjoyed by their diverse countrymen and women one hundred years later. Tink’s story is driven by people, whether they be prime ministers, soldiers, shop-keepers, singers, footballers or farmers; a mix of men or women, Australian-born, immigrants and Aborigines. He brings the decades to life, writing with empathy, humour and insight to create a narrative that is as entertaining as it is illuminating.
An in-depth look at how the ideas formulated by the interwar League of Nations shaped American thinking on the modern global order. In Plowshares into Swords, David Ekbladh recaptures the power of knowledge and information developed between World War I and World War II by an international society of institutions and individuals committed to liberal international order and given focus by the League of Nations in Geneva. That information and analysis revolutionized critical debates in a world in crisis. In doing so, Ekbladh transforms conventional understandings of the United States’ postwar hegemony, showing that important elements of it were profoundly influenced by ideas that emerged from international exchanges. The League’s work was one part of a larger transnational movement that included the United States and which saw the emergence of concepts like national income, gross domestic product, and other attempts to define and improve the standards of living, as well as new approaches to old questions about the role of government. Forged as tools for peace these ideas were beaten into weapons as World War II threatened. Ekbladh recounts how, though the US had never been a member of the organization, vital parts of the League were rescued after the fall of France in 1940 and given asylum at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. However, this presence in the US is just one reason its already well-regarded economic analyses and example were readily mobilized by influential American and international figures for an Allied “war of ideas,” plans for a postwar world, and even blueprints for the new United Nations. How did this body of information become so valuable? As Ekbladh makes clear, the answer is that information and analysis themselves became crucial currencies in global affairs: to sustain a modern, liberal global order, a steady stream of information about economics, politics, and society was, and remains, indispensable.