Sense And Nonsense In Australian History

Sense and Nonsense in Australian History represents a lifetime’s original reflection by Australia’s most innovative and penetrating historian. In these essays, John Hirst blends the intimacy of the insider with the objectivity usually only available to the outsider. The result is Australian history seen at once from within and without.

Included here are classic essays on the pioneer legend, Australian egalitarianism and colonial culture. There are celebrated critiques of The Tyranny of Distance, multiculturalism and narrowly nationalistic history, as well as a substantial essay on Aboriginal dispossession and the history wars. In Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, John Hirst overturns familiar conceptions and deepens our sense of Australia’s development from convict society to distinctive democracy.

John Hirst is a widely respected historian and social commentator. A former reader in history at La Trobe University, he is a member of the Film Australia Board and the National Museum council. He is the author of numerous books, including The Sentimental Nation, A Republican Manifesto, Australia’s Democracy: A Short History, The Australians: Insiders and Outsiders on the National Character since 1770 and Freedom on the Fatal Shore: Australia’s First Colony.