Stories, essays and speeches from one of Australia's foremost writers and thinkersUpdated edition of the bestselling collection of David Marr's work.David Marr is the rarest of breeds: one of Australia's most unflinching, forensic reporters of political controversy, and one of its most subtle and eloquent biographers. In Marr's hands, reportage and commentary are elevated to artful and illuminating chronicles of our time.My Country collec...

David Marr’s explosive bestseller, now expanded and fully updated.Cardinal George Pell is behind bars. In August 2019, his appeal failed. Australia’s most senior Catholic, the man once in charge of the Vatican’s finances, remains in prison for sexually assaulting children.In The Prince, David Marr investigates Pell’s career and his ultimate fall. Marr reveals a cleric at ease with power and aggressive in asserting the prerogatives of the Vatican. H...

Panic (noun). A sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behaviour.Australians see themselves as a relaxed and tolerant bunch. But scratch the surface and you'll uncover an extraordinary level of fear.Cronulla. Henson. Hanson. Wik. Haneef. The boats.Panic shows all of David Marr's characteristic insight, quick wit and brilliant prose as he cuts through the froth and fury that have kept Australia simmering over ...

A gripping reckoning with the bloody history of Australia's frontier warsDavid Marr was shocked to discover forebears who served with the brutal Native Police in the bloodiest years on the frontier. Killing for Country is the result – a soul-searching Australian history.This is a richly detailed saga of politics and power in the colonial world – of land seized, fortunes made and lost, and the violence let loose as squatters and their allies fought for possession ...

Dark Victory is not only a fascinating description of past events: between the lines there are dark portents of repercussions yet to come.'John Button, The AgeMarr and Wilkinson have pulled together the whole confronting tale of how through iron will, subterfuge, disregard for conventions of a civilised seafaring nation, the misuse of secret intelligence and the use of military force against the helpless, the federal government closed its borders in the qu...

Available again, an influential book that offers a framework for understanding visual perception and considers fundamental questions about the brain and its functions.David Marr's posthumously published Vision (1982) influenced a generation of brain and cognitive scientists, inspiring many to enter the field. In Vision, Marr describes a general framework for understanding visual perception and touches on broader questions about how the brain and i...

From the time when he was a little boy, Patrick White wrote letters - brilliant, gossipy, funny, angry, heartfelt letters. When he died in 1990 at the age of 78, between 2, 500 and 3, 000 of them survived, scattered - and often treasured - all over the world. In the course of producing his much-admired biography of White, David Marr tracked down most of them. Now, with sensitivity and skill, he has assembled a rich selection from the letters to present a fascinating portrait of White in hi...

The leading Catholic in the nation and spiritual adviser to Tony Abbott, Cardinal George Pell has played a key role in the greatest challenge to face his church for centuries: the scandal of child sex abuse by priests.In The Prince, David Marr investigates the man and his career: how did he rise through the ranks? What does he stand for? How does he wield his authority? How much has he shaped his church and Australia? How has he handled the scandal?

Most Australians despise what Pauline Hanson stands for, yet politics in this country is now orbiting around One Nation.In this timely Quarterly Essay, David Marr looks at Australia’s politics of fear, resentment and race. Who votes One Nation, and why? How much of this is due to inequality? How much to racism? How should the major parties respond to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim voices? What damage do Australia’s new entrepreneurs of hate inflict on the nation?

The top job is within Bill Shorten's grasp. But who is he? How did he rise to become Labor leader? And does he have what it takes to beat Malcolm Turnbull and lead the country?In this dramatic essay, David Marr traces the hidden career of a Labor warrior. He shows how a brilliant recruiter and formidable campaigner mastered first the unions and then the party. Marr presents a man willing to deal with his enemies and shift his allegiances, whose ambition to lead h...

Tony Abbott is the most successful Opposition leader of the last forty years, but he has never been popular. Now Australians want to know: what kind of man is he, 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 already a brutally effective politician. He later led the way in defeating the republic and, as the self-proclaimed "political love child" of John Howard, rose rapidly in the Li...

John Howard has the loudest voice in Australia. He has cowed his critics, muffled the press, intimidated the ABC, gagged scientists, silenced NGOs, censored the arts, prosecuted leakers, criminalised protest and curtailed parliamentary scrutiny. Though touted as a contest of values, this has been a party-political assault on Australia's liberal culture.In the name of "balance", the Liberal Party has muscled its way into the intellectual life of the country. And this has happened be...