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...

David 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 of the country – a war still unresolved in today's Australia.

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? Marr reveals a cleric at ease with powe...

Tony Abbott: prime minister in waiting. David Marr: the nation’s leading biographer and investigative journalist. In Quarterly Essay 47, David Marr goes beyond the clichés - Dr No, mad monk, gaffe-prone, budgie-smuggling gym junkie - to look at the man as he is and reveal what kind of prime minister he might be. This is a unique portrait of a unique politician. Marr shows Abbott as part reactionary and part pragmatist, part fighter and part charmer, deeply religious and deeply political. B...

George Pell: leader of the Catholic Church in Australia, confessor to Tony Abbott. David Marr: the nation's leading biographer and investigative journalist. Cardinal George Pell is the most prominent Catholic leader in Australia at a time when the Church's handling of sexual abuse is being closely investigated. He is also the confessor of prime-minister-in-waiting Tony Abbott. In Quarterly Essay 51, David Marr investigates the character and actions of George Pell: how does he wield his aut...

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 because w...

This irreverent, controversial account is sure to be one of the most talked-about publications of election year 2010 - a ground-breaking, in-depth profile that traces Kevin Rudd's years in Queensland, in China, in opposition and finally in government. Based on extensive research, observation and interviewing, it examines the forces that have made Kevin Rudd and the way he wields his power. Marr investigates both the fragility of Rudd's hold on the Labor leadership, and considers what he mi...

The best-selling autobiography of Australia's favourite military leader and Australia's newest Governor-General.the best-selling autobiography of Australia's favourite military leader and Australia's newest Governor-General. 'this book is my personal story, from boyhood to battlefield and beyond, written in my own words, reflecting on my life.' In 1999, General Peter Cosgrove was thrust into the full glare of the nation's spotlight following his appointment as Commander of the Inter...

An irreverent take on the political life and times of Australia's twenty eighth prime minister, detailing a litany of questionable calls, miraculous blunders, and inexplicable mistakes.In August 2013, Australia welcomed Tony Abbott as its new prime minister. This promised to be a marriage between responsible government and a nation tired of the endless drama of the Gillard-Rudd years. But then... Well...Fairfax columnist Andrew P Street details the litany o...

Six years after vacating his position as the longest-serving Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr returned to politics in his dream job: as Foreign Minister of Australia and a senior federal cabinet minister.For 18 months he kept a diary documenting a whirl of high-stakes events on the world stage – the election of Australia to the UN Security Council, the war in Syria and meetings with the most powerful people on the planet. And they all unfold against the gripping, uncertain dome...