Books | UNSW Press

SHORTLISTED for ACT Book of the Year Latitude 54° 02′ South, Longitude 37° 14' West:

The Sydney Wars: Conflict in the early colony, 1788-1817

Dr Stephen Gapps

*Winner of the Les Carolyn Literary Prize* *Longlisted for the 2019 CHASS Australia Book Prize*

Serving our Country

Edited by Joan Beaumont, Allison Cadzow

After decades of silence, Serving Our Country is the first comprehensive history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's participation in the Australian defence forces.

An Australian Band of Brothers

This riveting book follows a small group of Australian front-line soldiers from their enlistment in the dark days of 1940 to the end of World War II.

Populism can be a dirty word. Brexit and the election of Donald Trump have certainly given it a bad name. But rather than associating it with demagoguery and exclusion, might we better see it as a backlash against free market globalisation? Might it be harnessed as a positive force able to thrive in difficult times?

In the beginning, there was the river — before the beach, before the drain, before the dredging, before the dams, before numerous other actions that altered the stream.

The Birds At My Table

Darryl Jones is fascinated by bird feeders. Not the containers supplying food to our winged friends, but the people who fill the containers, scatter the crumbs or seeds, or leave the picnic scraps behind for the birds.

The Battle Within

Christina Twomey

Head-aches. Dizziness. Can't sleep. Bad dreams (never have been released). The rice jungle had some compensation to some of us who just don't seem to make a success of our return — ROBERT, A RETURNED POW

Since 1967 more than 25,000 students have graduated from UNSW after studying at Duntroon, HMAS Creswell , the Australian Defence Force Academy. Tom Frame examines the productive 50-year partnership between UNSW and the Australian Defence Force.

Signs of Australia

Mr Brady Michaels, Mr Dale Campisi

A keen photographer of the everyday, Brady Michaels has recorded an impressive array of signs from across Australia — from the earliest ads for household goods and services, to more recent but now defunct video lending libraries and internet cafés.

Painting by Numbers

Mr David J Mabberley

This fascinating new study of Bauer's work includes reproductions of never-before-published works from collections in Europe and Australia. Written by one of the world's foremost botanical scholars, Painting by Numbers reveals Bauer's innovative colour-coding technique for the first time.

The Ascent to Power, 1996

Edited by Tom Frame

The Ascent to Power, 1996 takes a critical look at the Howard Government's rise to power; its policies and priorities, successes and shortcomings in what Paul Kelly calls the 'foundational year'.

Hearts and Minds

Alan Atkinson

Founded in 1856, St Paul's College is the original college of Sydney University and the oldest institution of its kind in Australia. Hearts and Minds

Indigenous and Other Australians Since 1901

As Australia became a nation in 1901, no-one anticipated that 'Aboriginal affairs' would become an on-going national preoccupation.

9781742235554

The Best Australian Science Writing 2017

Edited by Michael Slezak, foreword by Emma Johnston

The annual collection celebrating the finest voices in Australian science writing.

The Secret Life of Whales

Micheline Jenner

Marine biologist Micheline Jenner discovered humpback breeding grounds off the Kimberley coast, has swum through orange golfball-sized pygmy blue whale poo to uncover a feeding spot, and is one of very few people to witness a humpback whale giving birth. In The Secret Life of Whales

Australian Gypsies

Since the arrival of the First Fleet there have been Gypsies in Australia, yet their experiences have never been included in any official histories. In Australian Gypsies

9781742235363

Documents on Australian Foreign Policy: Australia and the Rhodesian Problem, 1961–1972

Edited by Matthew Jordan, series edited by David Lee

A compilation of Australian governmental memos, documents and meeting minutes relating to the status of Southern Rhodesia

9781742248400

The Other Moderns: Sydney’s Forgotten European Design Legacy

Edited by Rebecca Hawcroft

Ethics Under Fire

Edited by Tom Frame, Mr Albert Palazzo

Events at Abu Ghraib prison and the 1968 My Lai Massacre show that the behaviour of the military can descend into barbarism. How strong is the military's commitment to avoiding such atrocities? Ethics Under Fire – a timely and compelling book – asks questions and raises issues the Australian Army can't ignore.

Dr Peter Monteath

The never-before-told story of World War II escape artist extraordinaire, Johnny Peck.

How to be an Academic

Dr Inger Mewburn

Welcome to the world of university academics, where the Academic Hunger Games, fuelled by precarious employment conditions, is the new reality – a perpetual jostle for short-term contracts and the occasional plum job. But Inger Mewburn is here to tell you that life needn't be so grim.

Stranger Thingies

John Birmingham

John Birmingham is a master of good writing and funny lines. He has written a thousand stories, some true, some not so much. These are the best ones and they're so good, and so funny, there has been no barrel-scraping involved. Really, this book could have been much longer.

A Führer for a Father

'I was written out of the family story. This book is my attempt to write myself, and my mother, back into it.'

Australia's official war correspondent during WWI, Charles Bean was also Australia's first official war historian and the driving force behind the creation of the Australian War Memorial. Famously criticised for his deliberate myth-making as editor of The Anzac Book

Collecting for the Nation

Edited by Jennifer Sanders

From ceramic cockatoos and hand-painted china to splendid silverware and historic paintings, Collecting for the Nation illustrates a broad sweep of Australian history and culture through the stories of the artworks in The Australiana Fund's unique collection.

Running the City

Felicity Fenner

Leading Australian curator Felicity Fenner profiles activity-based and pop-up contemporary public art projects from Australia and around the globe. Running the City explores art projects that bring together diverse disciplines and cultures – including running, cycling, architecture, and guerilla gardening.

A Charter of Rights for Australia

George Williams, Daniel Reynolds

Australia does not have a bill or charter of rights, which means there is no comprehensive law that enshrines human rights in Australia – even though these laws are standard in the rest of the developed world. So what does this mean for the rights of Australian citizens?

Radio Astronomer

Peter Robertson

Bolton had the unusual distinction of being the inaugural director of two new observatories. In the late 1950s at Caltech he built the first major observatory for radio astronomy in the United States, and then returned to Australia to take charge of the newly completed Parkes telescope in New South Wales - featured in the acclaimed film The Dish .

Beautiful Balts

Dr Jayne Persian

170,000 Displaced Persons arrived in Australia between 1947 and 1952 – the first non-Anglo-Celtic mass migrants.

Hidden in Plain View

Contrary to what you may think, local Aboriginal people did not lose their culture and die out within decades of Governor Phillip's arrival in Sydney in 1788.

Michael Duffy, Nick Hordern

The first ever book devoted entirely to the golden years of the Sydney underworld.

Darling Mother, Darling Son

Edith M Ziegler, introduction by Megan Martin

'However far away from you I am, you are the real centre of my life ...' – Leslie Walford

Edited by Craig Stockings, John Connor

Australian military history is full of heroes – big names that loom large in the public memory of the nation's wartime experiences, like Monash, Chauvel, Jacka and Blamey.

Edited by Tom Frame

Helping neighbours and partners stabilise their political systems and work towards peace and security is a core activity for the modern Australian Defence Force.