AustLit

'These two books both have the Uluru Statement in their title and share the same publisher. In one sense, they are a mirror image of each other. Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a clearly written and accessible text explaining constitutional law that also narrates, addresses, and advocates history, while Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement, also clear and accessible, is a work of history that is concerned with the law. They also complement each other. Megan Davis and George Williams explain how truth-telling came to be part of the Uluru Statement, while Henry Reynolds outlines what he sees as the historical truths that must be told and indicates where he thinks truth-telling processes might lead. Yet the content of the two books is very different. If we consider the Uluru Statement slogan ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth’, then Everything You Need to Know is primarily about Voice, while Truth-Telling is about Treaty and Truth. For historians, Everything You Need to Know is a must-read. While many historians will find that Truth-Telling covers some very familiar ground, its last few chapters send out an important challenge to the way we remember and commemorate some key figures in Australian political history. Reynolds suggests we ask some tough new questions, for example: should Griffith University change its name?'  (Introduction)