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'An electrifying, epic history of the city of Sydney as you have never seen her before.'To peer deeply into this ghost city, the one lying beneath the surface, is to understand that Sydney has a soul and that it is a very dark place indeed.' Beneath the shining harbour, amid the towers of global greed and deep inside the bad-drugs madness of the suburban wastelands, lies Sydney's shadow history. Terrifying tsunamis, corpse-robbing morgue staff, killer cops, neo-Nazis, power junkies and bumbling SWOS teams electrify this epic tale of a city with a cold vacuum for a moral core. Birmingham drills beneath the cover story of a successful multicultural metropolis and melts the boundaries between past and present to reveal a ghost city beneath the surface of concrete and glass. In Birmingham's alternative history of Sydney, the yawning chasm between the megarich and the lumpen masses is as evident in the insane wealth of the new elites as it was in the head-spinning rapacity of the NSW Rum Corps. This is a city shattered by the nexus between government, big money and the underworld, where the glittering prizes go to the strong, not the just. Combining intensive research with the pace of a techno-thriller, John Birmingham creates a rich portrait of a city too dazzled by its own gorgeous reflection to care much for what lies at its dark, corrupted heart. Illuminated by wild flashes of black humour, violent, ghoulish and utterly compelling, Leviathan is history for the Tarantino generation.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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John Birmingham : Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney [and] David Hunt : Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia
2018
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , August 2018;'Leviathan and Girt are engaging because they do what official histories shy away from – they spin a ripping yarn.' (Introduction)
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Rewriting a National Cultural Food Icon : A Gastrobiography of Vegemite
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Special Issue Website Series , October no. 9 2010; 'In the current publishing environment, where there is an unprecedented level of reader interest in food-related texts, a wide range of subject matter is providing a rich source of opportunities for writers. In this context, the individual food product (either biological or processed) is one such area of professional and creative opportunity. Suggesting that the 'gastrobiography' is a form of writing that can serve the particular interests of writers as well as their readers and publishers, this article defines the term and its applications in food writing. It then presents a gastrobiography of Vegemite, utilising the form to consider the yeast spread's history, ongoing role in Australian life, and how this has been conceptualised and written about. Also investigated is Vegemite's place in the personal politics of eating and politics more broadly. In the process, the gastrobiographical form is revealed as one that can present Vegemite as a site of contradiction and paradox that can reveal much about the world in which it is produced and sold.' (Author's abstract) -
Sydney's Dark Heart
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 161 2000; (p. 108-109)
— Review of Leviathan : The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney 1999 single work non-fiction -
Paperbacks
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 19 August 2000; (p. 8)
— Review of In the Gutter... Looking at the Stars : A Literary Adventure through Kings Cross 2000 anthology short story poetry extract biography ; Leviathan : The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney 1999 single work non-fiction -
A Walk on the Dark Side
1999
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 6 November 1999; (p. 9)
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Paperbacks
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 19 August 2000; (p. 8)
— Review of In the Gutter... Looking at the Stars : A Literary Adventure through Kings Cross 2000 anthology short story poetry extract biography ; Leviathan : The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney 1999 single work non-fiction -
Sydney's Dark Heart
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 161 2000; (p. 108-109)
— Review of Leviathan : The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney 1999 single work non-fiction -
Rewriting a National Cultural Food Icon : A Gastrobiography of Vegemite
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Special Issue Website Series , October no. 9 2010; 'In the current publishing environment, where there is an unprecedented level of reader interest in food-related texts, a wide range of subject matter is providing a rich source of opportunities for writers. In this context, the individual food product (either biological or processed) is one such area of professional and creative opportunity. Suggesting that the 'gastrobiography' is a form of writing that can serve the particular interests of writers as well as their readers and publishers, this article defines the term and its applications in food writing. It then presents a gastrobiography of Vegemite, utilising the form to consider the yeast spread's history, ongoing role in Australian life, and how this has been conceptualised and written about. Also investigated is Vegemite's place in the personal politics of eating and politics more broadly. In the process, the gastrobiographical form is revealed as one that can present Vegemite as a site of contradiction and paradox that can reveal much about the world in which it is produced and sold.' (Author's abstract) -
Pulp History
1999
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 14 November 1999; (p. 10) -
A Walk on the Dark Side
1999
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 6 November 1999; (p. 9) -
John Birmingham : Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney [and] David Hunt : Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia
2018
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , August 2018;'Leviathan and Girt are engaging because they do what official histories shy away from – they spin a ripping yarn.' (Introduction)
Awards
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- 1700-1799
- 1800-1899
- 1900-1999