AustLit logo

AustLit

y separately published work icon Quarterly Essay series - publisher   essay  
Date: 2004-
Date: 2001-2004
Issue Details: First known date: 2001-... 2001- Quarterly Essay
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Notes

  • Quarterly Essay covers issues affecting Australia in the political, economic and cultural arenas. Four essays are published each year.

  • Quarterly Essay is selectively indexed by AustLit.

Includes

1
y separately published work icon In Denial : The Stolen Generations and the Right Robert Manne , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2001 13580523 2001 single work criticism

'In this national bestseller Robert Manne attacks the right-wing campaign against the Bringing them home report that revealed how thousands of Aboriginal children had been taken from their parents.

'What was the role of Paddy McGuinness as editor of Quadrant? How reliable was the evidence that led newspaper columnists from Piers Akerman in the Sydney Daily Telegraph to Andrew Bolt in the Melbourne Herald Sun to deny the gravity of the injustice done?

'In a powerful indictment of past government policies towards the indigenous Australians, Robert Manne has written a brilliant polemical essay which doubles as a succinct history of how indigenous Australians were mistreated and an exposure of the ignorance of those who want to deny that history.' (Publication summary)

Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2001
11
y separately published work icon Whitefella Jump Up : The Shortest Way to Nationhood Germaine Greer , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2003 Z1064840 2003 single work essay Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2003
12
y separately published work icon Made in England : Australia's British Inheritance David Malouf , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2003 Z1081844 2003 single work essay Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2003
15
y separately published work icon Latham's World : The New Politics of the Outsiders Margaret Simons , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2004 Z1180746 2004 single work essay Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2004
23
y separately published work icon The History Question : Who Owns the Past? Inga Clendinnen , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2006 Z1321134 2006 single work essay In this essay Inga Clendinnen looks at how Australia should record and regard its past while asking the question - what kind of history do Australians want and need? She discusses the Stolen Generations and the role of morality in history-writing and provides a critique of Kate Grenville's Secret River. Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2006
24
y separately published work icon No Fixed Address : Nomads and the Fate of the Planet Robyn Davidson , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2006 Z1353275 2006 single work essay

''In every religion I can think of, there exists some variation on the theme of abandoning the settled life and walking one's way to godliness. The Hindu Sadhu, leaving behind family and wealth to live as a beggar; the pilgrims of Compostela walking away their sins; the circumambulators of the Buddhist kora; the Hajj. What could this ritual journeying be but symbolic, idealised versions of the foraging life? By taking to the road we free ourselves of baggage, both physical and psychological. We walk back to our original condition, to our best selves.'

'After many thousands of years, the nomads are disappearing, swept away by modernity. Robyn Davidson has spent a good part of her life with nomadic cultures. In this fascinating and moving essay she evokes a vanishing way of life, and notes a paradox: that even as classical nomads are disappearing, hypermobility has become the hallmark of contemporary life. In a time of environmental peril, she argues, the nomadic way with nature still offers valuable lessons. No Fixed Address is part lament, part evocation and part exhilarating speculative journey.' (Publication summary)

Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2006
25
y separately published work icon Bipolar Nation : How to Win the 2007 Election Peter Hartcher , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2007 Z1379046 2007 single work essay Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2007
35
y separately published work icon Radical Hope : Education and Equality in Australia Noel Pearson , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2009 Z1722524 2009 single work essay Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2009
41
y separately published work icon The Happy Life : The Search for Contentment in the Modern World David Malouf , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2011 Z1766250 2011 single work essay

'In the first Quarterly Essay for 2011, David Malouf returns to one of the most fundamental questions and gives it a modern twist: what makes for a happy life? With grace and profundity, Malouf discusses new and old ways to talk about contentment and the self. In considering the happy life - what it is, and what makes it possible - David Malouf returns to the "highest wisdom" of the classics, looks at how, thanks to Thomas Jefferson's way with words, happiness became a "right", and examines joy in the flesh as depicted by Rubens and Rembrandt.

'In a world become ever larger and impersonal, he finds happiness in an unlikely place. This is an essay to savour and reflect upon by one of Australia's greatest novelists.' (From the publisher's website.)

Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2011
42
y separately published work icon Fair Share : Country and City in Australia Judith Brett , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2011 Z1792968 2011 single work essay

'Once the country believed itself to be the true face of Australia: sunburnt men and capable women raising crops and children, enduring isolation and a fickle environment, carrying the nation on their sturdy backs. For almost 200 years after white settlement began, city Australia needed the country: to feed it, to earn its export income, to fill the empty land, to provide it with distinctive images of the nation being built in the great south land. But Australia no longer rides on the sheep's back, and since the 1980s, when "economic rationalism" became the new creed, the country has felt abandoned, its contribution to the nation dismissed, its historic purpose forgotten.

In Fair Share, Judith Brett argues that our federation was built on the idea of a big country and a fair share, no matter where one lived. We also looked to the bush for our legends and we still look to it for our food. These are not things we can just abandon. In late 2010, with the country independents deciding who would form federal government, it seemed that rural and regional Australia's time had come again. But, as Murray-Darling water reform shows, the politics of dependence are complicated. The question remains: what will be the fate of the country in an era of user-pays, water cutbacks, climate change, droughts and flooding rains? What are the prospects for a new compact between country and city in Australia in the twenty-first century?' Source: www.quarterlyessay.com/ (Sighted 21/07/2011).

Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2011
45
y separately published work icon Us and Them : On the Importance of Animals Anna Krien , Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2012 Z1857173 2012 single work essay In this dazzling piece of reportage, Anna Krien investigates the contemporary animal kingdom and our place in it. From pets to food, from wildness to science experiments, Krien also reveals how animals are faring in this new world order. Examples range from the joyful to the deeply unsettling (Libraries Australia). Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2012
47
y separately published work icon Political Animal : The Making of Tony Abbott David Marr , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2013 Z1932143 2013 single work biography

'Tony Abbott is poised to become the nation's next prime minister and, more than ever, Australians are asking: what kind of man is he and how might he run the country?

'David Marr's Political Animal, with its revelation of 'the punch,' triggered intense scrutiny of Abbott's character in 2012. Now this expanded and updated edition of Marr's dramatic portrait gives the clearest picture yet of Abbott the man and politician.' (Publisher's blurb)

Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2013
51
y separately published work icon The Prince : Faith, Abuse and George Pell David Marr , Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2013 6487801 2013 single work biography (taught in 1 units)

'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 power and aggressive in asserting the prerogatives of the Vatican. His account of Pell’s career focuses on his response as a man, a priest, an archbishop and prince of the church to the scandal that has engulfed the Catholic world in the last thirty years. This is the story of a cleric slow to see what was happening around him; torn by the contest between his church and its victims; and slow to realise that the Catholic Church cannot, in the end, escape secular scrutiny.

'The Prince is an arresting portrait of faith, loyalty and ambition, set against a backdrop of terrible suffering and an ancient institution in turmoil.

'“He knows children have been wrecked. He apologises again and again. He even sees that the hostility of the press he so deplores has helped the church face the scandal. What he doesn’t get is the hostility to the church. Whatever else he believes in, Pell has profound faith in the Catholic Church. He guards it with his life. Nations come and go but the church remains.” David Marr, The Prince. ' (Publisher's blurb)

Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2013
52
y separately published work icon Found in Translation : In Praise of a Plural World Linda Jaivin , Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2013 6718913 2013 single work criticism (taught in 1 units)

'Whether we’re aware of it or not, we spend much of our time in this globalised world in the act of translation. Language is a big part of it, of course, as anyone who has fumbled with a phrasebook in a foreign country will know, but behind language is something far more challenging to translate: culture. As a traveller, a mistranslation might land you a bowl of who-knows-what when you think you asked for noodles, and mistranslations in international politics can be a few steps from serious trouble. But translation is also a way of entering new and exciting worlds, and forging links that never before existed.

'Linda Jaivin has been translating from Chinese for more than thirty years. While her specialty is subtitles, she has also translated song lyrics, poetry and fiction, and interpreted for ABC film crews, Chinese artists and even the English singer Billy Bragg as he gave his take on socialism to some Beijing rockers. In Found in Translation she reveals the work of the translator and considers whether different worldviews can be bridged. She pays special attention to China and the English-speaking West, Australia in particular, but also discusses French, Japanese and even the odd phrase of Maori. This is a free-ranging essay, personal and informed, about translation in its narrowest and broadest senses, and the prism – occasionally prison – of culture.' (Publisher's blurb)

Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2013
62
y separately published work icon Firing Line : Australia's Path to War James Brown , Carlton : Black Inc. , 2016 11611861 2016 single work criticism

'Going to war may be the gravest decision a nation and its leaders make. At the moment, Australia is at war with the Islamic State. We also live in a region that has become much more volatile, as China asserts itself and America seeks to hold the line.

'What is it like to go to war? How do we decide to go to war? Where might we go to war in the future? Will we get that decision right? In this vivid, urgent essay, James Brown looks to history, strategy and his own experience to explore these questions. He examines the legacy of the Iraq War and argues that it has prevented a clear view of Australia’s future conflicts. He looks at how we plug into the US war machine, now that American troops are based in Darwin. And he sheds fascinating light on the extraordinary concentration of war powers in the hands of the Prime Minister – and how this might go wrong. This powerful essay argues that we have not yet begun to think through the choices that may confront us in years ahead.

‘When you live in a country like ours, the dirty business of war is a stranger. That is the blessed legacy of a place where soldiers are rarely seen, and then only on parade. Where war means Anzac Day, and Anzac Days are all the same. There are few moments in modern Australia when you might pause to ask the most consequential of questions . . . What is it that we are willing to fight for?’ —James Brown, Firing Line' (Publication summary)

Carlton : Black Inc. , 2016
63
y separately published work icon Enemy Within : American Politics in the Time of Trump Don Watson , Carlton : Black Inc. , 2016 11611212 2016 single work criticism

'In Enemy Within, Don Watson takes a memorable journey into the heart of the United States in the year 2016 – and the strangest election campaign that country has seen.

'Travelling in the Midwest, Watson reflects on the rise of Donald Trump and the “thicket of unreality” that is the American media. Behind this he finds a deeply fearful and divided culture. Watson considers the irresistible pull – for Americans – of the Dream of exceptionalism, and asks whether this creed is reaching its limit. He explores alternate futures – from Trump-style fascism to Sanders-style civic renewal – and suggests that a Clinton presidency might see a new American blend of progressivism and militarism. Enemy Within is an eloquent, barbed look at the state of the union and the American malaise.

'“If, as seems likely, Clinton wins, it will not be out of love, or even hope, but rather out of fear. She can win by simply letting her deplorable opponent lose. On the other hand, she’s nothing if not adaptable, and she could yet see the chance to lead the nation’s social and economic regeneration … Call it a New Great Awakening or a New New Deal; it would owe something to both, and to Bernie Sanders as well, but also to her need to be more than the first woman president.” —Don Watson, Enemy Within' (Publication summary)

Carlton : Black Inc. , 2016
64
y separately published work icon The Australian Dream : Blood, History and Becoming Stan Grant , Carlton : Black Inc. , 2016 10403905 2016 single work essay

'In a landmark essay, Stan Grant writes Indigenous people back into the economic and multicultural history of Australia. This is the fascinating story of how fringe dwellers fought not just to survive, but to prosper. Their legacy is the extraordinary flowering of Indigenous success – cultural, sporting, intellectual and social – that we see today.

'Yet this flourishing co-exists with the boys of Don Dale, and the many others like them who live in the shadows of the nation. Grant examines how such Australians have been denied the possibilities of life, and argues eloquently that history is not destiny; that culture is not static. In doing so, he makes the case for a more capacious Australian Dream.' (Publication summary)

Carlton : Black Inc. , 2016
65
y separately published work icon The White Queen : One Nation and the Politics of Race David Marr , Carlton : Black Inc. , 2017 11610927 2017 single work criticism

'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?

'Written with drama and wit, this is a ground-breaking look at politics and prejudice by one of Australia’s best writers.

'“This woman went to prison, danced the cha-cha on national television for a couple of years, and failed so often at the ballot box she became a running joke. But the truth is she never left us. She was always knocking on the door. Most of those defeats at the polls were close-run things. For twenty years political leaders appeased Hanson’s followers while working to keep her out of office. The first strategy tainted Australian politics. The second eventually failed. So she’s with us again – the Kabuki make-up, that mop of red hair and the voice telling us what we already know: ‘I’m fed up.’” —David Marr' (Publication summary)

Carlton : Black Inc. , 2017
66
y separately published work icon The Long Goodbye : Coal, Coral and Australia's Climate Deadlock Anna Krien , Carlton : Black Inc. , 2017 11611071 2017 single work criticism

'The Great Barrier Reef is dying. Extreme weather is becoming all too familiar. Yet when it comes to action on climate change, division and paralysis rule the land.

'In this vivid, urgent essay, Anna Krien explores the psychology and politics of a warming world. She visits the frontlines of Australia’s climate wars – the Reef, the Galilee and Bowen basins, South Australia. She investigates the Adani mine, with its toxic politics and controversial economics. Talking to power workers and scientists, lobbyists and activists, she considers where climate change is taking us, and where effective action is to be found.

'“This was Turnbull’s moment, and the Liberal Party’s too. Not just the Snowy 2.0, but the whole thing – an ailing and dysfunctional grid, a complex issue, something for the ‘adults’ to take responsibility for. But instead of leadership, Australians got politics as usual. Cheap shots, culture-war baiting, bad and good ideas lobbed like hot potatoes and lost in the trash talk of low-grade politics. After the ten-day policy spree, Turnbull resumed his poker face, continuing with his grim role of negotiating with the vipers in his nest.” Anna Krien, The Long Goodbye' (Publication summary)

Carlton : Black Inc. , 2017
67
y separately published work icon Moral Panic 101 : Equality, Acceptance and the Safe Schools Scandal Benjamin Law , Carlton : Black Inc. , 2017 11465804 2017 single work criticism

'Are Australian schools safe? And if they’re not, what happens when kids are caught in a bleak collision between ill-equipped school staff and a confected media scandal?

'In 2016 the Safe Schools program became the centre of an ideological firestorm. In QE67 Benjamin Law explores how and why this happened. He weaves a subtle, gripping account of schools today, sexuality, teenagers, new ideas of gender fluidity, tabloid media scares and mental health.

'Looking at the perils for those of uncertain or shamed sexual identity, and bullying of the vulnerable young, he brings to light hidden worlds, in an essay notable for its humane clarity.' (Publication summary)

Carlton : Black Inc. , 2017
69
y separately published work icon Moment of Truth : History and Australia’s Future Mark McKenna , Collingwood : Schwartz , 2018 13438307 2018 single work criticism

'Australia is on the brink of momentous change, but only if its citizens and politicians can come to new terms with the past. Indigenous recognition and a new push for a republic await action.

'Judging by the Captain Cook statue controversy, though, our debates about the past have never been more fruitless. Is there a way beyond the history wars that began under John Howard? And in an age of free-floating fears about the global, digital future, is history any longer relevant, let alone equal to the task of grounding the nation?

'In this inspiring essay, Mark McKenna considers the frontier, the Anzac legacy and deep time. He drags some fascinating new scholarship into the light, and pushes the debate about history beyond the familiar polarities.' (Publication summary)

Collingwood : Schwartz , 2018
84
y separately published work icon Australia's #MeToo Moment Jess Hill , Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2021 22593141 2021 single work essay

'Tracing the impact of Australia's #MeToo moment

'This year, Australia's #MeToo moment erupted in the national parliament. In this electrifying essay, Jess Hill, the acclaimed author of See What You Made Me Do, traces the meaning of those events and what could happen next.

''What are the politics of rage? What couldn't Scott Morrison see? And what hope is there of real progress and accountability? Hill examines how the law, the media and politics can bring about - or stall - change. She shows how when #MeToo meets patriarchy, the results are unpredictable - from lasting reform to backlash. And she asks whether a conservative prime minister can do what is required to meet the moment.' (Publication summary)

Melbourne : Black Inc. , 2021

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 2001-

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon Live Recording : Katharine Murphy on Australia's Pandemic Politics David Marr (interviewer), Melbourne : Readings , 2020 23473774 2020 single work podcast interview

'Katharine Murphy chats with journalist David Marr about her new Quarterly Essay: The End of Certainty - Scott Morrison and Pandemic Politics. This conversation was recorded online during the Covid-19 crisis.' (Production summary)

y separately published work icon Live Recording : Judith Brett on Australia's Coal Addiction Geraldine Doogue (interviewer), Melbourne : Readings , 2020 23473023 2020 single work podcast interview

'Judith Brett chats with journalist Geraldine Doogue about her new Quarterly Essay: The Coal Curse - Resources, Climate and Australia’s Future. This conversation was recorded online during the Covid-19 crisis.'  (Production summary)

y separately published work icon Live Recording : Margaret Simons on the Murray-Darling Basin Don Watson (interviewer), Melbourne : Readings , 2020 23470189 2020 single work podcast interview

'Margaret Simons chats with author Don Watson about her new Quarterly Essay: Cry Me A River - The Tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin. This conversation was recorded online during the Covid-19 crisis.'  (Production summary)

y separately published work icon Live Recording: Annabel Crabb on Australia’s Parenthood Trap Annabel Crabb (interviewer), Melbourne : Readings , 2019 23469721 2019 single work podcast interview

'Annabel Crabb chats with Virginia Trioli about her new Quarterly Essay exploring Australia's 'parenthood trap'. This is a live recording from our event.' (Production summary)

y separately published work icon Rebecca Huntley in Conversation with Maxine McKew Maxine McKew (interviewer), Melbourne : Readings , 2019 23469455 2019 single work podcast interview

'Rebecca Huntley is one of Australia’s foremost social researchers. In the Quarterly Essay, Huntley looks at the state of the nation and asks: what does social-democratic Australia want, and why? In this episode of the Readings Podcast, Huntley discuss these essential and timely questions with Maxine McKew.'  (Production summary)

How an Essay Became an Article of War Jason Steger , 2004 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 19 February 2004; (p. 3) The Sydney Morning Herald , 19 February 2004; (p. 3)
Steger reports on a dispute between Quarterly Essay's publisher, Morry Schwartz, and its editor, Peter Craven over the issue of joint authorship of issue no.13 of the journal. The conflict resulted in Craven's dismissal as editor.
Wanted : Younger Voices and Fresher Ideas Greg Barns , 2004 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 29 February 2004; (p. 11)
Barns writes that 'the Quarterly Essay should seize its chance to become an entrepreneur of new talent.' The way to do this is by allowing new ideas and voices to be heard.
The Art of the Deal James Button , 2004 single work biography
— Appears in: The Age , 20 March 2004; (p. 1-2)
A Essay in Friction James Button , 2004 single work biography
— Appears in: The Age , 20 March 2004; (p. 2)
Outlines the dispute between Quarterly Essay's publisher, Morry Schwartz, and its editor, Peter Craven over the issue of joint authorship of issue no.13 of the journal. The conflict resulted in Craven's dismissal as editor.
Still Cringing? : A Battle for the Soul of Australia's Quarterly Essay Peter Craven , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 14 May no. 5276 2004; (p. 14-15)
Craven reflects on Australia's perception of its own culture and standing in the world in the light of his sacking from the editorship of Quarterly Essay and the associated Black Inc. publications, The Best Australian Essays, The Best Australian Stories and The Best Australian Poetry.
Last amended 8 Oct 2019 14:33:28
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X