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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'What is the 'idea of Australia'? What defines the soul of our nation? Are we an egalitarian, generous, outward-looking country? Or is Australia a place that has retreated into silence and denial about the past and become selfish, greedy and insular?
'A lifetime of watching Australia as a journalist, editor, academic and writer has given Julianne Schultz a unique platform from which to ask and answer these critical questions. The global pandemic gave her time to study the X-ray of our country and the opportunity for perspective and analysis. Schultz came to realise that the idea of Australia is a contest between those who are imaginative, hopeful, altruistic and ambitious, and those who are defensive and inward-looking. She became convinced we need to acknowledge and better understand our past to make sense of our present and build a positive and inclusive future. She suggests what Australia could be: smart, compassionate, engaged, fair and informed.
'This important, searing and compelling book explains us to ourselves and suggests ways Australia can realise her true potential. Urgent, inspiring and optimistic, The Idea of Australia presents the vision we need to fully appreciate our great strengths and crucial challenges.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Selected as one of the ABR Podcast's best books of 2022
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
Works about this Work
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[Review] The Idea of Australia : A Search for the Soul of the Nation
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 48 no. 1 2024; (p. 157-158)
— Review of The Idea of Australia 2022 multi chapter work criticism'Reviewing a book that opens with a full six pages of endorsements from a veritable who’s who of Australia’s knowledge classes is an intimidating task, but here we are. Among others whose opinions I have no standing, or desire, to contradict, Melissa Lucashenko welcomes Julianne Schultz’s The Idea of Australia as a “valuable contribution to the debate over what Australia is, once was, and might yet become”. Here, I offer my critical engagement with the book in the context of this debate, which continues, interminably, to this day.' (Introduction)
-
Julianne Schultz : Idea of Australia : A Search for the Soul of the Nation.
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , April 2023;
— Review of The Idea of Australia 2022 multi chapter work criticism 'Julianne Schultz finds difficult truths – and some hope – in her examination of the Australian psyche.' -
The Figure in the Carpet : The Stories We Tell Ourselves
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 447 2022; (p. 34-35)
— Review of The Idea of Australia 2022 multi chapter work criticism 'A new monarch succeeded the day I sat down to write this review about the idea of Australia. Prime Minister Albanese, in a blessedly unpoliticised speech about Elizabeth II’s death, was direct in announcing that he and the governor-general would be heading to London, ‘where we will meet the king’.' (Introduction) -
Soul-searching with Insight and Challenge
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13 March 2022; (p. 14)
— Review of The Idea of Australia 2022 multi chapter work criticism
-
Soul-searching with Insight and Challenge
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13 March 2022; (p. 14)
— Review of The Idea of Australia 2022 multi chapter work criticism -
The Figure in the Carpet : The Stories We Tell Ourselves
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 447 2022; (p. 34-35)
— Review of The Idea of Australia 2022 multi chapter work criticism 'A new monarch succeeded the day I sat down to write this review about the idea of Australia. Prime Minister Albanese, in a blessedly unpoliticised speech about Elizabeth II’s death, was direct in announcing that he and the governor-general would be heading to London, ‘where we will meet the king’.' (Introduction) -
Julianne Schultz : Idea of Australia : A Search for the Soul of the Nation.
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , April 2023;
— Review of The Idea of Australia 2022 multi chapter work criticism 'Julianne Schultz finds difficult truths – and some hope – in her examination of the Australian psyche.' -
[Review] The Idea of Australia : A Search for the Soul of the Nation
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 48 no. 1 2024; (p. 157-158)
— Review of The Idea of Australia 2022 multi chapter work criticism'Reviewing a book that opens with a full six pages of endorsements from a veritable who’s who of Australia’s knowledge classes is an intimidating task, but here we are. Among others whose opinions I have no standing, or desire, to contradict, Melissa Lucashenko welcomes Julianne Schultz’s The Idea of Australia as a “valuable contribution to the debate over what Australia is, once was, and might yet become”. Here, I offer my critical engagement with the book in the context of this debate, which continues, interminably, to this day.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2022 longlisted Australian Political Book of the Year Award