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David Marr David Marr i(A9943 works by)
Born: Established: 1947 ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 Killing for Country : A Gripping Reckoning with the Bloody History of Australia's Frontier Wars David Marr , 2023 single work essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , October 2023; (p. 47)
1 The Hatred and Greed of the Frontier Wars Still Drive Race Politics Today. How Little Things Change David Marr , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 1 October 2023;
1 14 y separately published work icon Killing for Country : A Family Story David Marr , Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2023 26928458 2023 multi chapter work criticism

'A gripping reckoning with the bloody history of Australia's frontier wars

'David Marr was shocked to discover forebears who served with the brutal Native Police in the bloodiest years on the frontier. Killing for Country is the result – a soul-searching Australian history.

'This is a richly detailed saga of politics and power in the colonial world – of land seized, fortunes made and lost, and the violence let loose as squatters and their allies fought for possession of the country – a war still unresolved in today's Australia.' (Publication summary)

1 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)

1 Shame, Squalor and the Birth of the Christian Church: Christos Tsiolkas's Wild Ride to Damascus David Marr , 2019 single work column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 8 November 2019;

'Thomas, Timothy and the ‘miserably homosexual’ Paul are rendered real in Tsiolkas’s new book. But it’s more than just an epic of sex in the ancient world.' (Introduction)

1 4 y separately published work icon My Country : Stories, Essays & Speeches David Marr , Collingwood : Black Inc. , 2018 14796649 2018 selected work short story essay

'David Marr is the rarest of breeds: one of Australia’s most unflinching, forensic reporters of political controversy, and one of its most subtle and eloquent biographers. In Marr’s hands, those things we call reportage and commentary are elevated to artful and illuminating chronicles of our time.

1 Tributes to Peter Corris Bill Garner , Sofya Gollan , Michael Wilding , Patrick Gallagher , Gaby Naher , Linda Funnell , David Gaunt , Rupert Thomson , Kristin Williamson , David Williamson , Jane Palfreyman , John Kerr , Tom Kelly , David Marr , Stephen Henry Wallace , John Dale , Joel Becker , Marele Day , Karen Chisholm , 2018 single work obituary (for Peter Corris )
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , September 2018;

'Peter Corris, the ‘Godfather of Australian crime fiction’, died in his sleep on 30 August 2018. His Godfather columns have been part of the Newtown Review of Books from the beginning, and we feel his loss keenly.' 

1 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)

1 2 y separately published work icon Faction Man : Bill Shorten's Path to Power David Marr , Carlton : Black Inc. , 2016 9320208 2016 single work biography

'A brilliant biography for an election year . . .

'Who is Bill Shorten? How did he rise to become Labor leader? And does he have what it takes to beat Malcolm Turnbull and lead the country?

'In Faction Man, David Marr traces the hidden career of a Labor warrior. In dazzling style, he shows how a brilliant recruiter and formidable campaigner mastered first the unions and then the party. Marr presents a man willing to deal with his enemies and shift his allegiances, whose ambition to lead has been fixed since childhood.

'But does he stand for anything? Is Shorten a defender of Labor values in today's Australia or a shape-shifter, driven entirely by politics? How does the union world he comes from shape the prime minister he might be? Marr reveals a man we hardly know: a virtuoso with numbers and a strategist of skill who Labor hopes will return the party to power.' (Publication summary)

1 Received Wisdom David Marr , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Monthly , May no. 111 2015; (p. 62-65)

— Review of A First Place David Malouf , 2014 selected work prose essay
1 Freedom Abbott David Marr , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: The Best Australian Essays 2014 2014; (p. 140-154)
1 End of the Road David Marr , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Monthly , September no. 104 2014; (p. 48-49)

— Review of This House of Grief Helen Garner , 2014 single work non-fiction
1 1 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)

1 Afterlife David Marr , 2013 single work autobiography
— Appears in: My Mother, My Father : On Losing a Parent 2013; (p. 133-144)
2 5 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)

1 A Writer Sharp of Eye and Tongue David Marr , 2013 single work obituary (for Elisabeth Wynhausen )
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 12 October 2013; (p. 35)
1 The Prince : George Pell David Marr , 2013 single work essay
— Appears in: The Monthly Blog , September 2013;
1 2 Political Animal David Marr , 2012 single work essay
— Appears in: The Best Australian Essays 2012 2012; (p. 108-122)
1 A Dynasty's Fall David Marr , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 2 June 2012; (p. 33) The Sydney Morning Herald , 2-3 June 2012; (p. 36)

— Review of True North : The Story of Mary and Elizabeth Durack Brenda Niall , 2012 single work biography
1 No Time for Play David Marr , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Australian Financial Review , 18 May 2012; (p. 1,9-10)
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