Humphrey McQueen
Humphrey McQueen is a freelance historian and cultural commentator. Widely known in Australia through his books, radio commentaries, articles and public speeches he is in demand as a guest lecturer, critic and consultant.
Humphrey is the author of 19 books that cover history, the media, politics and the visual arts. His articles appear regularly in the Bulletin and his two classic books of Australian history A New Britannia and Social Sketches of Australia were reissued in 2004. His latest work is A Framework of Flesh - the first installment of his research into the history of builder's labourers and their unions. It is available to read online.
He lives in Canberra.
Website: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~loge27
Books by Humphrey McQueen
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A New Brittania
Humphrey McQueen's irreverent classic traces the origins of the Australian Labor Party. In charting the social forces which nurtured the ALP, he shows it was anti-socialst from the very start. Along the way he reveals a colonial passion for pianos and uncovers the proto-fascist ideas behind Henry Lawson's popular writings.
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Australia's Media Monopolies
This is the first popular survey of all aspects of the modern media in Australia. McQeen explores the the development of mass media and advertising and the economic, political and ideological tasks they perform in monopoly capitalism.
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The Black Swan of Trespass
Drawing on literature, politics and the sciences, McQueen sets out to examine the emergence of modernist painting in Australia.
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Gone Tomorrow: Australia in the1980s
In lively and entertaining prose, McQueen analyses the problems of Australia in the 1980s by making sense of the 1970s. With a lens that pans from the Gold Coast to the Pilbara, Gone Tomorrow scrutinises Australian political culture and looks ahead to propose where current trends may be leading us.
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Gallipoli to Petrov: Arguing with Australian History
To read history, to write it, let alone to remake it, is to become involved in arguments with the past as well as with other historians. Many such disputes cross this selection of McQueen’s writings gathered from the fifteen years since 1968. Witty, provocative and passionate, these essays prompt us to think again.
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Suburbs of the Sacred: Transforming Australian Beliefs and Values
Suburbs of the Sacred is about art, mythmaking and history. It is also about a Bondi boy who goes to art school, lives in Europe, marries, has children, wins prizes. Moreover, it is about how everyday life can become infused with the sacred. McQueen draws on the work of artist Keith Looby but also of novelists, playwrights, poets and other painters to explore the sources of creativity and style in modern Australia.
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Tom Roberts
Tom Roberts is known as ‘the father of Australian landscape painting’. His depictions of shearers, drovers and bushrangers are familiar to most Australians, yet how much do we know about the man and his times? Humphrey McQueen offers us a portrait of an influential artist whose life was shaped by some of the most momentous shifts in Australia’s history.
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Suspect History
Paul Keating and John Howard used history to promote opposing policies on the republic and Mabo, invoking Manning Clark and Geoffrey Blainey as authorities for their respective sides. Reminding us of the stakes in the battle for possession of Australian history, McQueen is erudite and passionate in his musing on the problems of walking backwards into the future.
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Temper Democratic: How Exceptional is Australia?
This text presents a passionate argument for defending and extending the Australian democratic tradition, and also provides a commentary on key issues in Australian culture.
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The Essence of Capitalism
Because capital must expand or falter, every aspect of life is speeding up, notably at work. McQueen argues that corporations are creating a second nature by altering our needs. This timely contribution to the globalisation debate is essential reading.
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Social Sketches of Australia 1888-2001
Humphrey McQueen's compelling narrative features the experiences of everyday life: what people wore and ate, the sorts of houses they lived in and what they learned at school. In addition, he looks at how they were affected by natural disasters as well as by disease and by working conditions in an increasingly industrialised society.
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Japan to the Rescue
Will Japan become Australia's next great and powerful friend? In Japan to the Rescue Humphrey McQueen raises this prospect as an intellectual cold shower to help Australians think their way out of being a U.S. dominion.
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Tokyo World
Tokyo World is a diary of ideas, events, individuals and the arts. Keeping an ear cocked for US reactions to the growing economic might of Japan, Humphrey McQueen also records puzzlements about Japan and himself as he follows the upheavals in Eastern Europe and China.
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