Sense & Nonsense in Australian History

Sense and Nonsense in Australian History represents a lifetime's original reflection by Australia's most innovative and penetrating historian. In these essays, John Hirst blends the intimacy of the insider with the objectivity usually only available to the outsider. The result is Australian history seen at once from within and without. Included here are classic essays on the pioneer legend, Australian egalitarianism and colonial culture. There are also celebrated critiques of The Tyranny of Distance, multiculturalism and narrowly nationalistic history, as well as a substantial new essay on Aboriginal dispossession and the history wars. In Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, John Hirst overturns familiar conceptions and deepens our sense of Australia's development from convict society to distinctive democracy.