The HTAV receives books and other educational materials on a regular basis for the purpose of reviewing in Agora. We are always looking for teachers willing to offer their services as reviewers of these resources. If you are interested in reviewing on of the titles listed here please contact Ingrid Purnell at the HTAV. Of course, all our reviewers are invited to keep books reviewed with our compliments.

Writing your review
Reviews should be between 500 and 1000 words long and should be submitted as a Word document within two months of receiving the book.

Your review should cover: title, author, publisher, year of publication, brief summary of book, range of topics covered, usefulness of images/illustrations etc, items of interest to teachers, accessability of language, usefulness for particular history subjects, strengths and limitations. Contributors are asked to adopt a respectful and fair-minded approach when discussing the work of others and this should be evident in the tone of the writing. Writers of reviews are expected to cite specific examples to support judgements made and to discuss the merits of the work as a whole. Contributors with close links to institutions or companies should avoid reviewing work published by these bodies.

The HTAV endeavours to publish all reviews received in their original form. However, we reserve the right to edit or reject submissions, or hold items over for later publication.

TITLES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW:

Among Us (DVD)
Richard Franklin (Dir.)
Golden Seahorse Productions and Connecting Home, 2010
Since the colonisation of Victoria in the 1830's, many Aboriginal children have been removed from family, land, language and culture. They were placed in foster homes and institutions, and adopted into non-Indigenous families. In 2009, members of the Stolen Generations in Victoria returned to Ballarat, to visit the institutions in which they were place. This is their story, told in their own words, captured by acclaimed film-maker Richard Franklin.

The Blue-Eyed Aborigine
Rosemary Hayes
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2010
It is 1629, and there is mutiny in the air aboard the Dutch ship Batavia as she plies her way towards Java with her precious cargo. Jan, a cabin boy, and Wouter, a young soldier, find themselves caught up in the tragic wrecking and bloody revolt that follow. But worse is to come… Based on the diaries of the ship's Commander, Rosemary Hayes recaptures some of sea history's most dramatic moments, linking the fates of Jan and Wouter with discoveries that intrigue Australians to this day.

The Road to Singapore: The Myth of British Betrayal
Augustine Meaher IV
Australian Scholarly Press, 2010
Generations of Australians have been reared on the belief the fall of Singapore in February 1942 was a British betrayal that exposed Australia to Japanese invasion. In The Road to Singapore a young American historian, using archival records from across the globe, exposes the notion of a British betrayal as nothing more than a myth. British authorities never gave Australia an iron-clad guarantee against enemy attack and invasion and always stressed the need for Australians to take responsibility for home defence. The causes and consequences of the refusal to heed this advice are explained in this scholarly, readable and salutary study.

Wrong Side of the Bus (DVD)
Rod Freedman
Ronin Films 2010
An internationally recognised professor of psychiatry from Melbourne, Australia, Sidney Bloch returns to Cape Town for his medical school reunion. He is accompanied on his quest for reconciliation by his son, Aaron, who is also his harshest critic. Sid has suffered from a troubled conscience for forty years and wants to resolve his guilt – but what will it take to free him from his past? Though it's easy to become a bystander, it's hard to live with the consequences. Narrated by Aaron, the film explores how a good person accepts racism and injustice.

A Thousand Nights at the Ritz and other stories
Alan Collins
Hybrid Publishers, 2010
This wonderful collection of short stories, sparkling with wit, passion and the Australian ethos, yet revealing the shadowy side of human interactions. These captivating stories take you into worlds both fmailiar and bizarre: life during the Depression years in Sydney; refugees from war-ravaged Europe; weekly movies at The Ritz; poverty and the resilience of children; humour in the face of despair; appearance and reality, loneliness and misunderstandings; the poignant longing for love…

Alva's Boy: An Unsentimental Memoir
Alan Collins
Hybrid Publishers, 2010
Sydney in 1928 and Alva, a young Jewish wife, dies in childbirth. No family member is allowed to care for the baby, so "Alva's boy" is sent from one children's home to another. His father weds for the fourth time but young Alan finds his dreams of a real home shattered amid the ruins of this disastrous marriage. He navigates his way through childhood as a street-smart survivor, and not even the archetypal wicked stepmother, her terrible Ma or his own foolish father can rob him of hope.

African Civilizations: Pocket Explorer
Nicholas Badcott
The British Museum, 2010
Africa is a vast continent with an amazing history. Spanning almost two million years, from prehistory to the nineteenth century, this lively guide explores Africa's rich and varied heritage and important global links. Discover its diverse cultures, unique arts, crafts and creative landmarks - from the huge pyramids of Egypt and Sudan, to the rock-cut churches of Ethiopia, and mud-brick mosques of Mali and beyond.

The Ancient Greeks: Their Lives and Their World
Alexandra Villing
The British Museum, 2010
What was it really like to live in ancient Greece? What did Greeks like to eat – and did winning Olympic athletes really get free meals for life? Who were the toughest Greek soldiers? How did boys and girls grow up in Greece? Now you can find out! Meet many different people of ancient Greece – from famous athletes and mythical heroes and heroines, to craftsmen, dancers, actors and slaves. Discover the real objectives they wanted, needed, made and used, and read what they wrote about themselves.

Creforce: the Anzacs and the Battle of Crete
Stella Tzobanakis
Black Dog Books, 2010
On May 20, 1941, Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete. They expected to be welcomed by the Cretan community and to meet little resistance from the Allies. But they were mistaken. Australian, New Zealand and British troops, alongside Greek soldiers and the people of Crete, formed a crucial bond as they defended the tiny island. The battle lasted for ten days. The bonds formed between the Anzacs and Cretans have lasted for generations.
Also to review, A Great Risk in a Good Cause: Australian’s in Greece and Crete April–May 1941, published by Commonwealth Department of Veterans’ Affairs, 2001.

A Tribe of Angels: Coming of Age in Melbourne
Russel Beedles
A Tribe of Angles is an evocation of daily life in Melbourne during the 1940s and 1950s. In this autobiographical memoir, Russell Beedles shifts perspective from that of a child growing up in the suburb of Ivanhoe, to that of an adolescent in the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral while attending Trinity Grammar School in Kew, and then as a young adult at Melbourne University, involved in student theatre, undertaking National Service and experiencing the exhilaration of being a 'teenager'. The wealth of detail, together with the ability to capture a sense of place and the shifts and changes in attitudes and social conventions throughout this period, give his account an immediacy which is absorbing.

How to Win on the Battlefield
Rob Johnson, Michael Whitby, John France
Thames & Hudson, 2010
This ground-breaking book examines, in a series of case studies, 25 of the key tactics that have achieved victory through the ages. Drawing on examples of battles from around the globe, on land, at sea and in the air, and across history, the authors reveal the enduring value of each tactic in clear and compelling descriptions and analysis. Evocative photographs, illustrations and paintings, and a series of specially commissioned battle plans complete this detailed study of the most successful tactics of all time.

Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age
Cheryl Bardoe
Thames & Hudson, 2010
Mammoths and mastodons roamed the earth for millions of years, and then suddenly went extinct. What was everyday life like for these colossal cousins of the modern elephant? What did they eat How did they fit into their Ice Age landscape? Why did they disappear? Mammoths and Mastodons features photographs of fossil dig sites, scientists at work in the field and in labs, and prehistoric artefacts. Specially commissioned artwork also brings the story of mammoths and mastodons to life.

Analysing the Russian Revolution 2nd Edition
Richard Malone
Cambridge University Press
Analysing the Russian Revolution 2nd Edition helps students to develop a broad and detailed understanding of the process of revolution, and to analyse and reflect upon the political, social and economic changes and continuities of the Russian Revolution. This full-colour second edition now includes a range of new sources and up-to-date exam-style questions throughout the text to provide comprehensive exam preparation.

Analysing the French Revolution 2nd Edition
Michael Adcock
Cambridge University Press, 2010
Analysing the French Revolution 2nd Edition encourages students to examine how various forms of culture were used as instruments by revolutionaries. Through an engaging combination of narrative, documentary sources, analyses, historiography and activities students are asked to read these cultural forms as records of the ways in which people tried to think their way through the complex experience known as revolution.

Analysing the Chinese Revolution
Trevor Sowdon
Cambridge University Press, 2010
Analysing the Chinese Revolution helps students to develop a broad and detailed understanding of the process of revolution, and to analyse and reflect upon the political, social and economic changes and continuities of the Chinese Revolution. This full-colour edition encourages students to examine how various forms of culture were used as instruments by revolutionaries. Through an engaging combination of narrative, documentary sources, analyses, historiography and activites students are asked to read these cultural forms as records of the ways in which people tried to think their way through the complex experience known as revolution.

Oxford Big Ideas Humanities 3
Taylor, Carrodus, Casley, Leahy, Ramsdale, Smith, Spurr, Ward
Oxford University Press, 2010
Oxford Big Ideas Humanities 3 is an innovative Humanities resource written for the Victorian Essential Learning Standards.
Based on a big ideas framework, the underlying pedagogy enables students to develop deep, transferable understandings and skills.

Oxford Big Ideas Humanities 4
Taylor, Casley, Easton, Ramsdale, Smith, Spurr, Sweeney
Oxford University Press, 2010
Oxford Big Ideas Humanities 4 is an innovative Humanities resource written for the Victorian Essential Learning Standards. Based on a big ideas framework, the underlying pedagogy enables students to develop deep, transferable understandings and skills.

Warrandyte: a Community with a Heart of Gold
By Murray Houghton
Penfolk, 2009
Where was gold found years before the first official discovery in Victoria? Where was the Yarra diverted through a tunnel? An illustrated centenary tribute compiled from official government documents in the Public Record Office Victoria, the photographic and map collections of the Warrandyte Historical Society and contemporary press reports.

Oxford Big Ideas: History Level 6
Taylor, Carrodus, Casley, Smith, Spurr, Sweeney
Oxford University Press, 2009
An innovative history resource written for the VELS. Based on a big ideas framework, the underlying pedagogy enables students to develop deep, transferable understandings and skills. The book explicitly teaches thinking skills in conjunction with content and includes a multitude of activities catering to different learning styles. Supported by online support materials at www.oxfordbigideas.com.

Men of Mont St Quentin: Between Victory and Death
By Peter Stanley
Scribe, 2009
At exactly 1.30pm on 1 September 1918, the dozen men of Nine Platoon, 21st Australian Infantry Battalion, rose from Elsa Trench and walked across a weedy beet-field towards the German defenders of Mont St Quentin. Within hours, three were dead and five more were wounded, one of whom died six weeks later. The survivors returned from war, more or less intact, to live through the next sixty-odd years in the shadow of that traumatic event.

KPA Investigations: Key to Port Arthur (DVD)
Port Arthur Historic Site, 2007
KPA Investigations is a rich multi-media education program for middle-school students. It allows students to select a key life from Port Arthur and follow that life through a series of tasks and philosophical challenges. The program is entertaining and interactive, with over an hour of video images and over 100 pages of research material.

Days of my Youth
By Charles Napier Hemy
Peleus Press, 2009
These are the personal memoirs of the artist and Royal Academian, Charles Napier Hemy, as a ten-year-old boy travelling to and from Australia, and of his adventures in the Victorian goldfields in 1851; they were recorded later in life on board his yacht in Plymouth Harbour in 1904. These writings are one of the few first accounts of life in early Melbourne and the goldfields from a child's perspective.

Australian Backyard Explorer
Peter Macinnis
National Library, 2009
Learn how to explore in your own backyard! Would you know how to find water and food, collect plants, make a shelter and stay alive? As you delve into this book full of the advertures of the European explorers of Australia, you will experience with them many challenges such as finding their way, mapping an area, trapping animals and coping with drought. Filled with paintings, photos, drawings, journal extracts, fact boxes and practical projects.

Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona of Mytilini, AD 107
Richard Platt and David Parkins
Walker Books, 2009
‘The fifth day of our voyage. Pity us! My brother and I have lost everything we loved. Now we are orphans to be bought and sold like goats. The pirates took everything but my ink, pens and parchment. Now we begin another journey, to the very centre of the world...Rome.’ Step back nearly 2000 years and join Iliona on an amazing history adventure.

Human Rights Overboard
Linda Briskman, Susie Latham and Chris Goddard
Scribe, 2009
This book draws together, for the first time, the oral testimony and written submissions from the inquiry into Australia's immigration detention centres in 2005. It draws together the accounts of immigration detainees, refugee advocates, lawyers, doctors, psychiatrists, former detention centre staff. It stands as an indictment of Australia's refugee policy. With a foreword by Julian Burnside.

The Visconti House
Elsbeth Edgar
Walker Books, 2009
Laura and Leon are both outsiders. They both have secrets. And they are both drawn to the mystery hidden in the walls of the Visconti House. As Laura begins to piece together the fragments of the puzzle, she and Leon take an unexpected journey into the past - one that will change their lives forever.

Defence 2020
Robert Lewis and Tim Gurry
Ryebuck Media, 2009
An interactive educational program to help students investigate the relevance of defence issues to their own lives. A middle-secondary curriculum resource for SOSE, English and Civics and Citizenship.

Outlaw Son: The Story of Ned Kelly
Paula Hunt, Black Dog Books 2009
At twelve years of age he was in trouble with the police. As a teenager he rescued a boy from drowning. He was a bank robber, a thief and a murderer. But those who knew him described him as a 'kind man' and a 'gentleman'. There is one thing most people would now agree on. Ned Kelly is the most famous bushranger in Australia's history. Here is his story.

HMAS Sydney
Mike Lefroy, Black Dog Books 2009
On 19 November 1941 the HMAS Sydney sank. On board were 645 Australian sailors. None survived. The location of the wreck was a mystery. This is the story of the battle that sank the Sydney, of World War II, and of wartime tricks. It is the story of the clues that were pieced together to lead to the discovery of the watery grave of the young Australians.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume 2: Kingdom on the Waves
M.T. Anderson, Walker Books
Fearing a death sentence, Octavian and his tutor, Dr Trefusis, escape through rising tides and puring rain to find shelter in British-occupied Boston. Removed from all he knows - the College of Lucidity, the rebel cause - Octavian hopes to find safe harbour. Instead, he is soon to learn of Lord Dunmore's proclamation offering freedom to slaves who join the counter-revolutionary forces. In Volume 2 of his masterwork, M.T Anderson recounts Octavian's experiences as the Revolutionary War explodes around him, thrusting him into intense battles and tantalising him with elusive visions of liberty.

Riding the Black Cockatoo: a True Story
John Danalis, Allen and Unwin
As a boy, John Danalis never thought to ask why an Aboriginals skull sat on the mantlepiece at home. The skull was just 'Mary', and had always been there. Years later he asked whose skull it was and where it belonged. Finding out took him on an extraordinary journey, ending with a ceremonial handover and Mary's return to Wamba Wamba country.

The Goldsmith's Daughter
Tanya Landman, Walker Books
A young girl's struggle to change her destiny, set against the destruction of the Aztec empire. In the golden city of Tenochtitlan, Emperor Montezuma rules with an iron rod and people live in fear of the gods. Itacate is destined for a life of submission and domestic drudgery. But when her father, a goldsmith, discovers her talent for his craft, she starts to work as his secret apprentice. Can Itacate change her destiny and survive in this harsh new world?

The Boy from Bowral: the Story of Don Bradman
Robert Ingpen, Walker Books
A beautifully illustrated and inspiring account of the life of Donald Bradman, marking the centenary of his birth. Robert Ingpen charts the history of the legend, from his early years playing cricket in a Bowral backyard, through the infamous Bodyline series, to his post-war comeback. Packed with facts, statistics and illustrations, this is the perfect book for aspiring cricketers, young and old!

The Forgotten Tyabb Secret: A Rediscovery and Exploration
M.P Duncan, self-published 2008
This online book is an account of the author’s adventures with his teenage grandsons, as they set about discovering first-hand the experiences of early explorers of Westernport. The book, which is historically accurate, contains chapters using first-person narratives of Bass, Murray, Barrallier, Milius and King. It breathes action and immediacy into the study of history. Available online only – go to www.earlyaustralianadventures.com.au.