Reviews

Books available for review

Notes for reviewers

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Dreamers and Schemers: A Political History of Australia
By Frank Bongiorno

November 2022
La Trobe University Press in conjunction with Black Inc.

Reviewed by Sue Rabbitt Roff
War and Punishment: The Story of Russian Oppression and Ukrainian Resistance
By Mikhail Zygar

July 2023
Hachette Australia

Reviewed by Daniel O’Shea, Star of the Sea College
After the Romanovs: Russian Exiles in Paris between the Wars
By Helen Rappaport

March 2022
Scribe Publications

Reviewed by Kaye De Petro, HTAV
Forgotten War
By Henry Reynolds

July 2022
NewSouth Publishing

Reviewed by Dr Casey Raeside, Assumption College Kilmore
Fury to Hell
By Kathryn Spurling

September 2022
New Holland Publishers

Reviewed by Kaye De Petro, HTAV
Failed Ambitions: Kew Cottages and Changing Ideas of Intellectual Disabilities
By Lee-Ann Monk and David Henderson

June 2023
Monash University Publishing

Reviewed by Rachel Towns, St John’s Regional College
The Emperor’s Grace: Untold Stories of the Australians Enslaved in Japan during World War II
By Mark Baker

March 2021
Monash University Publishing

Reviewed by Linda Letten, St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School
Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled
By Kate Fullagar

October 2023
Scribner Australia

Reviewed by Alexandra Pierce, Australian Living Peace Museum
Inkflower
By Suzy Zail

July 2023
Walker Books Australia

Reviewed by Kaye De Petro, HTAV
Australia: A New More Inclusive History
By Michael S. Pahoff

September 2021
Silverbird Publishing

Reviewed by Katrina Burge, Upwey High School
Operation Hurricane
By Paul Grace

July 2023
Hachette Australia

Reviewed by Sue Rabbitt Roff, University of Dundee
Australia’s Secret Army
By Michael Veitch

August 2022
Hachette Australia

Reviewed by Kaye De Petro, Education and Services Officer, HTAV
Women and Whitlam: Revisiting the Revolution
Edited by Michelle Arrow

April 2023
NewSouth Publishing

Reviewed by Dr Hannah Viney, Monash University
Sisters in Resistance: How a German Spy, a Banker’s Wife and Mussolini’s Daughter Outwitted the Nazis
By Tilar Mazzeo

August 2022
Scribe Publications

Reviewed by Kaye De Petro, Education and Services Officer, HTAV
Australia and the Pacific: A History
By Ian Hoskins

October 2021
NewSouth Publishing

Reviewed by Nigel Page, Anglican Church Grammar School
The Long Song of Tchaikovsky Street: A Russian Adventure
By Pieter Waterdrinker, translated by Paul Evans

February 2022
Scribe Publications

Reviewed by Kaye De Petro, Education and Services Officer, HTAV
The Years of Terror: Banbu-deen: Kulin and Colonists at Port Phillip 1835–1851
By Marguerita Stephens, with Fay Stewart-Muir

August 2023
Australian Scholarly Publishing

Reviewed by Jack T. Norris, The University of Melbourne
Merlyn: The Life of Merlyn Baillieu Myer
By Michael Shmith with research by Dr Stella M Barber

September 2021
Hardie Grant Books

Reviewed by Kaye De Petro, Education and Services Officer, HTAV
Made In Lancashire
By Richard Turner

June 2021
Monash University Publishing

Reviewed by Stephanie Tarn, Heathdale Christian College
Adrift In Melbourne: Seven Walks with Robyn Annear
By Robyn Annear

2021
Text Publishing

Reviewed by Cat Jones, Strathmore Secondary College
Fatal Contact: How Epidemics Nearly Wiped Out Australia’s First Peoples
By Peter Dowling

2021
Monash University Publishing

Reviewed by Nigel Page, Anglican Church Grammar School
Pharaohs of the Sun: How Egypt’s Despots and Dreamers Drove the Rise and Fall of Tutankhamun’s Dynasty
By Guy de la Bédoyére

2022
Little Brown

Reviewed by Jack Norris, Lincoln College, University of Oxford
Coastal Guide to Nature and History 3: Western Victoria, Point Lonsdale to the South Australian Border
By Graham Patterson

2022
Coastal Guide Books

Reviewed by Jack T. Norris, University of Melbourne
Black, White and Exempt: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lives under Exemption
By Lucinda Aberdeem and Jennifer Jones, eds.

2021
Aboriginal Studies Press

Reviewed by Nigel Page, Anglican Church Grammar School
Votes for Women! The Story of Nellie, Rose and Mary
By Mark Wilson

2022
Lothian Children’s Books

Reviewed by Holly Bracken, Bayswater Secondary College
Junior Atlas of Indigenous Australia
By Macquarie Dictionary

2022
Macquarie/Pan Macmillan

Reviewed by Kara Taylor, Irymple Secondary College
The World: A Family History
By Simon Sebag Montefiore

2022
Weidenfeld and Nicolson (London)

Reviewed by Margaret Simkin, The Hamilton and Alexandra College
Pharaohs of the Sun: How Egypt’s Despots and Dreamers Drove the Rise and Fall of Tutankhamun’s Dynasty
By Guy de la Bédoyére

2022
Little Brown

Reviewed by Jack Norris, Lincoln College, University of Oxford
Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance—The Bathurst War, 1822–1824
By Stephen Gapps

2021
NewSouth Publishing

Reviewed by Selena Prior, Federation University
Lessons from History
Edited by Carolyn Holbrook, Lyndon Megarrity and David Lowe

2022
NewSouth Publishing

Review by Matthew Allanby, Xavier College
Symbols of Australia: Imagining a Nation
Edited by Melissa Harper and Richard White

2021
NewSouth Publishing

Reviewed by Kara Taylor, Irymple Secondary College
Knowing History in Schools
Edited by Arthur Chapman

2021
UCL Press

Reviewed by Phillip O’Brien, McKinnon Secondary College
The Twelve Caesars
By Mary Beard

2021
Princeton University Press

Reviewed by George Puckering, Bacchus Marsh Grammar
Hell No! We Won’t Go! Resistance to Conscription in Post War Australia
By Bobbie Oliver

2022
Interventions

Reviewed by Alexandra Pierce
William Cooper: An Aboriginal Life
By Bain Attwood

2021
Melbourne University Press

Reviewed by Dr Stephen Powell, Merici College, Canberra
No Regard for the Truth
By Darren Arnott

BookPOD
2019

Review by Sean Reid, Emerald Secondary College
A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto
By China Miéville

2022
Head of Zeus

Reviewed by Alexandra Pierce
Not Playing the Game: Sport and Australia’s Great
War

By Xavier Fowler

2021
Melbourne University Press

Reviewed by Cat Jones, Strathmore Secondary College
The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris
By Colin Jones

2021
Oxford University Press

Reviewed by Pam Cupper, retired History teacher
Twisted History
Board game by Cartamundi

Reviewed by Dr David Waldron, Federation University
The Story of Australia
By William Finch

2021-2022
Australian Geographic

Reviewed by Kaye De Petro, History Teachers’ Association of Victoria
Into the Heart of Tasmania
By Rebe Taylor

2017
Melbourne University Press
Paperback, 270 pages, B&W photographs

Reviewed by Katrina Burge
The Lost Child of Chernobyl
By Helen Bate

2021
Otter-Barry Books
Hardback, 56 pages, illustrated

Reviewed by Virginia Millard, Featherbrook P–9 College
Is Dark Emu Good History? Helping Students Investigate a Controversial Book on Australian Aboriginal History in the Classroom
By Robert Lewis

2020
Eagle Resources
Paperback, 35 pages, illustrations

Reviewed by Dr Adrian Jones OAM (La Trobe University) and Dr Jo Clyne (HTAV)
Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved
By Darren Naish and Paul M. Barrett

2018
CSIRO Publishing
224 pages, illustrations

Reviewed by Catherine Jones, Strathmore Secondary College
Wilam: A Birrarung Story
By Aunty Joy Murphy and Andrew Kelly
Illustrated by Lisa Kennedy

2019
Black Dog Books
Hardback, 40 pages, illustrated

Reviewed by Jack Norris, Old Treasury Building and Monash Indigenous Studies Centre
Good Humanities 7, 8 and 9: Victorian Curriculum
By Ben Lawless, Danielle O’Leary and Peter van Noorden

2020
Matilda Education

Reviewed by Kara Taylor, Irymple College
Welcome to Country (Youth Edition)
By Marcia Langton

2019
Paperback, 225 pages

Reviewed by Eliza Lowes, Jennings Street School
People of the River
By Grace Karskens

2020
Allen & Unwin
Paperback, 688 pages

Reviewed by Hollie Griffiths, Prahran High School
Truganini: Journey through the Apocalypse
By Cassandra Pybus

2020
Allen & Unwin,
Paperback, 336 pages

Reviewed by Selena Prior, Federation University
Vida: A Woman for Our Times
By Jacqueline Kent

2020
Viking
Paperback, 336 pages

Reviewed by Ingrid Perkins, St Patrick’s College, Ballarat
On a Barbarous Coast
By Craig Cormick and Harold Ludwick

Allen & Unwin
2020
Paperback, 320 pages

Reviewed by Cat Jones, Strathmore Secondary College
Vagabond Adventures in Asia and the Pacific
By John Stanley James, edited and introduced by Michael Cannon

2018
Michael Cannon
Paperback, 222 pages

Reviewed by Paul Michael Donovan, Federation University
The Iliad
Adapted by Gareth Hinds

2019
Candlewick Press
Paperback and hardback, 270 pages
Illustrated

Reviewed by Dr Katrina Burge, teacher candidate, University of Melbourne
Teaching: Making a Difference
By Rick Churchill, Sally Godinho, Nicola F. Johnson et al.

2018, 4th edn
John Wiley & Sons Australia
E-book and paperback (632 pages)

Reviewed by Dr Katrina Burge, teacher candidate, University of Melbourne
Between the Murray and the Sea: Aboriginal Archaeology in Southeastern Australia
By David Frankel

2017
Sydney University Press
Paperback and e-book, 282 pages,
illustrations, photographs

Reviewed by Jack Norris, Monash Indigenous Studies Centre
The Palace Letters
By Jenny Hocking

2020
Scribe Media
Paperback, 288 pages

Reviewed by Cat Jones, Strathmore Secondary College
The Vagabond as Social Reformer: Inside Melbourne’s Asylums and Hospitals
By John Stanley James, edited and introduced by Michael Cannon

2020
Michael Cannon
Paperback, 239 pages

Reviewed by Dr David Waldron, Federation University
The Cost of War
By Stephen Garton

2020
Sydney University Press
308 pages

Reviewed by Sophia Marsden-Smith, Williamstown High School
Aboriginal Biocultural Knowledge in South-eastern Australia: Perspectives of Early Colonists
By Fred Cahir, Ian D. Clark and Philip A. Clarke

2018
CSIRO Publishing
360 pages

Reviewed by Rachel Towns, St John’s Regional College, Dandenong
On Red Earth Walking: The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike, Western Australia 1946–1949
By Anne Scrimgeour

2020
Monash University Publishing
528 pages

Reviewed by Richard Blandford, Scotch College
Geoffrey Blainey: Writer, Historian, Controversialist
By Richard Allsop

2019
Monash University Publishing
304 pages

Reviewed by Sophia Marsden-Smith
Williamstown High School

Slow Catastrophes: Living with Drought in Australia
By Rebecca Jones

2017
Monash University Publishing
352 pages

Reviewed by Bill Lewis
Haileybury College

The Dam
by David Almond

2018
Sydney
Walker Studio
Hardback
32 pages

Reviewed by Ingrid Perkins
St Patrick’s College, Ballarat

The Good Son: A Story from the First World War, Told in Miniature
By Pierre-Jacques Ober

2019
Sydney
Candlewick Studio
Hardback
104 pages

Reviewed by Ingrid Perkins
St Patrick’s College, Ballarat

Donkeys Can’t Fly on Planes

2012
Melbourne
Kids’ Own Publishing
53 pages

Reviewed by Alicia Dodd
Salesian College, Sunbury

Geelong’s Changing Landscape: Ecology, Development and Conservation
by David Jones and Phillip Roös (Eds.)

2019
Melbourne
CSIRO Publishing
Paperback
344 pages

Reviewed by Katrina Burge

Fighting the Kaiser Reich: Australia’s Epic Within the Great War
by Bruce Gaunson

2018
Melbourne
Hybrid Publishers
Paperback
526 pages

Reviewed by Mary Fisher
Modbury High School

Convict Colony
by David Hill

2019
Allen & Unwin
368 pages

Reviewed by Jane Herbert
Mansfield Secondary College

Living on Stolen Land
by Ambelin Kwaymullina

2020
Broome, Western Australia
Magabala Books
Flexibound
63 pages

Reviewed by Alexandra Pierce
Brunswick Secondary College

One Careless Night
by Christina Booth

2019
Sydney
Black Dog Books
Hardback
40 pages

Reviewed by Ingrid Perkins
St Patrick’s College, Ballarat

The Anzac Billy
by Claire Saxby

2019
Sydney
Black Dog Books
Hardback
32 pages

Reviewed by Ingrid Perkins
St Patrick’s College, Ballarat

Mallee Country: Land, People, History
by Richard Broome, Charles Fahey, Andrea Gaynor and Katie Holmes

2020
Melbourne
Monash University Publishing
415 pages

Reviewed by Kara Taylor
Irymple Secondary College

Cazaly: The Legend
by Robert Allen

2017
Melbourne
Slattery Media Group
Hardback
428 pages

Reviewed by Cat Jones
Australian Sports Museum

‘A Secondary Education for All’? A History of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria
by John Andrews and Deborah Towns

2017
Melbourne
Australian Scholarly Publishing
Paperback
394 pages

Reviewed by Jo Dryden
St Mary of the Angels

Committed to Learning: A History of Education at The University of Melbourne
by Juliet Flesch

2017
Melbourne
The Miegunyah Press
Hardback
400 pages

Reviewed by Sophia Marsden-Smith
Williamstown High School

Let My People Go: The Untold Story of the
Australia and the Soviet Jews 1959–89

by Sam Lipski and Suzanne D. Rutland

2015
Melbourne
Hybrid Publishers
Paperback
296 pages

Reviewed by Sophia Marsden-Smith
Williamstown High School

Digging Up a Village: A Book about Archaeology
by David Frankel

2019
Melbourne
Paperback, 52 pages
Illustrations

Reviewed by Stephen Frigo
Luther College, Croydon

Dominion: The History
of England, Volume 5

by Peter Ackroyd

2018
New York
Thomas Dunne Books
Paperback, x + 387 pages
Illustrations, plates

Reviewed by Ingrid Perkins
Ballarat High School, Ballarat

How Australia Led the Way:
Dora Meeson Coates and British
Suffrage

by Myra Scott

2018
Arcadia
Melbourne
Illustrations, portraits
Revised edition
Paperback, xvii + 120 pages

Reviewed by Michael J. Adcock
Melbourne Grammar School, Melbourne

Teaching resource: Dora Meeson
(Word document)

Questions I Am Asked About the
Holocaust

by Heidi Fried
Translated by Alice E. Olsson

2019
Melbourne
Scribe
Hardback, 160 pages

Reviewed by Ellen Langmead
Caulfield Grammar School, Caulfield

Sgt Carroll’s War
by Mike Irwin

2018
Melbourne
Paperback, x + 90 pages
Illustrations, portraits, maps

Turkish Private
Ryan: Canakkale's Anzac Hero

by John Gillam and Yvonne
Fletcher
Illustrations by Lillian Webb

2018
East Maitland, New South Wales
Legends and Lessons
Paperback, 51 pages
Illustrations, portraits

Reviewed by Lauren Sullivan
Caulfield Grammar School, Caulfield

Someone Else’s War
by John Connor

2018
London
I.B Tauris
Hardback, 360 pages
B&W illustrations; map

Reviewed by Shaun Silcock
HTAV

Waves: For Those Who Come Across the Sea
by Donna Rawlins
Ilustrations by Mark Jackson and Heather Potter

2019
Melbourne
Picture book, 33 pages
Illustrations

Reviewed by Katie O’Connell
Sunshine College, Sunshine

The Aboriginal Story of Burke and Wills: Forgotten Narratives
Edited by Ian D. Clark and Fred Cahir

2016
CSIRO Publishing
Melbourne
Paperback, 336 pages
Illustrations, photographs
RRP $49.95

Reviewed by Rachel Towns
St John's Regional College, Dandenong

Historical Thinking for History Teachers: A New Approach to Engaging Students and Developing Historical Consciousness
Edited by Tim Allender, Anna Clark and Robert Parkes

2019
Allen & Unwin
Crows Nest, New South Wales
Paperback, 352 pages
RRP $59.99

Reviewed by Ashley Pratt
Melbourne Girls Grammar School, Melbourne

Respectable Radicals: A History of the National Council of Women of Australia 1896–2006
by Marian Quartly and Judith Smart

2015
Monash University Publishing
Clayton, VIC
Paperback, 497 pages
Illustrations, plates, portraits
RRP $39.95

Reviewed by Linda Wade
All Hallows' School, Brisbane

Book cover for Me Write Myself

‘Me Write Myself’: The Free Aboriginal Inhabitants of Van Diemen’s Land at Wybalenna, 1832–47
by Leonie Stevens

2017
Monash University Publishing
Clayton, VIC
Paperback, 356 pages
Maps
RRP $29.95

Reviewed by Linda Wade
All Hallows’ School, Brisbane

The Debatable Land
by Graham Robb

2018
Picador
London
Hardback, 334 pages
Colour & BW illustrations, maps
RRP $36.99

Reviewed by Elizabeth Renton
Laverton P–12 College, Laverton

You'll Be Sorry: How World War II Changed Women's Lives
by Ann Howard

2016
Big Sky Publishing
Warriewood NSW
Paperback, 370 pages
B/W maps and images
RRP $29.99

Reviewed by Elizabeth Morgan
Girton Grammar School, Bendigo

The Good Country: The Djadja Wurrung, The Settlers and the Protectors
by Bain Attwood

2017
Monash University Publishing
Clayton, VIC
Paperback, 272 pages
Illustrations, maps, portraits
RRP $29.95

Reviewed by Kara Taylor
Irymple Secondary College


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