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A Curiosity of Doubts by T. L. Uglow
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials
"While society generally espouses the value of logic and certainty, we grow because we doubt. Humans have not spent millennia traversing oceans and experimenting with explosives because of confidence in their beliefs. Culture and science are rooted in unknowns, and when we accept doubt we are more creat ...Show more
A Story of Grief (Penguin Special) by Michaela McGuire
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials
When Jill Meagher was murdered on a Brunswick street in September last year, Melbourne and, indeed, all of Australia were horrified. People became desperately interested in the story, with pleas for moderation on social media coming from the police and Meagher's husband, and with news reports hashing ov ...Show more
Adolescent Country: A Lowy Institue Paper - Penguin Specials by Peter Hartcher
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials
The great crises that threaten Australia's national prosperity come from abroad. So do the grandest opportunities. But in Australian politics the big matters are commonly crowded out by the small. International policy is used for domestic point-scoring. Leaders are criticised for travelling beyond the w ...Show more
After Cancer - A Guide to Living Well by Ranjana Srivastava
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials Ser.
As medical care improves, people are surviving cancer in increasing numbers. But there is little information about life post-treatment--what are some common themes and long-term side effects that people can expect to encounter? With warmth and vigor, After Cancer demystifies the aftermath of treatment, ...Show more
America vs the West: Can the Liberal World Order Be Preserved? by Kori Schake
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials Ser.
"The rules-based international order is being challenged... not by the usual suspects, but by its main architect and guarantor, the US." --European Council President Donald Tusk, 8 June 2018 Under President Donald Trump, the United States has burned like a wildfire through the goodwill it accrued in 70 ...Show more
Badlands: Penguin Special by Paul French
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials
An evocative account of the infamous nightlife district of pre-communist Beijing, from the internationally acclaimed author of the book Midnight in Peking. The Badlands, a warren of narrow hutongs in the eastern district of pre-communist Peking, had its heyday in the 1930s. Home to the city's drifters, ...Show more
Ballots Bullets and Kabulshit - An Afghan Election by Toby Ralph
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials | Reading Level: very good
Toby Ralph, described as one of the 'most powerful spinners and advisers in Australia', joined a UN team to assist with preparations for Afghanistan's 2009 presidential elections. Ballots, Bullets and Kabulshit offers a rare glimpse into the chaos and danger of attempting to deliver democracy in a war z ...Show more
Beauty's Sister (Penguin Special) by James Bradley
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials
Juniper, living deep in the forest with her parents, is stunned to discover that the beautiful girl living isolated in a nearby tower is her sister. When the two girls meet, what begins as a fascination and a friendship ultimately develops into something truly sinister. A story of jealousy, passion and ...Show more
Betrayal in Paris: How the Treaty of Versailles Led to China's Long Revolution by FRENCH PAUL
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials Ser.
At the conclusion of 'the war to end war', the victors set about redesigning the world map at the Paris Peace Conference. For China, Versailles presented an opportunity to regain territory lost to Japan. Yet, the country was to be severely disappointed. This study explores China's betrayal by the West, ...Show more
Beyond the Boom: Penguin Special by John Edwards
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials Ser.
After decades of prosperity Australians are now worried about their jobs, their incomes and their future. The mining boom, said to explain Australia's past success, is declared to be over. Unemployment has increased, carmakers have folded, the government is running a huge deficit. In a striking analysis ...Show more
Choosing Openness: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special: Why global engagement is best for Australia by Andrew Leigh
Category: Society & Culture | Series: Penguin Specials
Across the developed world, global engagement has become a major political fault line. Populists say that we should hunker down in the face of difference, that trade is a zero-sum game, and that foreign investment will cost us in the long run. They say openness is the cause of the growing income gap. Th ...Show more
Coal Face by Tom Doig
Category: No Category | Series: Penguin Specials
On 9 February 2014 a fire took hold in the Hazelwood coal mine near Morwell in Victoria; it wasn't brought under control until 25 March 2014. How was this small town affected by this huge disaster?