The Honest History Book

Honest History FINAL front

Update 13 August 2018: review in Australian Historical Studies (paywall) by Bart Ziino.

This book is a guide to the current state of play in Australians’ conflict over the past, just as it is a participant in it. Students and engaged readers will be glad for that tour of the battlefield. Whether the book is any guide out of that conflict, in which the belligerents are now once again entrenching themselves, remains to be seen.

Update 20 March 2018: 12 months sales figures

The Honest History Book was published in April 2017. It has been well received and widely reviewed. It can be purchased from good bookshops or direct from the publisher, NewSouth. Two recent reviews can be found on Australian Outlook (John Vecihi Basarin) and Australia Explained (Ingeborg van Teeseling).

The book is recommended for readers who wish to reflect on the way the Anzac legend has evolved and on its influence in determining Australia’s perceived imagination of itself and the meaning of “being Australian”. (John Basarin)

The Honest History Book bravely rewrites those [Anzac-heavy] histories, and in doing so proves that if we are bold enough to look at more facets of our past, this country is much more interesting than you would assume from just focusing on the slightly boring and one-dimensional Anzac legend alone. (Ingeborg van Teeseling)

The PANDORA archive provides earlier reviews, media coverage, book launch speeches, extracts from the book, chapter titles and other material.

31 October 2017 updated

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