Neanderthals living in Italy swam confidently and In early Egyptian, Greek and Roman images people are shown swimming overarm. But today, only one in four people in low income countries can swim.
An exceptionally talented writer, Shirley Hazzard is cherished for her novels The Great Fire and The Transit of Venus. Her life defends the right to be unfashionable and the value of learning.
Bob Dylan performing with George Harrison in 1971.
AP
Critic Greil Marcus sees Bob Dylan as constantly rewriting the national songbook. And in his weird, funny new book, Dylan does just that.
South Africa’s democratic era presidents, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe, Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa.
Penguin Random House South Africa
Mandela, the first president of a democratic South Africa, made big strategic choices – not necessarily the right ones, but certainly ones that were befitting of the times.
Warren Brown in The Daily Telegraph.
Best Australian Political Cartoons, 2022
It’s the 20th anniversary of Best Australian Political Cartoons – and it has been quite a year. From Putin to Dutton to Albanese, our cartoonists have been hard at work skewering the powerful.
Donald Trump likes books about as much as he does germs, but more than 100 have been written about him. Journalist Maggie Haberman conducted 250 interviews for hers, including three with Trump.
Nights of Plague is set on a fictional island in the early 20th century. Is it an allegory of empire’s fall; a contemplation on corruption and East-West tension or a reflection on pandemic life?
In a series of discussions with journalist Sean O'Hagan, we meet an older, reflective theologically-probing musician, drawn to the Christian qualities of mercy, atonement and forgiveness.
Elizabeth Strout’s novel Oh William! has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her follow up book takes us inside the head of a small, loving, anxious, slightly neurotic person during lockdown.
A new book explores how birds have adapted to our cities - from nesting in skyscrapers to snatching food - reflecting on the beauty and wildness they bring to urban landscapes.
From partying in California to activism in Australia, Grace Tame refuses to be defined by past traumatic events. The voice of her memoir, writes Camilla Nelson, is irrepressible.
Joyce Carol Oates saw Blonde, her epic novel interrogating the legend of Marilyn Monroe, as ‘my Moby Dick’. Mel Campbell celebrates Oates’ achievement, in the lead-up to the Netflix adaptation.
Social distancing in a New York park, 2020.
John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx Credit: AP
Breaking History reads like a dutiful student’s account of ‘what I did on my summer holidays’. But Kushner provides useful insights into the Washington and Middle Eastern policy-making processes.
ANC supporters show support for corruption accused and suspended party secretary general Ace Magashule outside court in Bleomfontein.
EFE-EPA/Conrad Bornman
Sam Vincent’s new book is a comic portrait of a farming apprenticeship, an interrogation of industrial agriculture and an example of how farmers are connecting with the land’s traditional owners.
Streetscenes, Melbourne, 1950.
Mark Strizic/State Library of Victoria
Jay Carmichael’s novel explores how Australian same-sex attracted men lived during the repressive period after the end of the second world war. But does it impose present concerns on the past?
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne