'The trouble is that the qualities that make a better person don’t always make a better political candidate' Joel Deane writes on Peter Dutton's black and white politics in 'The Manichaean Candidate' australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'The plump settler historical novel, replete with cards of fate, discordant musicscapes, and wraiths a-plenty, is back.' A. Frances Johnson reviews 'Cherrywood' by Jock Serong australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'Instead of ‘running with pirates’, the hero runs for home, and the reader is left pining for a more compelling adventure.' Shannon Burns reviews 'Running with Pirates' by Kári Gíslason australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'Public organisations should always be open to hearing all sorts of views, even ones with which they (or their principal benefactors) might disagree.' Peter Tregear reviews Fauré Requiem | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra australianbookreview.com.au/arts-update/10…

George Williams latest book, with David Hume, is 'People Power: How Australian referendums are lost and won' ABR interviews George Williams in the September issue: australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'Modi’s legacy will be defined by which path he decides to take, in the twilight of an era defined by his dominance.' Ian Hall on 'The twilight of Narendra Modi' australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'From her first film, A Real Young Girl (1976), Catherine Breillat has tackled taboo in her own idiosyncratically rigorous fashion.' Philippa Hawker reviews Last Summer | Potential Films australianbookreview.com.au/arts-update/10…

'Vortex affirms the literary principle that, for a capable writer, the centre of the world can be anywhere.' James Ley reviews our Book of the Week, 'Vortex' by Rodney Hall | Picador Books australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'Taking himself as both subject and object, Gordon strives to collapse the distance between words and experience.' Michael Winkler reviews'Excitable Boy' by Dominic Gordon | Upswell Publishing australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'The premise of the opera – leaning heavily on disguise, falsity, unreliability – is well known, and polarising.' Peter Rose reviews Così Fan Tutte | stateoperaofsa australianbookreview.com.au/arts-update/10…

'The striking achievement of this book is its range of human stories and the personal testimonies that Englund unearthed to document these.' Joan Beaumont reviews 'November 1942' by Peter Englund | The Bodley Head australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'Jamison knows, too, that the prickly details – the ones that sting – are what animate her non-fiction.' Beth Kearney reviews 'Splinters' by Leslie Jamison | Granta australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'The history of Australian referendums is clear: bipartisan support is a necessary precondition for constitutional change.' Dominic Kelly reviews two accounts of the Voice Referendum australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'Despite admirably conveying the central story of Hamlet, this is a production that almost fatally obliterates its import.' Diane Stubbings reviews the Melbourne Theatre Company's 'Hamlet' australianbookreview.com.au/arts-update/10…

'The book is a gauntlet, thrown at the feet of the least privately educated cabinet and parliament in the United Kingdom’s political history.' Gordon Pentland reviews 'Born to Rule' by Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman | Harvard University Press australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'The lethal violence of small wars [...] underpinned imperial regimes of armed peace and characterised settler empires across the globe, including in Australia.' Jeremy Martens reviews 'They Called It Peace' by Lauren Benton | Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.s australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…

'The BJP, supported by its coalition partners, was returned to office with far fewer seats than expected, and with Modi’s political authority much diminished.' Ian Hall on 'The twilight of Narendra Modi' australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/cur…