A Concise History of Australia: (Cambridge Concise Histories)

Australia is the last continent to be settled by Europeans, but it also sustains a people and a culture tens of thousands of years old. For much of the past 200 years the newcomers have sought to replace the old with the new. This book tells how they imposed themselves on the land, and brought technology, institutions and ideas to make it their own. It relates the advance from penal colony to a prosperous free nation and illustrates how, in a nation created by waves of newcomers, the search for binding traditions has long been frustrated by the feeling of rootlessness. This revised edition incorporates the most recent historical research and contemporary historical debates on frontier violence between European settlers and Aborigines and the Stolen Generations. It covers the Sydney Olympics, the refugee crisis and the 'Pacific solution'. More than ever before, Australians draw on the past to understand their future.

Table of Contents:
1. Beginnings; 2. Newcomers, c.1600–1792; 3. Coercion, 1793–1821; 4. Emancipation, 1822–1850; 5. In thrall to progress, 1851–1888; 6. National reconstruction, 1889–1913; 7. Sacrifice, 1914–1945; 8. Golden age, 1946–1974; 9. Reinventing Australia, 1975-2003; 10. What next?

About the Author :
Stuart Macintyre has been the Ernest Scott Professor of History at the University of Melbourne since 1990 and is a former president of the Australian Historical Association. His books include The Oxford History of Australia, Volume 4 (1986), A Colonial Liberalism (1991) and A History for a Nation (1994), and more recently, The History Wars (2003). Since 1999 he has been Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne.

Review :
From reviews of the first edition: 'At long last here is an accessible, sensible, learned and digestible history of Australia. It is a triumph of Stuart Macintyre's notable scholarship that he has come up with a book that is concise - not brief, not abbreviated - sharp and to the point …this is a tremendously useful tool for locals and outsiders. It should sit on every Australian's bookshelf, next to the dictionary and the atlas.' Nick Richardson, Herald-Sun 'It's a lively, intelligent, opinionated and very well written one-volume history, traversing some well-covered territory of colonial and twentieth-century Australia with a fresh eye that doesn't fail to observe the big and small picture.' David Gaunt, Australian Bookseller & Publisher 'Macintyre has absorbed the considerable corpus of monographic and interpretative works now thronging this field, and is masterly in integrating that knowledge into his own narration. The result is a work of surpassing professional skill.' Michael Roe, Australian Book Review 'It's a splendid piece of work and it belongs to a noble tradition … It conveys throughout a joy in writing history, in mastering the detail of the past - a joy especially in struggling with the soul of the country.' Alan Atkinson, Sydney Morning Herald 'Even those with a passion for the past often find it difficult to be enthused by the histories of 'new' countries. This excellent, compact volume about an ancient and harsh continent made anew over the last two centuries shows just why those prejudices should be put aside.' BBC History