This may be of particular interest to anyone in Canberra. The academic remainders bookstore in Garema Place currently has the most recent edition of “A New Brittania” by Humphrey McQueen for only $6.95. I have an old copy of one of the 1970s editions that I bought second-hand while in uni, and I found it to be a very interesting and enjoyable book, so I’m looking forward to reading the new content in this edition.

 The book is interesting, since it argues that the Australian Labor Party was never a socialist party (depsite having socialist tenets in its official objectives), but it was always more concerned with nationalism, racism and middle-class interests. In making this point, McQueen also criticises many Australian historians who glossed over these aspects of the ALP’s history.

For $6.95, it’s definitely worth picking up.

The other books I’m actually reading at the moment are also quite interesting – “Men and Women of Australia” compiled by Michael Fullilove, and “How to Get Things Done” by David Allen. More about them another time.