I have to say I was a little disappointed in this book. It wasn't so much a novel but felt like an attempt at "setting the record straight". What was...moreI have to say I was a little disappointed in this book. It wasn't so much a novel but felt like an attempt at "setting the record straight". What was odd though was the author narrating the tale was the made up character from the original novel, not the actual author. So it was still fiction, but all about how the original book was made up and not true to life. As such the characterisation was all very different. As it was more "real" Stella came across as much quieter, and complacent. There were still some brilliant chapters though, particularly about women's rights. (less)
I must admit I was a bit dissapointed with this collection. It has some nice stories, but most of them seemed more adventure story than spooky, and ev...moreI must admit I was a bit dissapointed with this collection. It has some nice stories, but most of them seemed more adventure story than spooky, and even when there was something supernatural there was hardly any ghosts. The White Maniac was a nice story about a very crazy woman, it was suspensefull and a horror story but not really supernatural in any way. A colonial banshee was fun, but not really scary in anyway. The death child was sad but not really scary. Hallowe'en was one of the best werewolf stories I've read (which granted isn't many). The devil of the marsh was very good, short and supernatural with an unhappy ending. Not one of the best collections I've read. The only author I'd like to read more of was Rosa Campbell Pread, her story was quite good, but mostly her bio made her sound very interesting. Writing supernatural fiction about a woman she lived with who she believed was a reincarnation of a Roman slave girl. (less)
This book looks at the emigration to Australia of people from the UK. The book focuses on those that were given assistance by the government and chari...moreThis book looks at the emigration to Australia of people from the UK. The book focuses on those that were given assistance by the government and charities for the period 1830-1860. It challenges the commonly held idea that those who immigrated to Australia were one step away from the criminal class, with many fewer skills than those who were immigrating to America. Haines examines the records of those who were granted assistance and found that these were mainly agricultural workers, and literate. They were not “shovelled out” but rather had to go through a great deal of testing for suitability. A lot of this testing reminded me of modern immigration practice, vaccinations, marriage certificates, proof of literacy, work skills, character witnesses etc. Haines thought it was worth mentioning that the tests for literacy tested for writing and not reading, which was much less common in 19th century England as it was thought that teaching people to write would give them ideas above their station. I read it to gain a better understanding for cataloguing the Emigration Tracts at work, and while I feel I have learned more about this period, and the difference between emigration to America and Australia, I feel that the attention to detail over the numbers obscured the bigger picture. However, this book did contain a large section on the emigration tracts I am cataloguing, who produced them and why, from pro-emigration groups to religious pamphlets. So far I have only come across one pamphlet by the Society of Friends that was religious in nature, An address of Christian counsel and caution to emigrants to newly-settled colonies. I was expecting this to be what is described in the book as, “exhorting them to avoid drunkenness and sin and emphasising the importance of worship” (187) but in fact this was the most wonderful tract that condemned any prejudice against the native peoples, said to treat them fairly, not to take their land, and not to support any war made against them. It was a very refreshing voice of reason and probably the best tract I’ve read yet in the 5 volumes I’ve catalogued so far. Overall I felt this book was a little too heavy on facts and figures rather than information about the people who emigrated. While these details are important, particularly the break down of figures within the different colonies, I felt that Haines could have benefitted from including more of a social or political history to go along with these figures. Still this is a small complaint for what is a very informative book. Definitely not one that’s in my area of personal interest, but readable and accessible.(less)
I found this book in our local remainders shop for £6, when I checked amazon it was selling new for 100 and used for 60 so I thought I'd buy it cause...moreI found this book in our local remainders shop for £6, when I checked amazon it was selling new for 100 and used for 60 so I thought I'd buy it cause even if I hated it I could sell it for a huge profit. Thankfully I didn't hate it.
I thought it was a very interesting look at Australian Aboriginal culture and religion. While I've read mythology books about the Dreaming before I'd not read any academic texts. Despite that I was able to follow along the different arguments and ideas that David put forth as he gave lots of background and theory to his arguments and points. As a historian and not an archaeologist I wasn't able to judge the methodology used but it seemed quite balanced. The historical arguments at least were all familiar to me and seemed quite sound. While he used a lot of what I call "post modern terminology" (there was actually a subheading called subverting the dominant paradigm). He did it in such a way that you could still understand what he was talking about and I found myself agreeing with many of the points he raised.
His theory behind the book that the idea of the Dreaming as this timeless religious idea and the idea that the religion and the aborigine culture remaining unchanged for thousands of years grew out of the racist assumptions of the past that as they used stone tools they must just be like the stone age people from Europe and must have remained in a static state for the intervening time. He went to look at different archaeological evidence to challenge this preconception, pointing out it's racist origins and find out how much validity to this idea there was.
David examined ritual practices, cave art, beliefs about certain areas, population centres and food sources as different ways of assessing these ideas. He found that there were distinct periods were there was noticable change. That while still very old, in some cases several thousand years, there was not a "timelessness" to the past. But rather there were definite changes, growth periods, and changes in both belief and practice that could be shown. One of the most interesting examples was of an area that was considered unsafe to live in because of religious beliefs from the dreaming figures that occupied it but that had been a source of habitation up until about 600 years ago.
This was not a book that went into detail about the Australian Aboriginal culture, though there was quite a lot that was covered including gender relations, religion, work, rituals, art, food to name a few. But when given these were used to look at how they were now in relation to how they had changed.
I found this book very interesting, not only because I learned much more about Aboriginal culture but also from a theory point of view about the way we view history and in particular the history and religion of other cultures. I'm very glad I found it. (less)
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