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Suspect History
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 8, 2011
"It is my duty to report what people say,
but I am not required to believe it" - Herodotus.
During the Vietnam Moratorium campaign, ASIO had difficulty pigeon-holing Humphrey McQueen, whom they described as "an orthodox Leninist, Trotskyite and academic anarchist". He confesses only to thinking in ways that defy the police conception of history, in which nothing occurs by chance.
Paul Keating and John Howard used history to promote opposing policies on the republic and Mabo, invoking Manning Clark and Geoffrey Blainey as authorities for their respective sides.
When the Brisbane "Courier-Mail" claimed that Manning Clark was an agent of Soviet influence - or even a spy? - it turned up the heat in thee history wars. "Suspect History" interrogates the case against Clark and portrays the man who became "Mr Australian History" against the milieu in which he worked.
Humphrey McQueen reminds us of the stakes in the battle for possession of Australian History. Part memoir and part manifesto, part philippic and part philosophy, "Suspect History" muses on the problems of walking backwards into the future, turns a spotlight on the culture that the New Right forgot, and offers an optimistic account of our past that challenges the feel-good slogans of the Corporation Liberals...
but I am not required to believe it" - Herodotus.
During the Vietnam Moratorium campaign, ASIO had difficulty pigeon-holing Humphrey McQueen, whom they described as "an orthodox Leninist, Trotskyite and academic anarchist". He confesses only to thinking in ways that defy the police conception of history, in which nothing occurs by chance.
Paul Keating and John Howard used history to promote opposing policies on the republic and Mabo, invoking Manning Clark and Geoffrey Blainey as authorities for their respective sides.
When the Brisbane "Courier-Mail" claimed that Manning Clark was an agent of Soviet influence - or even a spy? - it turned up the heat in thee history wars. "Suspect History" interrogates the case against Clark and portrays the man who became "Mr Australian History" against the milieu in which he worked.
Humphrey McQueen reminds us of the stakes in the battle for possession of Australian History. Part memoir and part manifesto, part philippic and part philosophy, "Suspect History" muses on the problems of walking backwards into the future, turns a spotlight on the culture that the New Right forgot, and offers an optimistic account of our past that challenges the feel-good slogans of the Corporation Liberals...
April 21, 2024
I had doubts when I saw in the blurb that this was ‘part memoir and part manifesto, part philippic and part philosophy’ - an indication that it would be like the later works of many autodidactic, too sprawling and fleeting for its own good. But that is not the case here. This is the work of a remarkable intellect, drawing on personal experience and scholarly integrity to explain the embittered battleground of Australian history. It is indeed sprawling, beginning with a detailed and specific defence of Manning Clark and ending with the 90s history wars, but it is so tightly argued that it wasn’t disjointed at all. Very good reading, I expect I will return to it.
August 15, 2012
Great book by Humphrey!
A very interesting history book and analysis of the "history wars"... Very useful book that I used for my my undergrad history papers and for anlaysing of what really happened in Australia during our short and controversial history.
A very interesting history book and analysis of the "history wars"... Very useful book that I used for my my undergrad history papers and for anlaysing of what really happened in Australia during our short and controversial history.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews