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There It Is Again
Historian, essayist, speechwriter, humourist, anti-cant crusader; Don Watson has a gift for luring us to the nub of a matter, or at least to a new view of it, there to grin or grind our teeth at the spectacle. Over the years Don Watson has written on politics and politicians in Australia and the USA, sport, nature, history, culture, crimes against speech, and military commemorations. Sometimes he writes in celebration of a moment or a creature of beauty; at other times, because something or someone gets on his goat - or up it, as young folk say these days. At the heart of all of his work is the belief that, more than just about anything else - more even than free markets or lifestyle choices - in a civilized society words matter.
- GenresNonfiction
548 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2018
5 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Don Watson
69 books67 followersWatson grew up on a farm in Gippsland, took his undergraduate degree at La Trobe University and a Ph.D at Monash University and was for ten years an academic historian. He wrote three books on Australian history before turning his hand to TV and the stage. For several years he combined writing political satire for the actor Max Gillies with political speeches for the former Premier of Victoria, John Cain.
In 1992 he became Prime Minister Paul Keating's speech-writer and adviser and his best-selling account of those years, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart': Paul Keating Prime Minister, won both the The Age Book of the Year and non-fiction Prizes, the Brisbane Courier Mail Book of the Year, the National Biography Award and the Australian Literary Studies Association's Book of the Year.
In addition to regular books, articles and essays, in recent years he has also written feature films, including The Man Who Sued God, starring Billy Connolly and Judy Davis. His 2001 Quarterly Essay Rabbit Syndrome: Australia and America won the inaugural Alfred Deakin Prize in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Death Sentence, his book about the decay of public language, was also a best seller and won the Australian Booksellers Association Book of the Year. Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words was published in 2004 and continued to encourage readers to renounce what he perceives to be meaningless corporate and government jargon that is spreading throughout Australia and embrace meaningful, precise language. More recently Watson contributed the preface to a selection of Mark Twain's writings, The Wayward Tourist.
His latest book, American Journeys is a narrative of modern America from Watson's travels in the United States following Hurricane Katrina. It was published by Knopf in 2008 and won both the The Age Book of the Year non-fiction and Book of the Year awards.[4]. It also won the 2008 Walkley Award for the best non-fiction book.
In 1992 he became Prime Minister Paul Keating's speech-writer and adviser and his best-selling account of those years, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart': Paul Keating Prime Minister, won both the The Age Book of the Year and non-fiction Prizes, the Brisbane Courier Mail Book of the Year, the National Biography Award and the Australian Literary Studies Association's Book of the Year.
In addition to regular books, articles and essays, in recent years he has also written feature films, including The Man Who Sued God, starring Billy Connolly and Judy Davis. His 2001 Quarterly Essay Rabbit Syndrome: Australia and America won the inaugural Alfred Deakin Prize in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Death Sentence, his book about the decay of public language, was also a best seller and won the Australian Booksellers Association Book of the Year. Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words was published in 2004 and continued to encourage readers to renounce what he perceives to be meaningless corporate and government jargon that is spreading throughout Australia and embrace meaningful, precise language. More recently Watson contributed the preface to a selection of Mark Twain's writings, The Wayward Tourist.
His latest book, American Journeys is a narrative of modern America from Watson's travels in the United States following Hurricane Katrina. It was published by Knopf in 2008 and won both the The Age Book of the Year non-fiction and Book of the Year awards.[4]. It also won the 2008 Walkley Award for the best non-fiction book.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 30, 2018
‘English is an accommodating language.’
Don Watson is one of my favourite Australian authors. I’ve read each of his books and some of his columns while ‘Recollections of a Bleeding Heart’ and ‘The Bush’ have permanent homes on my bookshelf. When I heard that this book had been published, I added it to my reading list immediately.
The book is a collection of pieces published in various places over the past two decades. It’s an eclectic collection, which includes pieces on management, extracts from his other books and some wonderful pieces on society, politics and aspects of nature.
‘No unprejudiced human being could fail to be improved by the presence of magpies’.
Don Watson’s thoughts about magpies had me reconsidering. For most of the year, I like magpies (the birds, not the AFL team) but in spring I am wary. I need to avoid a couple of streets where I normally walk: the magpies there are very territorial and will swoop almost everyone. But I agree with Don Watson:
‘They are fearless, resourceful, amusing and melodious; and, above all – as all birds have to be – stoic.'
Many of Don Watson’s pieces on management take me back to my public-sector past. I remember mastering the art of writing in third person passive before a shift to active language became fashionable. It didn’t last long.
‘If scientists can regenerate a liver, even grow one from scratch, can a society of authors regenerate a language, or even just defend it ?
I wonder.
Most times I hop on the bus, almost everyone has their eyes glued to a mobile device. Or they are listening through headphones or earbuds, blocking out the external world. Those that don’t are usually my age or older. And as we all sit there in a confined space, in our separate worlds, I think about the role of electronic devices and connectivity in education. One of my favourite pieces in this book is entitled ‘Phoney Education’:
‘This is a shortcoming we have to acknowledge: the best mobile phone in the world cannot do what a teacher can. It is dumb, like a mule, and no more the master of the information we download from it than a mule is master of the piano it carries on its back.’
The best teachers teach us how to determine what is useful, and how to apply knowledge. I’m grateful I grew up in a pre-digital age, that I’ve acquired some skills useful as I wander around the internet.
I enjoyed each of the pieces in this book: others took me into the familiarity of the past while others had me worrying about the future. Each piece made me think: whether it was about country, horse-racing or politics.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Don Watson is one of my favourite Australian authors. I’ve read each of his books and some of his columns while ‘Recollections of a Bleeding Heart’ and ‘The Bush’ have permanent homes on my bookshelf. When I heard that this book had been published, I added it to my reading list immediately.
The book is a collection of pieces published in various places over the past two decades. It’s an eclectic collection, which includes pieces on management, extracts from his other books and some wonderful pieces on society, politics and aspects of nature.
‘No unprejudiced human being could fail to be improved by the presence of magpies’.
Don Watson’s thoughts about magpies had me reconsidering. For most of the year, I like magpies (the birds, not the AFL team) but in spring I am wary. I need to avoid a couple of streets where I normally walk: the magpies there are very territorial and will swoop almost everyone. But I agree with Don Watson:
‘They are fearless, resourceful, amusing and melodious; and, above all – as all birds have to be – stoic.'
Many of Don Watson’s pieces on management take me back to my public-sector past. I remember mastering the art of writing in third person passive before a shift to active language became fashionable. It didn’t last long.
‘If scientists can regenerate a liver, even grow one from scratch, can a society of authors regenerate a language, or even just defend it ?
I wonder.
Most times I hop on the bus, almost everyone has their eyes glued to a mobile device. Or they are listening through headphones or earbuds, blocking out the external world. Those that don’t are usually my age or older. And as we all sit there in a confined space, in our separate worlds, I think about the role of electronic devices and connectivity in education. One of my favourite pieces in this book is entitled ‘Phoney Education’:
‘This is a shortcoming we have to acknowledge: the best mobile phone in the world cannot do what a teacher can. It is dumb, like a mule, and no more the master of the information we download from it than a mule is master of the piano it carries on its back.’
The best teachers teach us how to determine what is useful, and how to apply knowledge. I’m grateful I grew up in a pre-digital age, that I’ve acquired some skills useful as I wander around the internet.
I enjoyed each of the pieces in this book: others took me into the familiarity of the past while others had me worrying about the future. Each piece made me think: whether it was about country, horse-racing or politics.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
February 8, 2018
This was a fascinating read, especially since it began with writings on political events that occurred in my youth in the early 2000s, when I was aware that John Howard was the PM but was immune to the wheelings and dealings of the political sphere - and carried on through the recent years of leadership turmoil until the election of Trump as POTUS. Don Watson's cynical, dry, satirical tone was enjoyable though I didn't agree with all his opinions.
January 21, 2018
I'm having trouble reading at the moment, for all sorts of reasons including heat of various kinds and my remedy was to go out and buy more books, leaving the many partly begun and otherwise unfinished in their wake. Things that I could read and relax with, but that also made me think, as that's relaxation for me.
Don Watson is one of my favourite authors and this book fitted my bill because it's a collection of short pieces, many of which I'd read before, and a number unfamiliar to me. His topics are essentially society and politics, predominantly Australian, but also the United States, where he's travelled and observed. Another interest is language and he's skewered what passes for corporate/managerial/political communication for many years, which delights me, as a lover of Plain English, a method that disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
His pen-pictures of public and private citizens are interesting and insightful, whether on Amtrak, or various places in Australia. An interesting feature of his writing is that he represents an older Australia, having been raised on a farm and being a lover of racehorses. You might say he has the common touch, or a particular form of it.
That has to be balanced with his life as an academic, historian, political speechwriter and so on. I think he's an excellent writer, yet he says he's uncomfortable with that, as well as being an historian or "public intellectual" about which he tells a story. I think he sells himself short here, but he does list people who he thinks are real writers, and I can understand why he's uneasy, but I would still call him a fine writer, with the ability to get to the core issue, or make the pertinent observation.
I like to think of myself as a writer, mostly because people have told me I'm one, and I have short pieces published in a niche area. It can be self-aggrandising to label yourself as anything, something Watson himself relates to an older settler perspective, one I also hold. I knew two people, at different times, otherwise agreeable, who described themselves as writers when they had little to show if anything, and their command of the written language and associated grammar was actually quite poor; yet they saw themselves that way, which was curious.
Watson is broadly read in a way I'm not, drawing from literature and film, most enlightening in a piece on Donald Trump, whp he correctly identifies as a particular kind of American, and so not the aberration he's been made out to be by some. Current and former Australian Prime Ministers fall under his gaze as well, with some very pertinent comments. Also pertinent are comments on government policy and the lack of thinking of any kind, observing that you can be a successful politician and also be stupid.
So this was an excellent read, starting on the train and ending up here where I'm sitting now. If you want to get some perspective on my country and also acute observations on the USA as well as the general state of affairs and you want it in an incisive readable fashion, with interludes about the bush and the strategies of crows, magpies and other birds, then get hold of this book.
I can only wait for the next one, or a piece in The Monthly magazine.
Don Watson is one of my favourite authors and this book fitted my bill because it's a collection of short pieces, many of which I'd read before, and a number unfamiliar to me. His topics are essentially society and politics, predominantly Australian, but also the United States, where he's travelled and observed. Another interest is language and he's skewered what passes for corporate/managerial/political communication for many years, which delights me, as a lover of Plain English, a method that disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
His pen-pictures of public and private citizens are interesting and insightful, whether on Amtrak, or various places in Australia. An interesting feature of his writing is that he represents an older Australia, having been raised on a farm and being a lover of racehorses. You might say he has the common touch, or a particular form of it.
That has to be balanced with his life as an academic, historian, political speechwriter and so on. I think he's an excellent writer, yet he says he's uncomfortable with that, as well as being an historian or "public intellectual" about which he tells a story. I think he sells himself short here, but he does list people who he thinks are real writers, and I can understand why he's uneasy, but I would still call him a fine writer, with the ability to get to the core issue, or make the pertinent observation.
I like to think of myself as a writer, mostly because people have told me I'm one, and I have short pieces published in a niche area. It can be self-aggrandising to label yourself as anything, something Watson himself relates to an older settler perspective, one I also hold. I knew two people, at different times, otherwise agreeable, who described themselves as writers when they had little to show if anything, and their command of the written language and associated grammar was actually quite poor; yet they saw themselves that way, which was curious.
Watson is broadly read in a way I'm not, drawing from literature and film, most enlightening in a piece on Donald Trump, whp he correctly identifies as a particular kind of American, and so not the aberration he's been made out to be by some. Current and former Australian Prime Ministers fall under his gaze as well, with some very pertinent comments. Also pertinent are comments on government policy and the lack of thinking of any kind, observing that you can be a successful politician and also be stupid.
So this was an excellent read, starting on the train and ending up here where I'm sitting now. If you want to get some perspective on my country and also acute observations on the USA as well as the general state of affairs and you want it in an incisive readable fashion, with interludes about the bush and the strategies of crows, magpies and other birds, then get hold of this book.
I can only wait for the next one, or a piece in The Monthly magazine.
February 8, 2018
THERE IT IS AGAIN collected writings by Don Watson - A Penguin Book
Review by Ian Smith
George Orwell once wrote “Words have precise and specific meanings and we should do our best to stick to them when we speak or write.” Don continually rails against the misuse and abuse of the English language, it’s a constant theme throughout the book and two of his main targets are managerial language and current education practices. That, and a myriad of other themes, are sprinkled through this interesting and informative work.
One of his prime examples, from a Nursing Science Quarterly, “A mentoring moment is an inter subjective coming to know in dialogue that engages unitary humans in a transformative process, conforming beliefs and values in creatively imagining and launching projects…”
Having said that, it would pay to have a dictionary handy because you may come across words such as amanuensis, hagiographic and paean on facing pages. His knowledge is obviously vast, he’s well-read and he’s also a political animal, having been a key speech writer for Paul Keating, so you’ll have no trouble guessing his leanings.
“Mateship is all but dead, it’s not compatible with a creed of self-interest”, is a statement sure to arouse controversy, but I have to confess to being on the same page with him on so many topics. The farcical “weapons of mass destruction”, conjured up to facilitate American control over Iraqi oil, the appalling lack of governmental care around Hurricane Katrina, the treatment of refugees and indigenous people by Australia are just some of the topics covered.
Then there’s dairy farming, sport and bird habits, which may appear incongruous but he has had interests in all three, especially the former where he was raised. I found his fluency on these subjects immensely palatable. At other times there’s hilarity, such as his undisguised satirical piece on Tony Abbott or winsome smiles when he elaborates on the racehorses he’s had a share in.
At times it feels like an examination in which so many things are thrown at you until you finally succumb because just too many names and expressions are unfamiliar. You will feel like you’ve tried but not totally succeeded but en route will have gleaned much and noted a hundred wonderful quotes.
“…many powerful people are insecure, ill-tempered and unreasonable, many have been corrupted by power and, for all their success in politics, not a few are stupid.” This, nearly at the end, brings us to the present time, so you should have no difficulty in guessing about whom he is writing.
Summing up, a satisfying book, but clearly not one to digest at a single sitting.
Review by Ian Smith
George Orwell once wrote “Words have precise and specific meanings and we should do our best to stick to them when we speak or write.” Don continually rails against the misuse and abuse of the English language, it’s a constant theme throughout the book and two of his main targets are managerial language and current education practices. That, and a myriad of other themes, are sprinkled through this interesting and informative work.
One of his prime examples, from a Nursing Science Quarterly, “A mentoring moment is an inter subjective coming to know in dialogue that engages unitary humans in a transformative process, conforming beliefs and values in creatively imagining and launching projects…”
Having said that, it would pay to have a dictionary handy because you may come across words such as amanuensis, hagiographic and paean on facing pages. His knowledge is obviously vast, he’s well-read and he’s also a political animal, having been a key speech writer for Paul Keating, so you’ll have no trouble guessing his leanings.
“Mateship is all but dead, it’s not compatible with a creed of self-interest”, is a statement sure to arouse controversy, but I have to confess to being on the same page with him on so many topics. The farcical “weapons of mass destruction”, conjured up to facilitate American control over Iraqi oil, the appalling lack of governmental care around Hurricane Katrina, the treatment of refugees and indigenous people by Australia are just some of the topics covered.
Then there’s dairy farming, sport and bird habits, which may appear incongruous but he has had interests in all three, especially the former where he was raised. I found his fluency on these subjects immensely palatable. At other times there’s hilarity, such as his undisguised satirical piece on Tony Abbott or winsome smiles when he elaborates on the racehorses he’s had a share in.
At times it feels like an examination in which so many things are thrown at you until you finally succumb because just too many names and expressions are unfamiliar. You will feel like you’ve tried but not totally succeeded but en route will have gleaned much and noted a hundred wonderful quotes.
“…many powerful people are insecure, ill-tempered and unreasonable, many have been corrupted by power and, for all their success in politics, not a few are stupid.” This, nearly at the end, brings us to the present time, so you should have no difficulty in guessing about whom he is writing.
Summing up, a satisfying book, but clearly not one to digest at a single sitting.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews