The Fuss That Never Ended: The Life and Work of Geoffrey Blainey - Softcover

Gare, Deborah; Bolton, Geoffrey; Macintyre, Stuart; Stannage, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0522850340 ISBN 13: 9780522850345

Publisher: Melbourne University Press, 1999

Synopsis

It is time to reassess the work of Geoffrey Blainey, and consider his role in Australian history, politics and public life.

Geoffrey Blainey has steered Australian history into the nation's conversation. No one would dispute that he is a courageous public intellectual, a writer of rare grace and a master storyteller. And he has indeed provoked a rare fuss, both public and professional, with some of his comments on Asian immigration and Aboriginal land rights.

Blainey has challenged the academic history profession, not only with his ideas but also by his practice. A brilliant student, he looked set for Oxford but chose instead the austere west coast of Tasmania for his postgraduate research. For the next decade he earned a living with his pen. And instead of political history in the traditional academic mould, he wrote corporate histories that dispensed with footnotes.

Always probing and speculative, Blainey has dislodged many of the keystones in our understandings of Australia's past. He was one of the first to write about the expansive social history of this land before 1788; he questioned whether Botany Bay was founded primarily as a convict colony; he argued that the Eureka uprising had economic rather than political causes; and he identified sport as a neglected key to the Australian character. His controversial views earned such newspaper headlines as 'Brave Man Set Upon by Thugs for Telling Truth'.

In The Fuss That Never Ended a lively and distinguished assembly of fellow historians—of various ages, interests and political stances—take a fresh look at Blainey's remarkable and sometimes controversial career.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah Gare is a historian in the Australian Studies Centre, Curtin University. She is the author of Lady Onslow's Legacy. Geoffrey Bolton is pro-chancellor of Murdoch University and an adjunct professor at Curtin University of Technology. Stuart Macintyre is a professor of history at the University of Melbourne, and is currently the dean of the faculty of arts. Tom Stannage is a professor of history and executive dean of the division of humanities at Curtin University of Technology. He is the author of The People of Perth.

Edition details

• Publisher: Melbourne University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0522850340
• ISBN 13: 9780522850345
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240