Society
Storm in a port: The unfolding disaster of the Ruby Princess
The system breakdowns onboard and onshore that led to the docking of the coronavirus cruise ship
August 2020
August 2020 eBook
Sport
How decades after Murdoch and Packer destroyed the popular appeal of a game created for the masses, Peter V’landys is putting rugby league back on top
Federal politics
The Morrison government is using the COVID-19 crisis to devastate the public service, the ABC, the arts and tertiary education
Issues and policies
Coronavirus lockdown is undoing gains for women in employment, shared domestic labour and protection from family violence
Feminism
Louisa Lawson, our first public feminist
The pioneer of publishing and women’s rights has been unjustly overshadowed by regard for her famous son, Henry
Family and relationships
Traditionally offering non-medical support to women during pregnancy, doulas are now providing care during abortions
Might challenges to neoliberal orthodoxies emerge from the pandemic, as challenges to Christian faith did after the Black Death?
Film
America’s imperfect angels: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ‘Hamilton’
Post Black Lives Matter, the hit musical already feels like a souvenir from a vanished pre-Trump America
Books
What are the odds?: Toby Ord’s ‘The Precipice’
The Australian philosopher’s rational exploration of existential risk is bracing but ultimately hopeful
Books
‘A Room Made of Leaves’ by Kate Grenville
The author of ‘The Secret River’ returns with a canny twist to fictionalise the life of Elizabeth Macarthur, wife of the Australian pioneering settler
Books
The debut novel from the screenwriter and director of ‘Being John Malkovich’, ‘Synecdoche, New York’ and more is the zippiest postmodern, self-referential doorstop you’ll ever read
