Category Archives: Book review

This category is for book reviews by authors and book reviewers.

Jill Roe’s Searching for the Spirit: Theosophy in Australia, 1879–1939 (2020)

by Managing Editor Posted on August 25, 2020

Marian Quartly reflects upon historian Jill Roe’s book Searching for the Spirit: Theosophy in Australia, 1879-1939, upon its recent republication. Jill Roe, described on her death as ‘one of Australia’s greatest historians’, is best remembered for her internationally acclaimed biography of … Continue reading →

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“The Cultural Underpinnings of Misogyny”: Mary Beard’s Women & Power

by Managing Editor Posted on May 22, 2018

Lauren Robinson reflects upon classicist Mary Beard’s popular and provocative recent work, Women & Power: A Manifesto (2017). Mary Beard, Women & Power: A Manifesto. London: Profile Books, Ltd., 2017. RRP $19.99. ISBN: 9781788160605. Renowned British classicist Mary Beard’s latest offering, Women & Power: … Continue reading →

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Wonder Woman – feminine throwback or modern feminist icon?

by Managing Editor Posted on October 30, 2017

Following the success of the 2017 blockbuster film, Rachel Harris reviews a recent edited collection about the feminist politics of Wonder Woman. Jacob M. Held, ed. Wonder Woman and Philosophy: The Amazonian Mystique (Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, 2017). RRP $26.95 AUD … Continue reading →

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Beyond the goldfields: Australian migration to early-twentieth-century Shanghai

by Managing Editor Posted on August 30, 2017

VIDA blog’s Australian Women Writers Challenge book review continues with Deb Lee-Talbot’s review of a recent book by Sophie Loy-Wilson about Australian migration to China during the early twentieth century. Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson, Australians in Shanghai: Race, Rights and Nation in Treaty … Continue reading →

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“A Book of Lies”: Settler impressions of Aboriginal women

by Managing Editor Posted on May 7, 2017

VIDA blog’s Australian Women Writers Challenge book reviews continue with Lauren Robinson’s analysis of a book about colonial Australian history. Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this blog may contain the images and names of people who have since passed … Continue reading →

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From the fields of war to the streets of suburbia: A centenary of the Australian Red Cross

by Managing Editor Posted on February 3, 2017

VIDA blog’s Australian Women Writers Challenge book review series begins with Deb Lee-Talbot’s analysis of a book about how the Red Cross became as a significant Australian institution. Melanie Oppenheimer, The Power of Humanity: 100 Years of Australian Red Cross 1914-2014 (Sydney: Sydney South, NSW … Continue reading →

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From gardeners to governor’s wives – How have women shaped Australia’s cities?

by Managing Editor Posted on September 27, 2016

Rachel Harris reviews a new book on how women have shaped Australian cities. Jane Jose. Places Women Make: Unearthing the Contribution of Women to our Cities. Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2016. RRP $29.95. ISBN 9781743053942. As soon as I heard about Jane … Continue reading →

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