Rate this book

The Lucky Country (1964)

by Donald Horne(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0143180029 (ISBN13: 9780143180029)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Penguin Books

review 1: Hmm... Pretty scathing critique of Australia, and though they claim it's a timeless classic I think it's heavy opinions were showing their age a bit (and it is properly old: for instance, PNG was still a colony). The idea of Australia being run by second-rates, hardly any intellectuals, and a pervasive sense of it still being "British" certainly doesn't strike me as true (though I don't know if urban Melbourne gives the most representative view on that). Plus the writing was pretty tricky to wade through (heavy on the academic-speak). Glad I've read it as it was an important commentary on Australia but not sure I liked it.
review 2: This book got a lot right about Australia, sometime surprisingly so for something written a few decades ago now. The sections on o... moreur cities, immigration, society, our position in relation to Great Britain, America and Asia, religion, and "the Australian dream" were interesting and well written. I got a little lost in the political sections though, too much talk of Menzies, and in the final sections where Horne really tries to nail in his thesis. less

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