Collection: Adult Non Fiction - Society and Beliefs

The twentieth-century Australian welfare state made the bold promise to care for its citizens. But since the 1990s, social security has become increasingly conditional and punitive in its provision of this so-called care. Who Cares? outlines the perspectives of people affected by two recent welfa...

Optimism demands action. Optimism is an active choice. Optimism is not naive and it is not impossible. We are living in an age of turmoil, destruction and uncertainty. Global warming has reached terrifying heights of severity, human expansion has caused the extinction of countless species, and Ne...

The prizewinning author of The Ungrateful Refugee asks who is heard in our society, who is not - and why? 'I knew this from the beginning, when I was inside the lorry, thinking about truth. If you are a good storyteller you will be trusted, get a life, and escape from hell. But what do you need t...

Bri Lee asks Who gets to be smart? in this forensic and hard-hitting exploration of knowledge, power and privilege. In 2018, Bri Lee's brilliant young friend Damian was named a Rhodes Scholar, an apex of academic achievement. When she goes to visit him and takes a tour of Oxford and Rhodes House,...

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is under an existential threat, especially from the conservative federal government, even though it is the best-trusted news organisation in Australia, and plays a vital role in Australian life. For years, the ABC's funding has been slashed, forcing it to l...

Taking his cue from Cicero, the great Roman barrister, Geoffrey Robertson argues that justice requires the return not only of the 'Elgin' Marbles to Greece, but of many looted antiquities on display in the museums of Britain, Europe and America. He argues that the Gweagal Shield - dropped when Co...

Silicon for microchips; manganese for batteries; titanium for missiles. The moon contains a wealth of natural resources. So, as the Earth's supplies have begun to dwindle, it is no surprise that the world's superpowers and wealthiest corporations have turned their eyes to the stars. As this new S...

Who Owns This Sentence? is an often-humorous and always-enlightening cultural, legal, and global history of the idea that intangible things can be owned, and makes a persuasive case for seeing copyright as an engine of inequality in the twenty-first century.