Non-fiction - essays
Featured Essays
The Feeling of Failure by Jesper Juul
Extract
"A few years ago, my new mobile phone came with the game Super Real Tennis. Every time I played the game, no matter how far I progressed, each session concluded with the message shown in figure 3.1, telling me to check the “basic operation methods.” These instructions told me only the most rudimentary information about the game’s controls, but I kept returning to them to make sure I had not missed anything. Why did the game keep telling me to read the basic instructions? Was I that bad a player? Were there normal and advanced instructions screens that the game would show to other, smarter players? I was rationally convinced that this was a simple design oversight, but I could not escape severe self-doubts, due to a small free tennis game" (p. 47).
Citation
Juul, J. (2013). The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games, MIT Press.
The Australian Dream: Blood, History and Becoming by Stan Grant
"In the winter of 2015, Australia turned to face itself. It looked into its soul and it had to ask this question: who are we? What sort of country do we want to be? And this happened in a place that is most holy, most sacred to Australians. It happened on the sporting field, it happened on the football field. Suddenly the front page was on the back page, it was in the grandstands. Thousands of voices rose to hound an Indigenous man. A man who was told he wasn’t Australian. A man who was told he wasn’t Australian of the Year. And they hounded that man into submission. I can’t speak for what lay in the hearts of the people who booed Adam Goodes. But I can tell you what we heard when we heard those boos. We heard a sound that was very familiar to us. We heard a howl. We heard a howl of humiliation that echoes across two centuries of dispossession, injustice, suffering and survival. We heard the howl of the Australian Dream, and it said to us again: you’re not welcome" (p. 5).
Citation
Grant, S. (2016). The Australian Dream: Blood, History and Becoming. Quarterly Essay, 1832-0953(64), 1-56.
Fear of a Black President by Ta-Nehisi Coates
An essay about the 2012 presidential election published in The Atlantic magazine. Coates won the United States National Magazines Award for Essays and Criticism for this piece about Barack Obama.
"The irony of President Barack Obama is best captured in his comments on the death of Trayvon Martin and the ensuing fray. Obama has pitched his presidency as a monument to moderation. He peppers his speeches with nods to ideas originally held by conservatives. He routinely cites Ronald Reagan. He effusively praises the enduring wisdom of the American people, and believes that the height of insight lies in the town square. Despite his sloganeering for change and progress, Obama is a conservative revolutionary, and nowhere is his conservative character revealed more than in the very sphere where he holds singular gravity— race" (p. 3).
Citation
The Best American Magazine Writing 2013, edited by Sid Holt, and The American Society of Magazine Editors, Columbia University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bond/detail.action?docID=1426384.
Essay Collections
Happiness As Enterprise by ISBN: 9781438449838Publication Date: 2014-03-01Recent decades have seen an explosion of interest in the phenomenon of happiness, as evidenced by self-help books, talk shows, spiritual mentoring, business management, and relationship counseling. At the center of this development is the expanding influence of "positive psychology," which places the concern with happiness in a new position of professional respectability, while opening it to institutional applications. In settings as diverse as college education, business, military training, family, and financial planning, happiness has appeared as the object of a new technology of emotional self-optimization. As such, happiness has come to define a new mentality of self-government--or a "governmentality" as the concept is developed in the work of Michel Foucault--one that Sam Binkley demonstrates is aligned closely with economic neoliberalism. Happiness as Enterprise blends theoretical argumentation and empirical description in an engaging and accessible analysis that brings governmentality theory into contact with sociological theories of practice and temporality, particularly in the work of Pierre Bourdieu. This book invites readers not only to consider the new discourse on happiness for its relation to contemporary formations of power, but to rethink many of the assumptions of governmentality theory in a manner sensitive to the mundane practices and everyday agencies of government, and the unique and specific temporalities these practices imply.
Hungry People and Empty Lands by ISBN: 9780415595384Publication Date: 2011-01-26First published in 1954, this reissue deals with the problem of international tensions arising from demographic and fertility differences, with special reference to such heavily populated Asian countries as China, Japan and India.
The Death of Public Knowledge? by ISBN: 9781906897390Publication Date: 2017-06-09A collection of short, sharp essays exploring the value of shared and accessible public knowledge in the face of its erosion. Covering areas of international public concern, these polemical, accessible texts include reflections on the fate of schools and education, the takeover of public institutions by private interests, and the corruption of news and information in the financial sector.
Quarterly Essay 54 Dragon's Tail by ISBN: 9781922231567Publication Date: 2014-06-21In Dragon's Tail, Andrew Charlton explores the supercharged rise of China and considers Australia's future as the Chinese dragon stirs and shifts. China's rise has been perhaps the most significant economic event in two centuries, occurring 100 times more quickly and on a scale 1000 times larger than Britain's Industrial Revolution. Since 2000, Australia has been an essential part of this transformation, providing the raw materials to feed China's frantic manufacture of steel vertebrae for everything from cars and trucks to railways, apartments and office towers. China's appetite for resources has made us richer than ever before, but it has also drained the competitiveness from many parts of our economy, leaving us vulnerable. In Dragon's Tail, Andrew Charlton shows that China's growth model is now reaching its limit, and the world's most populous economy faces a challenging transition. Whether China crashes, or crashes through, this will have dramatic implications for Australia, slowing the demand for our resources and forcing us to reassess the foundations of our wealth. Charlton looks at ways to revitalise the Australian economy and secure our prosperity in a changing world. "Understanding China's growth model helps explain why australia has done so well in the twenty-first century. But it also explains why, at the same time, our economic anxiety is reaching a zenith: why holden is leaving, why the budget is in such an apparent quagmire, why house prices are soaring, why the dollar is so volatile. China's growth has brought us a windfall, but it is a precarious sort of prosperity." - Andrew Charlton, Dragon's Tail Andrew Charlton is the author of Ozonomics, Fair Trade for All (written with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz) and Quarterly Essay 44, Man-Made World, which won the 2012 John Button Prize. From 2008 to 2010 he was senior economic adviser to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. He previously worked for the London School of Economics and the United Nations and received his doctorate in economics from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
Imposing Values by ISBN: 9780195374964Publication Date: 2009-03-20A major question for liberal politics and liberal political theory concerns the proper scope of government. Liberalism has always favored limited government, but there has been wide-ranging dispute among liberals about just how extensive the scope of government should be. Included in this dispute are questions about the extent of state ownership of the means of production, redistribution of wealth and income through the tax code and transfer programs, and the extent of government regulation. One of N. Scott Arnold's goals is to give an accurate characterization of both modern liberalism and classical liberalism, explaining along the way why libertarianism is not the only form that classical liberalism can take. The main focus of Arnold's book, however, concerns regulation--specifically, the modern liberal regulatory agenda as it has taken shape in contemporary American society. This is the set of regulatory regimes favored by all modern liberals and opposed by all classical liberals. It includes contemporary employment law in all its manifestations, health and safety regulation, and land use regulation. The heart of the book consists of a systematic evaluation of arguments for and against all the items on this agenda. It turns out that there are good arguments on both sides for most of these regulatory regimes. Because of this, and because someone's vision of the proper scope of government will ultimately prevail, some procedural requirements that all liberals could agree to must be satisfied for one side to impose legitimately its values on the polity at large. These procedural requirements are identified, argued for, and then applied to the elements of the modern liberal regulatory agenda. Arnold argues that many, though not all, of these elements have been illegitimately imposed on American society.
Morality, Self Knowledge and Human Suffering by ISBN: 9780415890694Publication Date: 2012-04-25In this wholly original study, Josep Corbi asks how one should relate to a certain kind of human suffering, namely, the harm that people cause one another. Relying upon real life examples of human suffering--including torture, genocide, and warfare--as opposed to thought experiments, Corbi proposes a novel approach to self-knowledge that runs counter to standard Kantian approaches to morality.
Liberalism in Neoliberal Times by ISBN: 9781906897406Publication Date: 2017-06-09An exploration of the theories, histories, practices, and contradictions of liberalism today. What does it mean to be a liberal in neoliberal times? This collection of short essays attempts to show how liberals and the wider concept of liberalism remain relevant in what many perceive to be a highly illiberal age.
Quarterly Essay 62: Firing Line by ISBN: 9781925435016Publication Date: 2016-06-13Going to war may be the gravest decision a nation and its leaders make. At the moment, Australia is at war with the Islamic State. We also live in a region that has become much more volatile, as China asserts itself and America seeks to hold the line. What is it like to go to war? How do we decide to go to war? Where might we go to war in the future? Will we get that decision right? In this vivid, urgent essay, James Brown looks to history, strategy and his own experience to explore these questions. He examines the legacy of the Iraq War and argues that it has prevented a clear view of Australia's future conflicts. He looks at how we plug into the US war machine, now that American troops are based in Darwin. And he sheds fascinating light on the extraordinary concentration of war powers in the hands of the Prime Minister - and how this might go wrong. This powerful essay argues that we have not yet begun to think through the choices that may confront us in years ahead. 'When you live in a country like ours, the dirty business of war is a stranger. That is the blessed legacy of a place where soldiers are rarely seen, and then only on parade. Where war means Anzac Day, and Anzac Days are all the same. There are few moments in modern Australia when you might pause to ask the most consequential of questions . . . What is it that we are willing to fight for?' --James Brown, Firing Line '[James Brown] is a fine writer, clear and persuasive and capable of adroit tactical moves.' --Weekend Australian 'Brown's survey of this complicated landscape yields some striking phrases and arresting moments. He is a natural and precise writer with a vivid sense of place.' --Australian Book Review
Italoamericana by ISBN: 9780823260614Publication Date: 2014-04-15To appreciate the life of the Italian immigrant enclave from the great heart of the Italian migration to its settlement in America requires that one come to know how these immigrants saw their communities as colonies of the mother country. Edited with extraordinary skill, Italoamericana: The Literature of the Great Migration, 1880-1943 brings to an English-speaking audience a definitive collection of classic writings on, about, and from the formative years of the Italian-American experience. Originally published in Italian, this landmark collection of translated writings establishes a rich, diverse, and mature sense of Italian-American life by allowing readers to see American society through the eyes of Italian-speaking immigrants. Filled with the voices from the first generation of Italian-American life, the book presents a unique treasury of long-inaccessible writing that embodies a literary canon for Italian-American culture--poetry, drama, journalism, political advocacy, history, memoir, biography, and story--the greater part of which has never before been translated.
The Long Goodbye by ISBN: 9781863959216Publication Date: 2017-06-13The Great Barrier Reef is dying. Extreme weather is becoming all too familiar. Yet when it comes to action on climate change, division and paralysis rule the land. In this vivid, urgent essay, Anna Krien explores the psychology and politics of a warming world. She visits the frontlines of Australia's climate wars - the Reef, the Galilee and Bowen basins, South Australia. She investigates the Adani mine, with its toxic politics and controversial economics. Talking to power workers and scientists, lobbyists and activists, she considers where climate change is taking us, and where effective action is to be found. "This was Turnbull's moment, and the Liberal Party's too. Not just the Snowy 2.0, but the whole thing - an ailing and dysfunctional grid, a complex issue, something for the 'adults' to take responsibility for. But instead of leadership, Australians got politics as usual. Cheap shots, culture-war baiting, bad and good ideas lobbed like hot potatoes and lost in the trash talk of low-grade politics. After the ten-day policy spree, Turnbull resumed his poker face, continuing with his grim role of negotiating with the vipers in his nest." Anna Krien, The Long Goodbye Anna Krien is the author of Night Games: Sex, Power and Sport, Into the Woods: The Battle for Tasmania's Forests and Quarterly Essay 45 Us and Them: On the Importance of Animals. Her work has been published in the Monthly, the Age, the Big Issue, Best Australian Essays, Best Australian Stories, Griffith Review and frankie. In 2014 she won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award in the UK.
Leaving Us to Wonder by ISBN: 9780791463130Publication Date: 2004-12-30Explores the larger social, political, and philosophical contexts in which the current vitriolic science vs. anti-science debates occur. This exciting collaboration between a biologist and a philosopher explores the meaning of the scientific worldview and how it plays out in our everyday lives. The authors investigate alternatives to scientism, the view that science is the proper and exclusive foundation for thinking about and answering every question. They ask: Does the current technoscientific worldview threaten the pursuit of living well? Do the facts procured by technoscientific systems render inconsequential our lived experiences, the wisdom of ancient and contemporary philosophical insight, and the promise offered by time-honored religious beliefs? Drawing on important Western thinkers, including Kant, Nietzsche, Darwin, Heidegger, and others, Linda Wiener and Ramsey Eric Ramsey demonstrate how many of the claims and conclusions of technoscience can and should be challenged. They offer ways of thinking about science in a larger context that respect scientific practice, while taking seriously alternative philosophical modes of thought whose aims are freedom, the good life, and living well. Linda Wiener is Faculty with Tenure at St. John's College at Santa Fe. Ramsey Eric Ramsey is a philosopher and Associate Dean of The Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University West.
Earth 2020: An Insider’s Guide to a Rapidly Changing Planet by Publication Date: 2020Written by world-leading thinkers on the front-lines of global change research and policy, this multi-disciplinary collection maintains a dual focus: some essays investigate specific facets of the physical Earth system, while others explore the social, legal and political dimensions shaping the human environmental footprint. In doing so, the essays collectively highlight the urgent need for collaboration across diverse domains of expertise in addressing one of the most significant challenges facing us today. Earth 2020 is essential reading for everyone seeking a deeper understanding of the past, present and future of our planet, and the role of humanity in shaping this trajectory.
Quarterly Essay 67 Moral Panic 101 by ISBN: 9781925435887Publication Date: 2017-09-09Are Australian schools safe? And if they're not, what happens when kids are caught in a bleak collision between ill-equipped teachers and a confected scandal? In 2016, the Safe Schools program became the focus of an ideological firestorm. In Moral Panic 101, Benjamin Law explores how and why this happened. He weaves a subtle, gripping account of schools today, sexuality, teenagers, new ideas of gender fluidity, media scandal and mental health. In this timely essay, Law also looks at the new face of homophobia in Australia, and the long battle for equality and acceptance. Investigating bullying of the vulnerable young, he brings to light hidden worlds, in an essay notable for its humane clarity. "To read every article the Australian has published on Safe Schools is to induce nausea. This isn't even a comment on the content, just the sheer volume ... And yet, across this entire period, the Australian - self-appointed guardian of the safety of children - spoke to not a single school-aged LGBTIQ youth. Not even one. Later, queer teenagers who followed the Safe Schools saga told me the dynamic felt familiar. At school, it's known as bullying. In journalism, it's called a beat-up." --Benjamin Law, Moral Panic 101 Benjamin Law is the author of Gaysia and the memoir The Family Law, which he adapted for SBS TV. A columnist for Fairfax's Good Weekend magazine, Law has written for the Monthly, Frankie, QWeekend, the Big Issue, Crikey and Griffith Review.
That Sinking Feeling by ISBN: 9781863956468Publication Date: 2014-03-01Tony Abbott promised to stop the boats. With the help of Kevin Rudd's "PNG solution," he has. But at what cost? In Quarterly Essay 53, Paul Toohey tells the dramatic stories of asylum seekers heading from Java to Australia, investigates people-smuggling and witnesses the aftermath of a sinking at sea. Toohey also examines Australian attitudes to boat people, and what politicians have made of these. He assesses the diplomatic fall-out from turning back boats and asks: have we missed our chance for an Indonesian solution, a realistic alternative to the brutally effective system we now have? This is an unflinching look at people at their worst and best - and most ruthless and most vulnerable - by one of Australia's finest reporters. "Any hope for a genuine regional solution rested with Indonesia, the final stepping stone to Australia ... Why did neither Howard, in his better times with Indonesia, or Labor, from 2007, seek a one-on-one solution with Indonesia? 'The Indonesian Solution.' Those words would have been the most convincing political statement any Australian government could ever deliver to Australian voters on asylum seekers." --Paul Toohey, That Sinking Feeling Winner, 2014 Walkley Award for feature writing Longlisted, 2014 John Button Prize '...one of the most useful and important of Black Inc's long series of Quarterly Essays' --Paul Monk, Weekend Australian '...no one can doubt the time Toohey has put in on ground most of us are unacquainted with. This honest and highly readable essay should... be engaged with by anyone yearning towards a humane outcome for those who seek sanctuary with us.' --Thomas Keneally, The Age 'A powerful, necessary reminder that 'asylum seekers' have stories, loves, fears, names, and faces.' --Australian Book Review 'That Sinking Feeling is not written to appease either side of politics, but to provide a deeper understanding of a complex situation by telling a human tale that has too often been drowned out by the screaming match.' --Walkley Magazine
Black Comics by ISBN: 9781441135285Publication Date: 2013-05-09Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation is an analytic history of the diverse contributions of Black artists to the medium of comics. Covering comic books, superhero comics, graphic novels and cartoon strips from the early 20th century to the present, the book explores the ways in which Black comic artists have grappled with such themes as the Black experience, gender identity, politics and social media.
Quarterly Essay 55 a Rightful Place by ISBN: 9781922231826Publication Date: 2014-09-11The nation has unfinished business. After more than two centuries, can a rightful place be found for Australia's original peoples? Soon we will all decide if and how indigenous Australians will be recognised in the constitution. In the words of Professor Greg Craven: "We have a committed prime minister, and a committed opposition. We have a receptive electorate. There will never be a better time. We have no choice but to address the question. If constitutions deal with fundamental things, our indigenous heritage is pretty fundamental." In A Rightful Place, Noel Pearson shows how the idea of "race" was embedded in the constitution, and the distorting effect this has had. Now there is a chance to change it - if we can agree on a way forward. Pearson shows what constitutional recognition means, and what it could make possible: true equality and a renewed appreciation of an ancient culture. This is a wide-ranging, eloquent call for justice, an essay of remarkable power that traverses history and culture to make the case for change. "As long as we have a constitution that characterises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the basis of race, it will always have deleterious implications for their citizenship. It must be removed ... This is not just a matter of symbolism. I think this will be a matter of psychology. The day we come to regard ourselves as people with a distinct heritage, with distinct cultures and languages but not of a distinct race, will be a day of psychological liberation. And it will also be liberating for those in the wider community ..." Noel Pearson, A Rightful Place
English
