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Freedom on the Fatal Shore brings together John Hirst's two books on the early history of New South Wales. Both are classic accounts which have had a profound effect on the understanding of our history. This combined edition includes a new foreword by the author. Convicts with their "own time", convicts with legal rights, convicts making money, convicts getting drunk - what sort of prison was this? Hirst describes how the convict colony actually worked and how Australian democracy came into being, despite the opposition of the most powerful. He writes: "This was not a society that had to become free; its freedoms were well established from the earliest times." “Colonial Australia was a mor...
Celebrated historian John Hirst offers a fascinating exploration of the qualities that made Europe a world-changing civilisation. The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid overview of European civilisation, describing its birth from an unlikely mixture of classical learning, Christianity and German warrior culture. Over the centuries, this unstable blend produced highly distinctive characters – pious knights and belligerent popes, romantics spouting folklore and revolutionaries imitating Rome – and its coming apart provided the dynamic of European history in modern times. Accompanied by lively illustrations, The Shortest History of Europe is a clear, humorous and thought-provoking account of a remarkable civilisation. This new edition brings the story into the present, covering the world wars and beyond. ‘Crisp, lucid and evocative’ —Australian Book Review
Sense and Nonsense in Australian History represents a lifetime's original reflection by Australia's most innovative and penetrating historian. Included here are classic essays on the pioneer legend, Australian egalitarianism and colonial culture. There are celebrated critiques of The Tyranny of Distance, multiculturalism and nationalistic history, as well as a substantial essay on Aboriginal dispossession and the history wars. In Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, John Hirst overturns familiar conceptions and deepens our sense of Australia's development from convict society to distinctive democracy.
If there are genuine questions about Australian history, there is something to puzzle over. The history ceases to be predictable—and dull. From the author of The Shortest History of Europe, acclaimed historian John Hirst, comes this fresh and stimulating approach to understanding Australia's past and present. Hirst asks and answers questions that get to the heart of Australia's history: Why did Aborigines not become farmers? How did a penal colony change peacefully to a democracy? Why was Australia so prosperous so early? Why did the Australian colonies federate? What effect did convict origins have on national character? Why was the postwar migration programme a success? Why is Australia ...
Christians are called to be good stewards of time, talents, and treasures. Jon Hirst also urges believers to steward knowledge, an abundant resource few of us handle well. "There have been plenty of books and sermons telling Christians WHAT to think," says Hirst. "We need to explore HOW to think, and how to steward the knowledge we have to reach more people for Christ." "The Calling of the Knowledge Steward" introduces readers to Christian leaders who proactively steward knowledge today, as well as to ancient stewards found in the Bible. "Knowledge stewards excel at something all of us were created to do," says Hirst, "know and be known." Drawing on ancient spiritual disciplines and current best practices in business, Hirst issues an invitation and a challenge: "Christ is calling some of us to wade in where others fear to go, to master the mass of information, and to use it to address some of the important challenges we face."
These notes were first used in an introductory course team taught by the authors at Appalachian State University to advanced undergraduates and beginning graduates. The text was written with four pedagogical goals in mind: offer a variety of topics in one course, get to the main themes and tools as efficiently as possible, show the relationships between the different topics, and include recent results to convince students that mathematics is a living discipline.
PsychoPy is an open-source software package for creating rich, dynamic experiments in psychology, neuroscience and linguistics. Written by its creator, this book walks you through the steps of building experiments in PsychoPy, from using images to discovering lesser-known features, and from analysing data to debugging your experiment. Divided into three parts and with unique extension exercises to guide you at whatever level you are at, this textbook is the perfect tool for teaching practical undergraduate classes on research methods, as well as acting as a comprehensive reference text for the professional scientist. Essential reading for anyone using PsychoPy software, the second edition ha...
This work explores what sort of democracy Australians have made. It traces the establishing of democratic rights and freedoms from convict times until the present; from the era when racism limited political rights to today's concern that everyone's human rights be respected; from the demand that governments be free to carry out the people's wishes to the current desire to see all government power checked and controlled. It also examines notable Australian innovations like the secret ballot and the basic wage.
What are the qualities at the heart of Australian culture? How did they arise? What distinguishes us from other nations beyond a fondness for calling each other 'mate'? And what do such national quirks reveal about our society' our past and our attitudes towards it? Looking for Australia is a fascinating collection of essays by historian John Hirst. Together they form a multi - faceted portrait of Australia as a distinctive nation' with its own political culture' character and style' and particular ways of seeing itself. Among other subjects' Hirst considers the effects of convict origins on national character' what drove the bushrangers to their daring deeds' and why Australia has compulsory voting. He examines whether Aborigines played a part in the origins of Australian Rules football' and asks whether Curtin was indeed our greatest prime minister. He discusses how best to tell Australia's history' and' after reflecting on our past as a British dependency' makes a stirring case for a future' fully independent republic.