The Queen Is Dead

by Stan Grant

From Stan Grant, leading journalist and author of the critically acclaimed national bestsellers Talking to My Country, Australia Day and With the Falling of the Dusk, comes a powerful call to action.
'History is not weighted on the scales, it is felt in our bones. It is worn on our skin. It is scarred in memory.'

From one of our most respected and award-winning journalists, Stan Grant, The Queen is Dead is a searing, viscerally powerful, emotionally unstoppable, pull-no-punches book on the bitter legacy of colonialism for indigenous people. It is a full-throated, impassioned argument on the necessity for an end to monarchy in Australia, the need for a Republic, and what needs to be done - through the Voice to Parliament and beyond - to address and redress the pain and sorrow and humiliations of the past.

The Queen is Dead carries an urgent, timely, undeniable and righteous demand for justice, and a just settlement with First Nations people.

Genres: Nonfiction, Australia, History, Politics, Race, Indigenous

Paperback

About the author

Stan Grant is a journalist and the Charles Sturt University Vice- Chancellor’s Chair of Australian/Indigenous Belonging.

Reviews

[Hannah-backwards-spells-Hannah. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The blurb calls this book an "argument" for a Republic and a Voice, but that seems a pale description to me, and implies a focus on the political which Stan Grant spends some of the final chapter rejecting. Grant is writing about what Whiteness and colonialism - things which we call politics - mean and have meant in human life and for human people. Thus, his book is personal, intellectual, and spiritual, as well as political: it is open and honest about anger and bitterness, and about a struggle to stand outside of the viscous cycle of evil begetting evil without giving up the fight for justice. It offers no simple, easy answers about "what to do next," or "where to go from here," equivalent to a false "moving on" and a return to collective "forgetting": Grant is holding on to something true. A challenging and moving book, which tells truths I needed (and need) to hear.

[Deb Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been waiting for this book for a long time. That is a critique of the monarchy in Australia with a First Nations lens. And this book delivered in spades. Grant has a flowery way of writing at times, and some short, stabby sentences that sometimes get in the way of the flow but these aspects way overshadowed by the remarkable book he has created out of a blend of history, curiosity, lived experience and soul. He really lays himself bare in his anguish about what he struggles with in this nation of Australia and the promise of modernity with his rich roots and connection to culture and country. I really appreciated the historical references (his take on the Boer war, and references to ideas from WEB de Bois and bell hooks, for example) and sharing concepts like ‘racecraft’ all made for a very authentic and readable book for me. Philosophical in a very easy to understand way. He pulls no punches and gives a very comprehensive explanation of where whiteness comes from and what it is doing to us all. I felt in conversation with him. Comprehensively and logically flowed and told and argued in a very easy to read style. Highly recommend and a book I will come back to.
Eg “white people created a place for themselves above others. They created the world and we were bludgeoned into it” p75
“The crown that valued rights as long as you were white”p78
“Who is objective? What a bloodless idea. There is nothing objective about the way my people - my family - have been treated. What is objective about this ritual mourning of the White Queen?” P 249
“Whiteness is not white people. It is an organising principle. It is a way of ordering the world. It is an invention. An idea. A curse” p252
“Homes brimming with love”

[K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: racism, racial slurs, systemic racism, colonialism, mental health

4.5 stars

I knew this book would stab me in the feelings, given that all of Stan Grant's other books have stabbed me in the feelings. But I didn't quite expect it to hit me QUITE as hard as it did, given that it revolves so strongly around colonialism and the Queen's death.

And yet this hit me over and over again. I don't have a lot to say, particularly given that I'm writing this review on the night of the referendum's failure (despite finishing this book three weeks ago). So I'll just leave you with a quote from the book:
"There's a town where some of my grandmother's people live. A town by a river, surrounded by fertile ground. The type of place where Australia was built and grew rich. Not far from this town, the oldest human remains in Australia were found. More than forty thousand years old. The man was estimated to have been in his seventies. Today Aboriginal men in this town have a life expectancy of less than forty.
Australia, you never cease to find new ways to break my heart."

That just...sums it up right there.

[Callum's Column · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stan Grant, a prominent Australian journalist, offers insightful analysis of the Australian psyche. Australia's head of state remains the monarch of the United Kingdom. Last year, Australia mourned the Queen's death. Grant did not. The Queen--the White Queen--was the personification of empire; an empire that invented Australia; an empire that almost annihilated Indigenous peoples; and an Australia that continues to generally disregard the plight of Indigenous peoples. Grant adroitly reminds the reader of Australia's yet to be reconciled racial history. He also did it on national television. Much like Adam Goodes, he was howled at by White Australia for being a Black man that did not know his place.

Grant is a believer in liberalism--a philosophy with predominantly White origins--yet cannot entirely support liberalism in praxis. Supposedly enlightened White liberals decimated his people, and Australia's contemporary liberal society largely disparages Indigenous people. He writes of the Voice--a proposed conservative reform to Australia's Constitution. When this book was published in early-2023, the Voice's implementation seemed assured. However, with the referendum only days away, it appears assured to fail. Grant's position in modern Australian is dialectical. As he succinctly puts it: 'History is a straight road for those deemed White. For me it is a roundabout, an endless loop; my ancestors are always there and I am always coming around to meet myself'.

According to Grant, Australian racial reconciliation requires Christian love. Grant neglects to mention that Christianity in Australia originates from British imperialism. Moreover, by believing in Christianity, Grant implicitly admits that Indigenous religiosity is bunkum. Grant also misunderstands atheism. He states that atheists' 'disregard for faith is their own faith'. Atheists' rejection of a belief in god stems from empirical evidence, or the lack thereof. This is antithetical to faith. Grant would have been more compelling if he propounded a humanist version of love that avails race, creed, and religion. By relying on Christian ideology, Grant becomes exclusionary and dogmatic--a somewhat comparable idiosyncrasy of White Australia towards Indigenous people.

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling and important read! Thank you, Stan Grant, for words that lifted the White veil that was obscuring my seeing.

“In a White land far away, the church bells are muffled. Ninety-six times they faintly toll, one for each year of the White Queen’s life. In this White land, they know this day as D-day. Each day from now until the White Queen is laid to rest will be known as D+1, D+2 and on and on.” (p257)

Ding-Dong, the White Queen is dead!

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this down. As a white first generation Australian of British heritage I was angry about our country’s thoughtless fixation on the death of the English Monarch and all that followed. How can anyone not see that all this power, privilege and wealth comes from the oppression and dispossession of people of colour? Stan Grant’s weaving of the personal with historical truths and the need for Voice, Treaty and Truth is essential reading . Yes!

[Bec Bacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want a pile of these books to give to so many people. To start with, my republican parents who still said we needed to behave with respect when she died. This book is all the reasons why that reaction was so wrong for our country.
Thank you for these words Stan, and for being you.

[Merb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t normally rate nonfiction, but I can’t not give this five stars. Everyone needs to read this, especially Australians.

[Rufus Plawski · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lament. Grant talks a lot about love, but the feelings of anger and hate prevail in this book.

[Caren · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!
I suspect that those most needing to read Grant’s dynamic exploration of race ideology and the impact of historic colonialism and racism on Australia and its people, particularly, will not read the book. Its power is generated by Grant’s relentless demand for justice for First Nations people and for an end to the monarchy that perpetuated the inhumanity they suffer. At the outset, Grant differentiates between the “Queen”, whose death motivated mourning around the world, and the “White Queen”, the institution that is responsible for sustaining the “Whiteness” ideology of racial superiority. He proposes that “History itself is written as a hymn to Whiteness” and supports this perspective with examples from around the globe where non-whites have been subjugated by the white populations that saw them as inferior.

Grant argues that “Ideas of ‘race’ have brought out the worst in humanity…inspired-and continue to inspire- genocide, holocaust, war, dispossession, colonisation, imperialism, slavery, lynching, segregation and mass incarceration.” His intelligent analysis leads readers to understand his sadness for a world “scarred by empire”. Most poignant are his stories about his own family, about their love and resilience, about his own experiences with discrimination as a child and even in his professional and personal life today. A question asked of him as a child at school has been seared into his memory and haunts the reader: “Why are you so black?”

There is so much to absorb in this dynamic text – my copy is filled with highlighting and pink tabs. Grant discusses all aspects of his culture and identity, including language and his grandfather’s successful struggles to preserve the language of his people – not just for the Wiradjuri community, but for all Australians. Grant concludes with his hope for Australia, a “place bigger than politics. This is a place of love.” He constantly reminds us that “The White Queen is dead.” And, with the end of monarchy and the enslavement it perpetuated for the non-white world, we can open ourselves up to love.

[Nathan Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a lament, often filled with anger and bitterness (not unjustly so). Grant pours his heart into these pages and it is raw and real. The book is written from a distinct moment, on in which the author is deeply hurting.

As a young white Australian who has grown up with no attachment to the Queen and have lived my life after many of the injustices spoken about were perpetrated, I felt very uncomfortable with the constant talk of and derision of "Whiteness". I know that Grant says this is not about skin colour, and I believe him at his word, but the way the the phrase Whiteness is used as a catchall for so much European and enlightenment cultural impact aside from the racist policies or beliefs that explicitly concerned themselves with skin color, had me feeling uneasy throughout.

Then again, I'm sure uneasiness for the white reader was part of the point. I will read more by Stan Grant.

[Sally-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Stan Grant is an inspiration to us all. A proud Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi man who tells us about the importance of love and understanding.

[Nellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt this book was written from the heart and I appreciated that it opened my mind and broadened my understanding of both First Nation culture and colonialism. At times, I felt uncomfortable while reading but believe I am a more informed human being from bluntness of Stan’s writing.

[Zohal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unapologetic. Unashamed. Authentic. Poetic. Powerful.

[Sara Garrity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry in catastrophe.

[Cel Jel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought provoking book. How do I with the colour of my skin understand the experience of others of different skin?
I thought my experience living in a remote area of PNG ina small group of white skin among the people of the nation helped. This book has let me know that even that does not allow me to fully understand.
How do we come to truly come together as an old land of many nations and an imposed, without treaty White ? nation.
Stan is writing to explain how being on country is where he can breathe and how life elsewhere Carrie’s contradiction.
I hope my summary has done some justice to his book.
I learned of writers whose works I will seek out, there are many quotes that are worth mulling over.
I found myself reacting megatively to one Chapter, which I will go back to later to re read and reread to approach with thoughtfulness and not reaction.
To help build understanding of differences in how our lives are due to how we look - Please read. Love is faith with an inquiring mind.

[Eddy Ireland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and beautifully written book.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s actually really disappointing to see how very few reviews and ratings. The Queen is Dead is so eloquently written and challenges Australians to have a very necessary and much over due discussion about our countries past, present and future.

[Jo-Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel that this both benefits and suffers from the imperative to publish it quickly - it conveys a sense of urgency but possibly at the expense of cohesion.

[Marles Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Now the White Queen is dead. When I hear that she has died, something breaks in me. It is not sadness that I feel. It is not shock. It is rage. And I am surprised at its intensity. …I am consumed by fury. And it is personal. I am furious at the White Queen in a land far away and I am furious at my own country. I am furious at people I call friends who are swept up in the myth of Whiteness.”
I can feel Stan Grant’s rage, anger, passion, emotion all through the words he has graced us with. And I believe he wants me to feel this. He wants me to understand what is reflected back at him every day as he looks across the vastness of this land and is met with racism, resentment. And I feel this anger all over me. I am ashamed. The world separates everyone – we refer to the “West”, the “developed nations”, being white. “Whiteness is an illusion. We fail to see what is right in front of us … we are hypnotised by Whiteness. We see it even when it is not there. Because it is everywhere. It frames everything.”
Stan’s words are confronting; they are written to be confronting. It is hard to read at times, and it should be. It is blunt, piercing through all of the ignorance in my mind and soul. This book examines the ideas that explain the West and modernity – as an Indigenous person of this land, from Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharawal countries. This work explores both who Stan Grant is in the world and the ideas that tell the story of the modern world.
“I don’t identify, I am. … Let me tell you about identity. Identity is the pathway to tyranny.”
History is volatile. It never ceases. This country that I live in and on has a history dating back over 60,000 years. The world must engage with it to understand it for our present and future days.
“There were no races before racism made them so. Race is a fiction. But racism is real. it is lethal. It is cruel. It refuses to die. Race is superstition. Race is criminal intent.”
Australia broke Stan’s heart, and the words of Stan have made my heart feel this pain with him.
“ if we cannot find in ourselves love for our place, and for each other, what future is there?”

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really feel like the marketing department dropped the ball on this book.

On the back cover it says: "...The Queen is Dead is a full-throated, impassioned argument on the necessity for an end to monarchy in Australia..."

That's not true. In fact, in the closing chapters the author, Stan Grant writes "...[Become a republic] or do not. Do nothing stay as we are. It won't change who I am. [...] What good is a republic? What good is a thing called Australia? [...] Before we become a republic, we have to know what it means to be here. We have to know first where we are."

This book isn't about the monarchy, it doesn't make a case for republicanism in Australia, nor is even about imperialism. It touches on those subjects, but what this book really is is a series of vignettes from Stan Grant's life where he reflects on what it's like being aboriginal in Australia, the brutality of the history of this place, and the culture of genocide denialism in white Australia.

The British Monarchy is used as a metaphor in this discussion, but they're not the focus.

But, putting the mismarketing issue aside: I was moved by this book.

It was hard to read at times but very powerful and I found myself tearing up at the end.

That said, I also think it has a few flaws.

When it comes to a discussion on racism, I think this book lacks intersectionality. I think the author's biases about religion are under-explored. Finally, I think Stan Grant's writing can be overly flowery and a little unfocused at times which doesn't appeal to me personally, but everyone's mileage will vary.

My mum loves this book and she says she feels that it is, in many ways, Stan Grant healing from his experiences working at the ABC. I don't think I 100% agree with that, but I do think healing is a major theme of this story, as well as love, and grief, and all these things come together in the end in a really impactful way.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A profound and informative book, but some of its themes seemed to mismatch a bit.
Let's be clear. The English Kingdom, and later the British Empire, has done a lot of nasty things. Stan Grant is not the first to ever notice that and write about it. But let's also be clear that in the history of the world many other empires have not been sweet and polite.
The author makes a point of distinguishing between the Queen as a human being, and the White Queen as a figure responsible for the history of the evil British Empire. And yet at many points there is a blurring or confusion over which of these two characters he is referring to.
This struck me the most in the Betrayed chapter where he feels pained and betrayed that his friends shed a tear over the death of 'the White Queen'. How can he impute this? Surely the sorrow and sadness his friends feel are for the human Queen, not the impersonal Crown?
As many have said, this book is repetitive, but I think that is intended to emphasise the themes.
But almost every chapter and section beginning with 'The White Queen is dead.' is a bit jarring.
And BTW, the Queen did not come to throne 'at the height of Empire'. Most learned commentators would agree that the Empire was well into decline by 1952.
On the whole, the issues reiterated in this book should be acknowledged. The Uluru Statement from the Heart should be taken seriously. There should be an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. But there will only be meaning if the outcomes are positive and effective.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a deliberately obtuse, snarky little narrator. This was like reading an all-nighter essay from a fresher in comms class with no real thesis.


I hate the wh*te qu*en! 😤 I'm glad she's dead 💀 but I don't *really* hate her 🥺 (tee hee) just all of the things she is and stands for 🤭 and actually maybe her too. I don't hate eur*s in this country either, i swear! I just hate them individually, and in groups and ... *ahem* yes, I don't hate anyone, I am a loving, seeker of peace for my simple, noble and victimised people 😇 (and also of revenge and retribution and the severance of this nation from its eur*pean ties where it suits me 😁, but also the hyperfocus on its wh*te 🤢 past, also, when I feel like it) 😜


Repetitive spiraling. The narrator comes off as unhealthily obsessed with classing all ethnic Europeans as some massive cultural hegemonic Empire, who are responsible for all problems past, present and future. He's absolutely seething through every word, even though he professes not to be angry at anyone. This could very well have been his personal diary, it's written with such a weird lack of self-awareness, and yet, an oppressive sense of racial self-consciousness at the same time. Very strange.

[Giulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A much needed palate cleanser after reading "The Spare". Stan Grant takes the opportunity presented by the Queen's death to again invite Australians to reflect on and analyze our colonial history and the racism that has shaped our country and is still today engraved within our structures and everyday lives.

While I had anticipated from the title that this book would be a more direct critique of the Monarchy itself, Grant identifies the Queen as a symbol of Whiteness and uses her as the grounding figure do discuss race and Whiteness. Grant explains how the invention of Whiteness was created to, and still does, benefit white people by othering people who are not White.

Grant writes from a very personal place, telling stories of his family, his childhood, his culture and his experiences as a journalist for the Australian media. Given this, the key theme that comes through Grant's writing is that of love and he masterfully expresses how Whiteness has often failed to recognize the strengths of love in pursuit of power and greed.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading Stan Grant. He's so honest, raw, and poetic. He writes so wonderfully. I am taken beyond, into ancient times. I am sat by rivers, under trees and stars...his love for Country oozes from his words and heart. He unpacks Whitness as a created ideal to yield power and subdue nations, why we shouldn't mourn what the Queen stood for, and questions how to be both Aboriginal and Australian at the same time. It revealed for me even the social conditioning I have been subject to (eg. do we fear China because it's a non-white power?), and historical events I needed to know more about (eg. England perfecting their sinister - and evil - system of colonisation, race division and oppression in Ireland). It's also a wonderful ode to his family and history, and his language. Reading this book is like having a deeply meaningful, insightful, and heartfelt chat over tea with Stan. Recommended.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was almost perfect.

The whole message of the book is so important and it was written so well. Grant has such a beautiful style of writing and emoting that you can’t help but feel his anger towards the queens death.

I loved every part of this book up until the second last chapter. The religious sentiments and ideation quelling his anger felt so weak.
This chapter felt so jarring to finish on and the writing style took a massive hit in this section. For a person of such eloquent writing ability, to fall back to God and religion feels so unjust to his message throughout the book.

Having said that, I think this book is a seminal piece of first nations culture and is of the same quality as “Black death white hands” and “Jackson’s track”.

I really do recommend this book (and the others i’ve just mentioned) if you’re untested in this culture and the mistreatment of first nations people.

[Jim Rimmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the Kingly coronation malarky due to break out like a pox on all our houses I desperately needed an antidote and Stan's book had only just hit the shelves so it fit the bill perfectly.

Stan is one of those characters in the Australian media landscape that I admit to finding exasperating, though I'm never really sure why. That said, I enjoyed this book and it served its intending function very well. He lost me a little when he got to the faith bit because I don't buy into anybody's sky Daddy needs but was otherwise supportive of the republican sentiment.

I've since been dismayed by the vitriolic response to Grant's participation in the ABC's coronation broadcast. Australia needs to do better and I hope Stan is back on our screens soon, even if it is only to exasperate me even further.

[Melita · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Damn the White Queen too. That’s what I want to say when I hear she had died. Let’s not forget there is no Australia without her. Her crown is the Crown that stole this country – it is the Crown that smashed Black lives. These things were done in her name. Let’s not forget, too, that in her time, during her reign, the crimes against us continued. The dispossession did not end in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. It continued into the twentieth century. This country was not done with stealing our land. In the year that I was born, 1963, police wearing the White Queen’s insignia in a place we call Queensland set fire to the homes of Aboriginal people to force them out and claim their land."

"I don’t want to hear about the White Queen’s devotion to duty, because her police did their duty and bulldozed my mother’s home."

Reading Stan Grant is always worthwhile, and even more so in this year of the Voice referendum.

[Ellen Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author does something impressive. He managed to beautifully weave in queen Elizabeth’s death with raw personal narratives that help us to reckon with Australia’s brutal colonialist history and identity.

Some of the standout sections for me include:
- the white betrayal part (“This white betrayal puts self-preservation above justice or decency; this white betrayal is comfortable”)
- the part about how the oldest human remains in Australia were found and the man was estimated to be in his seventies, and yet today, the aboriginal men in the town have a life expectancy of fourth (“Australia, you never cease to find new ways to break my heart”
- the part towards the end about the Pakistani mother who offers the author food first after having just lost her son (“oh, love. Oh my god, love”)

Honestly, I think this should be a must-read for every Aussie.

[Margaret Chrystiuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a particularly emotional person but have been moved to tears reading this. My mother was of Irish decent and I grew up puzzled about why people were so besotted by the British royalty, and never too in awe of the ruling class. I've travelled a bit throughout Australia and have been amazed and appalled at the way our indigenous people are treated. This book is so important in not just our current Australian situation, but should be read far and wide (which it probably will take years to do). It is so easy to read and I really like the way he comes at the topic from all angles. Thanks Mr Stan Grant!