Australians: Flappers to Vietnam

Australians #3

by Thomas Keneally

The outstanding final volume of acclaimed author Thomas Keneally's major new three-volume history takes up the story of Australia at the end of the Great War and explores its development as a nation during the tumultuous 20th century Australia emerged from World War I into a decade of profound change, characterized by a revolution in behavior among the young; by the first great age of consumerism; by the new and increasingly sophisticated impact of the movies; by secret right wing armies and the emergence of the Communist Party; and by two less remembered and very interesting PMs, the handsome, somber Stanley Melbourne Bruce of the Melbourne Establishment, and Jim Scullin, unpretentious Labor man of humbler Irish parentage. As in the two previous volumes, Keneally brings history to vivid and pulsating life as he traces the lives and the deeds of Australians known and unknown. As another war grew closer he follows the famous and the infamous through the Great Crash and the rise of Fascism, and explains how Australia was inexorably drawn into a war which led her forces into combat throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Pacific. At home an atmosphere of fear grew with the fall of Singapore and the bombing of Darwin, the Japanese advance and then the American Alliance and the arrival of General MacArthur. Peace brought its own problems with the Depression that left one third of Australians unemployed. Keneally believes too that the 1950s are misunderstood—depicted by some as an age of full employment, by others as the age of suburban spread and boredom under the serene prime ministership of Robert Menzies. But Menzies was complicated and so were the 1950s. The result of masterly writing and exhaustive research is a volume which brings Australia's more recent history to vibrant life.

Genres: History, Australia, Nonfiction

608 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2014

About the author

Thomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982, which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor. The book would later be adapted to Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Often published under the name Tom Keneally in Australia.

Life and Career:

Born in Sydney, Keneally was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, where a writing prize was named after him. He entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly to train as a Catholic priest but left before his ordination. He worked as a Sydney schoolteacher before his success as a novelist, and he was a lecturer at the University of New England (1968–70). He has also written screenplays, memoirs and non-fiction books.

Keneally was known as "Mick" until 1964 but began using the name Thomas when he started publishing, after advice from his publisher to use what was really his first name. He is most famous for his Schindler's Ark (1982) (later republished as Schindler's List), which won the Booker Prize and is the basis of the film Schindler's List (1993). Many of his novels are reworkings of historical material, although modern in their psychology and style.

Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (based on his novel) and played Father Marshall in the Fred Schepisi movie, The Devil's Playground (1976) (not to be confused with a similarly-titled documentary by Lucy Walker about the Amish rite of passage called rumspringa).

In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He is an Australian Living Treasure.

He is a strong advocate of the Australian republic, meaning the severing of all ties with the British monarchy, and published a book on the subject in Our Republic (1993). Several of his Republican essays appear on the web site of the Australian Republican Movement.

Keneally is a keen supporter of rugby league football, in particular the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club of the NRL. He made an appearance in the rugby league drama film The Final Winter (2007).

In March 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, gave an autographed copy of Keneally's Lincoln biography to President Barack Obama as a state gift.

Most recently Thomas Keneally featured as a writer in the critically acclaimed Australian drama, Our Sunburnt Country.

Thomas Keneally's nephew Ben is married to the former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally.

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most enjoyable of the series for me because 1) the period covered was more familiar and 2) the illustrative lives were more continuous and arranged in a topical as well as chronological fashion. Keneally is always entertaining.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow so many things I didn't know about Australia! Just shows how history is buried..

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 3rd and apparently last book of Mr Keneally's history of Australia This volume started where the last one finished: the end of WWI and covers the period through the Vietnam War, although not the conclusion of that war. At over 550 pages, it took me a while to get thru this book. For me, reading these 3 volumes was to learn a bit more about the country I've been calling home for almost 8-1/2 years. I was really fascinated especially by this period from the political perspective, as Australia seems to have had similar experiences as the US with a deep coverage of the labour clashes after WWI thru to the modern era, just as the US, of which I have read extensively. I was really surprised by the much more violent suppression of strikes and labour unrest by labour governments. This is not a light read for sure, but if you want a deep appreciation of Australian history all three volumes will certainly give you that. I was glad I read these.

[Julie Bye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled through this final volume. We have a truly ugly side to our history and that makes this a depressing and uncomfortable read. It also emphasises how far we have come as a nation and as a people.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insights into an extraordinary period of Australian history. I discovered a great deal about our recent history which illuminates much of our contemporary time. Highly recommended.