Provocations: New and Selected Writing

by Jeff Sparrow

Why did politicians think an independent slave nation might emerge from northern Queensland? Should we clone thylacines? How did a sociopath spur the first European architecture in Australia? What was ‘bicycle face’ and how did it relate to feminism? Jeff Sparrow has been described as ‘one of Australia’s most crucial political thinkers.’ With restless curiosity his writing takes us from ancient tortoises to the psychology of gun massacres, from queer bushrangers to Enid Blyton, and from atheism to vampires to dachshunds. Provocations brings together Jeff Sparrow’s best writing from the last two decades, alongside important new work. Challenging, humane, and inspiring.

Genres: Essays

320 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2022

About the author

Writer, broadcaster, nogoodnik.

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intelligently written collection of interesting works by Australia's foremost public socialist writer, highly recommended.

[Lia Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sparrow is a great writer and the topics are eclectic yet unified as he challenges many of the assumptions of late capitalism. My favourite essay was the bike socialism one.

[Tony Tone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of Jeff Sparrow’s work on a variety of topics