The barren years -- 1998: The republican convention -- The two Australian nations -- Whispering in our hearts -- The death of the university -- The waterfront -- Among the barbarians -- Making sense of Hansonism -- Why I cannot vote for John Howard -- What Beazley didn't say -- 1999: Why the republic referendum will fail -- Stolen lives -- The return of assimilationism? -- Regrets and blemishes -- Jeff Kennett -- Sir Robert Menzies -- The Middle-Eastern boat refugees -- 2000: Why universities matter -- The new god -- Political advertising -- Inequality -- Centenary celebrations : London -- Blind justice -- Human rights retreat -- The Sydney Olympics -- Why the ABC matters -- What are we celebrating? -- Woomera -- The miracle of federation -- 2001: The centenary celebrations : Sydney -- The stolen generations and the right -- The city-country divide -- Paul Kelly's Australia -- The ABC and the right -- What if the refugees were white? -- The centenary anti-celebration -- The new assimilationism -- Sir William Deane -- Cape York -- At the end of the barren years -- My country : a personal journey
Summary
Manne describes a period in which we have lost opportunity after opportunity. Hopes for the republic and Aboriginal reconciliation are fading. The universities and the ABC are under siege. And refugees are incarcerated in prison-style camps. Manne shows how social divisions run deep and analyses the One Nation phenomenon's refusal. Robert Manne describes a period in which we have lost opportunity after opportunity. Hopes for the republic and Aboriginal reconciliation are fading. The universities and the ABC are under siege. And refugees are incarcerated in prison-style camps. Manne shows how social divisions run deep and analyses the One Nation phenomenon's refusal to die
