by Jeffry Babb George Orwell (1903–50) is frequently rated as one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century. Yet, like many prominent writers, his early life gave little hint of his promise. He attended a primary school run by the Ursuline Sisters, who had been expelled from France following the Dreyfus Affair,…
by Jeffry Babb The Irish elections of February 2020 represented a political revolution. The usual balancing act in Irish politics between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael has been disrupted, with republican party Sinn Fein polling the most first-preference votes. Minor parties, including the left-leaning Social Democrats and the Greens, also polled well. By June 2020,…
GRANT by Ron Chernow Apollo, London Paperback: 1,104 pages Price: AUD$27.99 Reviewed by Jeffry Babb Some books require such a commitment of time and attention – and also on account of their sheer length – that they become life changing. Who could not read Tolstoy’s War and Peace without absorbing the grandeur of the Russian…
by Jeffry Babb Dr Joe Santamaria was an Australian of migrant background. For millennia people had eked out a precarious existence on the margins of the Mediterranean Sea, sustained by fishing, the olive tree, the grape vine and the goat. In the late 19th century, people began to emigrate. Many on the margins were islanders,…
