Culture

  • US culture in the popular front years

    The Cultural Front: the Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth CenturyBy Michael DenningVerso, 1996. 556 pp., $55.00 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon Swimming against the stream all the time can be tiring and unrewarding, for Marxists as much

  • A Malaysian activist's brave struggle

    Two Faces (Detention Without Trial)By Dr Syed Husin AliINSAN, Malaysia, 1996, 169pp.Order from INSAN, 11, Jalan 11/4E, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia Review by Eva Cheng Since 1960, the Malaysian government has used a tool

  • Giving a twist to nostalgia

    Inventing the AbbottsProduced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Janet Meyers Review by John Tognolini The advertisement on TV shows three young women. "They're the Abbots — they're rich", it blasts out. The next scene is two young men, and the

  • Pagans at Brendan Behan

    Pagans at Brendan Behan @box text intro = SYDNEY — The Born Again Pagans will be launching a new CD on Thursday, June 26, from 8 to 10pm, at the Brendan Behan Hotel (formerly the Britannia) in Cleveland Street, Chippendale. An occasion not to

  • Alan Lomax's folk odyssey

    Southern Journey, Vol. 5: Bad Man BalladsVarious artists, recorded by Alan LomaxRounder Records through Festival Review by Norm Dixon Bad Man Ballads: Songs of Outlaws and Desperadoes is just one of a monumental series of recordings of folk

  • Wolf: another mis-aimed shot at feminism

    Promiscuities: A Secret History of Female DesireBy Naomi WolfRandom House, 1997. 272 pp., $22.95 Review by Kath Gelber With its sexualised cover (a picture of a naked, female, headless, almost hairless, skinny torso) and its sexualised title,

  • Good karma

    Good karma Last Stop Heavenly HeightsKarma CountyTWA Records Reviewed by Iain Clacher Last Stop Heavenly Heights is a striking debut CD for Sydney band Karma County, a strange bar-band which seems to inhabit its very own original space in

  • Yippies, politics and the state

    For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie HoffmanBy Jonah RaskinUniversity of California Press, 1996. 315 pp., $45 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon High up the league ladder of US '60s icons is Abbie Hoffman. Co-star, with Jerry Rubin, of the

  • The pitfalls of charity

    JerusalemBy Michael GurrDirected by Bruce Myles The Wharf Theatre, Sydney Review by Brendan Doyle Jerusalem is a fine play. Unlike a lot of recent Australian theatre, which doesn't stray much beyond middle-class angst at the beach house,

  • Portraits from a time of genocide

    Portraits from a time of genocide Facing Death: Portraits from Cambodia's Killing FieldsAustralian Centre for Photography, Paddington (Sydney)Tues-Sat, 11am-6pm, until July 5. When Cambodian rebels and Vietnamese troops overthrew the Pol Pot

  • A comic look at a state in serious trouble

    A comic look at a state in serious troubleMELBOURNE — Rod Quantock has made a huge contribution to Australian comedy. He wrote and performed in the ground-breaking TV series Australia, You're Standing In It, opened and

  • Outback thriller

    Outback thriller Kiss or KillDirected by Bill BennettWith Frances O'Connor, Matt Day, Chris Haywood, Barry OttoSydney Film Festival Review by Brendan Doyle Slick as an inner-city haircut, this thriller road movie has a plot with as many