Drew Cottle, (ed.), Capital Essays, Panacea Press
A valuable collection of essays will shortly be published as a contribution to the general area of ‘capital history’. The editor quite correctly points out in his introduction that it is necessary to ‘investigate the history of the Australian bourgeoisie if the questions of working class exploitation, oppression and capital’s state power … (are) to be properly answered’. The essays cover a diverse number of areas. Capital’s relations with the labour movement are examined in several essays. Another contribution looks at the use of state repression against homeless and unemployed young people. The ideology of the Victorian Liberals receives critical examination by another author. The dominant visual imagery of early British Australia, Australia agriculture and the ‘comprador countryside’ of rUTal New South Wales in the inter-war years are examined in other articles. One particularly interesting contribution to look forward to is the article by Ken Buckley on the importance of capital history. Having the experience of writing a critical company history of Burns Philp behind him, it will be most instructive to see what Ken has to say about the pitfalls and detours involved in such an enterprise.
Copies of the book are available at a cost of $7.00, postage paid from: Drew Cottle, Department of General Studies, The University of New South Wales, PO Box 1, Kensington, NSW 2033.