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Title: A Secret Country : The Hidden Australia by John Pilger ISBN: 0-517-10762-7 Publisher: Random House Value Pub Pub. Date: 05 June, 1993 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1

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Average Customer Rating: 3.38 (8 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Should be mandatory Australian high school reading
Comment: This is the history that is sadly missing from the corporate press and the Australian education system.

I spent 6 years learning about the folkloric mythology of the Aussie battler, without even 5 minutes covering the massacres that took place within a 30km radius of my school. Essential reading for issues from the First Fleet to the coup in 1976.

Rating: 4
Summary: No Crocodile Dundee here!
Comment: No serious reader of contemporary Australian history or politics should miss this book. It is a departure from cliched (and sometimes misleading) cuddly, wolly, and warm images of a sun-drenched land of cute marsupials, insouciant inhabitants, and otherwise seemingly featureless social history.

The author brings unique viewpoints and journalistic sources (for example, CIA insider Victor Marchetti, whom he quotes several times) to several major subjects of Australia's history in the 1970s and 1980s. Even the parts of this book which resemble conspiracy theory more than solidly researched history form food for thought. A clear example is the chapter entitled "The Coup" which discusses a still poorly understood subject -- the fall of the Whitlam government. This episode, in which the Governor-General (the representative of the British Queen) dismissed the elected Prime Minister of Australia in 1975, is perhaps one of the most monumental and disturbing events of Australian political history, and still stirs debate equivalent to those in the United States surrounding the assassination of JFK. Even if Pilger's account of the involvement of the CIA in this "coup d'etat" may seem far fetched, it does put a rare focus on the extent and nature of the US-Australian security and intelligence relationship, aspects of which are still unknown to Australians and Americans alike.

Other provocative subjects which Pilger covers include the plight of Aborigines and the role and influence of multinationals in Australia. Pilger clearly regards his native country with affection. He closes with a vision of Australia united with New Zealand and other Pacific nations which he suggests would enable "...Australians to break free from our imperial past;and for us, like everyone, breaking free is the only future."

Foreign readers - but possibly many Australian readers too - will undoubtedly find this book an eye opener.

Rating: 4
Summary: Trouble in Paradise
Comment: This is not a book to read if you're after a comfortable pen-picture of modern Australia, or if you're after a "Crocodile Dundee" depiction of the country. Rather, the expatriate Aussie John Pilger is interested in the darker side of the Australian dream.

I should think that the fact that Pilger is an expatriate, and taking such a critical view of his country, might irritate some Australians. But Pilger at his best is a radical, challenging journalist, ready and prepared to shake people's views of the world, and not inclined to accept received wisdom. And, in a democracy, surely he has the right to take that stance - not only in relation to Australia, but to other nations too.

I thought that "A Secret Country" was an interesting read, but parts of it were more convincing than others. Pilger is a passionate writer, therefore you have to cope with frequent hyperbole - akin to someone shouting at you to convince you of their point of view (the increased volume a device to make up for the weakness of the argument).

I was familiar with the appalling treatment of the Aborigines from earlier reading - nontheless, as recounted by Pilger it still makes disturbing reading. The chapter devoted to the "Mates" system, and in particular to former Prime Minister Hawke were interesting, but I thought "so what?" There is cronyism and corruption in politics and big business in Australia - call me cynical, but I was surprised that Pilger should think his readers would be shocked that that went on anywhere in the world.

The section on the fall of the Whitlam government was very entertaining - great if you're into conspiracy theories. However I was less than taken with Pilger's resentment that Australians fight and have fought "other people's wars". Although I appreciate that Australia and her armed forces have often been treated shabbily, not least but not solely by the British, surely a more dispassionate view would have done justice to the sacrifices those Australians made - sacrifices they believed were worth making?.

Therefore this is a good book if you're prepared to be challenged - but not one for those with a romantic view of history or contemporary politics.