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Michael McGirr

Michael McGirr

Michael McGirr’s most recent book is Ideas to Save Your Life (Text).

Jung Chang

The long-awaited sequel to Wild Swans is here - and it’s heartbreaking

Decades after Jung Chang’s multi-million selling memoir, Wild Swans, the author brings her family’s story - and that of China - up to date.

  • Michael McGirr

Latest

Besha Rodell.

A powerful, razor-sharp culinary and coming-of-age memoir

Besha Rodell, now The Age’s chief restaurant critic, reveals a fractured family life and a fascinating journey through the restaurant industry.

  • Michael McGirr
Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles.

How a seminal American artwork divided Australians

When Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles was bought in 1973 for $1.4 million by the Whitlam government, it sparked a national controversy.

  • Michael McGirr
Tony and Geraldine in their early days. After he died, Geraldine said she had “not allowed myself the wild wideness of an elaborate, florid, demonstrative grief”.

Grief in every detail: Geraldine Brooks on life after loss

Brooks’ memoir of her marriage and grief is vulnerable and tender.

  • Michael McGirr
Leading biographer Brenda Niall.

At 94, Brenda Niall talks history, creativity and the meaning of life

Australia’s foremost biographer says her new book about author Joan Lindsay was her hardest yet

  • Michael McGirr
Novelist Alex Miller’s new book is The Deal.

Quietly powerful novel reveals the presence of a master

Decades of experience are plainly evident in the craftsmanship of Alex Miller’s new novel.

  • Michael McGirr
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People aged over 65 should be given the option of not voting.

Over 65s should hand over their voting rights – the young have much more to lose

Voting should be optional for older people. We should be permitted to graciously sit the dance out and leave the floor to others.

  • Michael McGirr
Mark Baker in his study, 2017.

Mark Raphael Baker’s final book is a work of profound sorrow – and joy

Written as he was dying, Mark Raphael Baker’s book is a meditation on living well in the face of death.

  • Michael McGirr
Gavrilo Princip is arrested after assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in June, 1914. But did that really casue the outbreak of World War I?

A deep dive into history to find its driving force

Paul Ham has written an ambitious and stimulating book arguing that history is powered by ideas. Our reviewer is not entirely convinced.

  • Michael McGirr
Ailsa Piper.

This beautiful memoir beats with a radically open heart

Ailsa Piper’s salts her sorrow with spiritual longing in this subtle book about living with grief.

  • Michael McGirr