Nick Mattiske

Reviews

Is America a ‘failed experiment’?

Reviews: The Shortest History of the United States, Don Watson, Black Inc. | Greyhound, Joanna Pocock, Fitzcarraldo With the USA descending into fascism and international aggression, and Trump violently suppressing dissent and enriching his own coffers, one of the questions is whether this current iteration is a unique aberration or whether Trump is, as Don […]

Nick Mattiske · 10 March 2026

Reviews

Can Shame Be a Good Thing?

Review: A Philosophy of Shame, Frederic Gros, Verso Frederic Gros suggests that shame is the ‘major emotion of our time’, which may seem odd since contemporary society seems filled with ‘shameless’ individuals, as Barack Obama has just pointed out in relation to Trump’s unapologetic racism. But there is also a push in the opposite direction […]

Nick Mattiske · 2 March 2026

Reviews

The Pioneer of Probability Theory

Review: Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World, Graham Tomlin, Hodder Seventeenth-century polymath Blaise Pascal is now most famous for his thought experiment dubbed ‘the Wager’, whereby he argues that it’s a good bet to have faith in God and potentially avoid eternity in Hell, rather than bet on there being no afterlife. […]

Nick Mattiske · 13 February 2026

Reviews

A Stroll Through Sydney’s Layers

Review: Walking Sydney: Fifteen Walks with a City’s Writers, Belinda Castles, Newsouth When we lived in Balmain years ago, my wife and I would walk from Gladstone Park on Darling St, over the hill and along past the container port, winding through streets of terraces and the occasional, larger colonial mansion, up old steps only […]

Nick Mattiske · 5 February 2026

Reviews

Holding Pride and Truth Together

Review: The Shortest History of Australia, Mark McKenna, Black Inc and Australia: A History, Tony Abbott, HarperCollins If you are thinking of reading Tony Abbott’s history of Australia, allow me to humbly suggest an alternative. Abbott says in the introduction to his book that it is one that ‘should never have been needed’. It isn’t […]

Nick Mattiske · 22 January 2026

Reviews

Power-ful Art

Review: J W Power: An Australian avant-gardist, Ann Stephen and A D S Donaldson, National Library of Australia J W Power is – or at least was – one of our most neglected artists, yet one of the most important, because of the innovative quality of his art, his influence on European artists through his […]

Nick Mattiske · 21 January 2026

Reviews

Dreams of Mars

Review: The Martians, David Baron, Liveright Publishing Had you been an American living at the turn of the twentieth century, you may have believed, incredibly, that there was intelligent life on Mars, confirmed by astronomers who observed geometric canals on the planet’s surface and popularised by the newspapers, and that efforts were being made to […]

Nick Mattiske · 13 January 2026

Reviews

The Uneasy Faith of England

Reviews: The English Soul: Faith of a Nation, Peter Ackroyd, Reaktion In Peter Ackroyd’s history of the English and Christianity, he emphasises a kind of pragmatic and reserved Christianity, exemplified by the Elizabethan attempt at a ‘middle way’ and the quiet country parishes of George Herbert or Ronald Blythe. As comfortable as this may seem, […]

Nick Mattiske · 8 January 2026

Reviews

The Way of the Dodo

Reviews: Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction, Sadiah Qureshi, Allen Lane/Penguin, The End of Eden, Adam Welz, Bloomsbury Extinction is a fact of life on Earth, but it is only recently that we have recognised the potential for humans to cause extinction. Previously, nature was seen as so vast as to seem inexhaustible. But there […]

Nick Mattiske · 10 December 2025

Reviews

Orienting the Mystic Towards God

Reviews: Why We Believe, Alister McGrath, Oneworld | On Mysticism, Simon Critchley, Profile In his latest book, Alister McGrath returns to his battle with the New Atheists, which may seem as dated as interest in Britney Spears’ personal life, but his point remains that people need meaning and story, not just facts – not as […]

Nick Mattiske · 3 December 2025

Reviews

Indigenous Artists Reinterpreting Culture Through Modern Forms and Media

Reviews: Marramarra: Indigenous Artists Making History Visible, Brook Garru Andrew and Jessica Neath, Newsouth and The Art of Kaylene Whiskey, Natalie King [ed], Thames & Hudson The idea of Indigenous art may call to mind more traditional artforms, but Indigenous art continues to evolve. There are many Indigenous artists reinterpreting culture through modern forms and […]

Nick Mattiske · 15 November 2025

Reviews

Back to the Future

Review: Future Boy, Michael J Fox (and Nelle Fortenberry), Headline This year sees the fortieth anniversary of the making and release of Back to the Future. Michael J Fox’s book comes piggybacking on the anniversary, and centres on the fact that during the filming Fox was inhabiting parallel universes – making a TV sitcom during […]

Nick Mattiske · 10 November 2025