Provocateur: A life of ideas in action

(Paperback)

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Clive Hamilton has spent a life asking why. In his unique memoir, Provocateur, he shows us why questioning the status quo matters, how powerful arguments can change the country, and how the life of ideas in action actually works.

From why climate change matters to how we understand ourselves as Australians and the dangers to us of the new authoritarianism all this and more has been shaped, for better or worse, by public researchers and writers like Hamilton. His work, and that of the Australia Institute he founded, made him many friends as well as powerful enemies. Hes been denounced in federal parliament, black-handed by the Chinese Communist Party and sued by an angry corporation. Hes had to call in the police after death threats and take a crash course in counter-surveillance techniques. But he has also influenced the quality of the air Australians breathe, the cost of our education and how we see Australias place in the world.

In Provocateur, we see the passions, the doubts, the strategising, the fears, the victories, the mistakes and the questioning. Here is a blueprint for changing public debate in our increasingly uncertain times proof that ideas are powerful and that a different way into the future is possible.

Reviews

'Clive Hamilton has been threatened, vilified and banned for confronting power.Provocateuris the gripping story of his global actions against exploiters, profiteers and autocrats. Engaging, enraging and entertaining.' Bob Brown

'Clive Hamilton is a great asset to public life in Australia... This public intellectual not only thinks but feels.' Tim Rouse, The Canberra Times
'Clive Hamilton is a great asset to public life in Australia... This public intellectual not only thinks but feels.' -- Tim Rowse * The Canberra Times *

Author Bio

Clive Hamiltonis an Australian author and academic. His influential books includeSilent Invasion,Growth Fetish,Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate ChangeandDefiantEarth: The Fate of Humans in the Anthropocene. For fourteen years he was the executive director of The Australia Institute, a think tank he founded. A professor at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, he has held visiting academic positions at the University of Oxford, Yale University and Sciences Po. His articles have appeared inForeign Affairs,The Guardian,The New York Times,Times Higher Education Supplement,NatureandScientific American.