The Shortest History of Australia
By (Author) Mark McKenna
Black Inc.
Black Inc.
4th November 2025
Australia
General
Non Fiction
Hardback
304
Width 1mm, Height 1mm, Spine 1mm
1g
The history of Australia has been written before - but not like this. In The Shortest History of Australia, Mark McKenna offers a compelling new version of our national story. This is a modern Australia permeated by First Nations history; a multicultural society with an island mindset; a continent of epic beauty and extreme natural events; a country obsessed by war abroad but blind to its founding war at home; and a thriving nation-state still to realise its political independence. McKenna's wise and humane history reveals the surprising in the familiar, and reframes the past so we can see the present more clearly. 'A deeply imaginative, beautifully written, individual and original book' --Robert Manne 'McKenna moves masterfully between past and present, opening up the Australian experience for our contemplation and inquiry.' --Tom Griffiths
Mark McKennais one of Australia's leading historians, based at the University of Sydney. He is the author of several prize-winning books, including From the Edge- Australia's Lost Histories, Looking for Blackfellas' Point, Return to Uluru and An Eye for Eternity- The Life of Manning Clark, which won the Prime Minister's Literary Award for nonfiction and the Victorian, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australian premiers' awards. His forthcoming book is The Shortest History of Australia.