Greg Dening

Greg Dening (1931–2008) was a Jesuit priest before becoming an Australian historian of the Pacific. His books include Mr Bligh's Bad Language: Passion, Power and Theater on The Bounty (1992) and Performances (1996).

Greg Dening reviews 'A Life on the Ocean Wave: Voyages to Australia, India and the Pacific from the journals of Captain George Bayly 1824–1844' edited by Pamela Statham and Rica Erickson

October 1998, no. 205 • 01 October 1998

A white-haired, white-bearded Captain George Bayly peers benignly out at us from the 1885 photograph frontispiece of A Life on the Ocean Wave. With epaulettes to his black uniform jacket, braided sleeves, a sword at his side and a ceremonial captain’s head-piece on the table beside him, Bayly looks the quintessential retired man of the sea. He looks like a man Charles Dickens should have been de ... (read more)

Greg Dening reviews 'Kingdoms Come: Religion and politics in Brazil' by Rowan Ireland

September 1992, no. 144 • 01 September 1992

Kingdoms and kingdoms go, but great books last forever. Rowan Ireland’s is a great book. It catches the otherness of a Brazilian religious/political experience tenderly, humbly. It is masterfully academic and lovingly humane at the same time. The miles are long between Bundoora with its La Trobe University (where Dr Ireland, Australian-born, Harvard-educated, teaches sociology) and Brazil with ... (read more)