April 2025, no. 474

This April, ABR eyes the fragile state of Australian democracy and institutions. In a special election survey, senior ABR contributors brace for a federal election at a time when democracy around the world is under threat. We ask leading voices in the arts about the future of Opera Australia, a major cultural institution now under review by Creative Australia. ABR reports from Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, on cancel culture and the Pope’s memoir, and reviews work by Geraldine Brooks, Santilla Chingaipe, Laila Lalami, Martha C. Nussbaum, Caro Llewellyn, Kevin Brophy and more.
Full Contents
ONLINE ONLY
Changes at Australian Book Review
by Australian Book Review
Commentary
Is our democracy failing us?: Looking beyond the cost-of-living crisis
by Frank Bongiorno, et al.
Culture
The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American obsession went global by Adrian Duab
by Catriona Menzies-Pike
History
Lost Souls: Soviet displaced persons and the birth of the Cold War by Sheila Fitzpatrick
by Phillip Deery
Politics
What's the Big Idea? edited by Anna Chang and Alice Grundy & Age of Doubt edited by Tracey Kirkland and Gavin Fang
by Patrick Mullins