Greg Lindsay, Executive Director
Peter H. Schuck — Why Government Fails So Often
A sobering sweep through (American) history showing the failures of so much of what government does, and in failure it seeks to do more. Government over-reach is endemic in the advanced democracies such as Australia. Schuck has suggestions as to how things might be remedied, but that may just be the notion of hope over experience.
Friedrich Hayek — Road to Serfdom
Why not re-read Hayek’s classic, a continuing reminder of his warning 70 years ago and of what Schuck clearly describes? Hayek dedicated the book to ‘The socialists of all parties’. Not much it seems has changed.
Helen Andrews, Policy Analyst
Ethan Watters — Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche
A fascinating look at how mental health “epidemics” can be more cultural than medical.
Dr Jennifer Buckingham, Research Fellow
Michael Booth — The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
Fascinating outsider analysis of the perplexing paradox of the Nordic countries that are simultaneously home to the happiest, silliest, and most sinister people on Earth.
Dr Patrick Carvalho, Research Fellow
Gabriel Garcia Marquez — One Hundred Years of Solitude
In this 1967 classic masterpiece, the Nobel-laureate author takes us to the multi-generational story of the Buendia family, where fantasy and reality intertwine in a fascinating narrative. The book is a guaranteed good read.
Meegan Cornforth, Events Director
Theodore Dalrymple — Life at the Bottom: The Worldview that Makes the Underclass
Not a new release and not light-hearted summer reading, but a gripping, disturbing and eloquent essay on entrenched poverty and correlated negative behaviours. “Written in prose that transcends journalism and achieves the quality of literature.” Dr Dalrymple — a British psychiatrist, writer and former prison doctor — will visit Australia as the CIS’s next Scholar-in-Residence in April.
Simon Cowan, Research Manager
Wayne Errington and Peter van Onselen — Battleground
A gritty, insider expose on the events that led to first term Liberal prime minster Tony Abbott being replaced by Malcolm Turnbull. This book divides opinion!
Sam Perry, Dave Edwards and Ian Higgins — The Grade Cricketer
Every weekend tens of thousands of Australian men take to suburban sporting fields chasing a fleeting glimpse of their lost youth and promise, this hilarious book captures that world perfectly and asks why do they (we) do it?
Sara Hudson, Research Fellow
Michael Wex — Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in all its Moods
Fascinating insight into the origins of the Yiddish language and how ‘kvetching’ is the Jewish people’s way of understanding the world.
Hannah Kent — Burial Rites
Deeply moving novel based on a true story of an Icelandic woman sentenced to death for murdering two men. Kent’s prose is as crisp and stark as an Icelandic winter.
Trisha Jha, Policy Analyst
Radley Balko — Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces
Not for the faint of heart. Balko’s digestible, journalistic style combined with a research edge learned from his time at the Cato Institute makes this an excellent, if at times chilling, read.
Kate Grenville — The Secret River
A frontier tale set on the banks of the Hawkesbury, Grenville draws on her own family’s story to illuminate one of the darker corners of Australian history.
Prudence Kidman, Policy Intern
John Kidman — Forever 9
Covers the disappearance of Samantha Knight, one of Australia’s great criminal mysteries. An intriguing, engaging and revealing read.
Peter Kurti, Research Fellow
Evan Thomas — Being Nixon: A Man Divided
A new biography of Richard Nixon which presents a remarkable portrait of the complex and confounding figure who became the 37th President of the United States.
Jenny Lindsay, General Manager
Chester Wilmot — The Struggle for Europe
First published in 1952 this superb account of the 2nd World War opened my eyes to the intricacies of diplomatic activities, the grand personalities and the panorama of the events. I went on a gripping ride that appeared as though it could have gone in any direction. Not for the faint hearted in terms of the length but worth every minute.
Karla Pincott, Communications Director
Greg Sheridan — When We Were Young & Foolish
Engrossing memoir offers fascinating insights into the younger Abbott, Turnbull, Rudd, Carr and many other key figures during Sheridan’s university years and early career as a union organiser and journalist.
Dr Jeremy Sammut — The Madness of Australian Child Protection: Why Adoption Will Rescue Australia’s Underclass Children
A searing dissection of the misguided ideology and inaction that has sentenced to thousands of children to lives without stable homes – and many of them to neglect, abuse or horrific deaths.
Michael Potter, Research Fellow
Paul Kelly — Triumph and Demise: the broken promise of a Labor generation
A definitive account of the Rudd/Gillard years by Australia’s pre-eminent political columnist and historian. Accurately explains how so much promise was squandered, and persuasively argues that the quality of Australia’s political class has worsened.
David Uren — Takeover: Foreign Investment and the Australian Psyche
A clear and insightful addition to Australia’s economic history, charting the confusing and contradictory views of Australians and (particularly) politicians about foreign investment, giving the worst offenders plenty of opportunity to incriminate themselves.
Dr Jeremy Sammut, Research Fellow
Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney — Exceptional: Why the World Needs A Powerful America
An alarming account of US withdrawal from world leadership under the Presidency of Barak Obama. Explains why the Obama administration’s dream of international cooperation as the key to global peace and security is a dangerous dream, and asks whether American policymakers have the will to recover the strategic initiative and shape global affairs as decisively as US leadership did to defeat the twin totalitarian threats of Nazism and Communism in the 20th century.
Home > Commentary > Opinion > The best holiday reading
The best holiday reading
Peter H. Schuck — Why Government Fails So Often
A sobering sweep through (American) history showing the failures of so much of what government does, and in failure it seeks to do more. Government over-reach is endemic in the advanced democracies such as Australia. Schuck has suggestions as to how things might be remedied, but that may just be the notion of hope over experience.
Friedrich Hayek — Road to Serfdom
Why not re-read Hayek’s classic, a continuing reminder of his warning 70 years ago and of what Schuck clearly describes? Hayek dedicated the book to ‘The socialists of all parties’. Not much it seems has changed.
Helen Andrews, Policy Analyst
Ethan Watters — Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche
A fascinating look at how mental health “epidemics” can be more cultural than medical.
Dr Jennifer Buckingham, Research Fellow
Michael Booth — The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
Fascinating outsider analysis of the perplexing paradox of the Nordic countries that are simultaneously home to the happiest, silliest, and most sinister people on Earth.
Dr Patrick Carvalho, Research Fellow
Gabriel Garcia Marquez — One Hundred Years of Solitude
In this 1967 classic masterpiece, the Nobel-laureate author takes us to the multi-generational story of the Buendia family, where fantasy and reality intertwine in a fascinating narrative. The book is a guaranteed good read.
Meegan Cornforth, Events Director
Theodore Dalrymple — Life at the Bottom: The Worldview that Makes the Underclass
Not a new release and not light-hearted summer reading, but a gripping, disturbing and eloquent essay on entrenched poverty and correlated negative behaviours. “Written in prose that transcends journalism and achieves the quality of literature.” Dr Dalrymple — a British psychiatrist, writer and former prison doctor — will visit Australia as the CIS’s next Scholar-in-Residence in April.
Simon Cowan, Research Manager
Wayne Errington and Peter van Onselen — Battleground
A gritty, insider expose on the events that led to first term Liberal prime minster Tony Abbott being replaced by Malcolm Turnbull. This book divides opinion!
Sam Perry, Dave Edwards and Ian Higgins — The Grade Cricketer
Every weekend tens of thousands of Australian men take to suburban sporting fields chasing a fleeting glimpse of their lost youth and promise, this hilarious book captures that world perfectly and asks why do they (we) do it?
Sara Hudson, Research Fellow
Michael Wex — Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in all its Moods
Fascinating insight into the origins of the Yiddish language and how ‘kvetching’ is the Jewish people’s way of understanding the world.
Hannah Kent — Burial Rites
Deeply moving novel based on a true story of an Icelandic woman sentenced to death for murdering two men. Kent’s prose is as crisp and stark as an Icelandic winter.
Trisha Jha, Policy Analyst
Radley Balko — Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces
Not for the faint of heart. Balko’s digestible, journalistic style combined with a research edge learned from his time at the Cato Institute makes this an excellent, if at times chilling, read.
Kate Grenville — The Secret River
A frontier tale set on the banks of the Hawkesbury, Grenville draws on her own family’s story to illuminate one of the darker corners of Australian history.
Prudence Kidman, Policy Intern
John Kidman — Forever 9
Covers the disappearance of Samantha Knight, one of Australia’s great criminal mysteries. An intriguing, engaging and revealing read.
Peter Kurti, Research Fellow
Evan Thomas — Being Nixon: A Man Divided
A new biography of Richard Nixon which presents a remarkable portrait of the complex and confounding figure who became the 37th President of the United States.
Jenny Lindsay, General Manager
Chester Wilmot — The Struggle for Europe
First published in 1952 this superb account of the 2nd World War opened my eyes to the intricacies of diplomatic activities, the grand personalities and the panorama of the events. I went on a gripping ride that appeared as though it could have gone in any direction. Not for the faint hearted in terms of the length but worth every minute.
Karla Pincott, Communications Director
Greg Sheridan — When We Were Young & Foolish
Engrossing memoir offers fascinating insights into the younger Abbott, Turnbull, Rudd, Carr and many other key figures during Sheridan’s university years and early career as a union organiser and journalist.
Dr Jeremy Sammut — The Madness of Australian Child Protection: Why Adoption Will Rescue Australia’s Underclass Children
A searing dissection of the misguided ideology and inaction that has sentenced to thousands of children to lives without stable homes – and many of them to neglect, abuse or horrific deaths.
Michael Potter, Research Fellow
Paul Kelly — Triumph and Demise: the broken promise of a Labor generation
A definitive account of the Rudd/Gillard years by Australia’s pre-eminent political columnist and historian. Accurately explains how so much promise was squandered, and persuasively argues that the quality of Australia’s political class has worsened.
David Uren — Takeover: Foreign Investment and the Australian Psyche
A clear and insightful addition to Australia’s economic history, charting the confusing and contradictory views of Australians and (particularly) politicians about foreign investment, giving the worst offenders plenty of opportunity to incriminate themselves.
Dr Jeremy Sammut, Research Fellow
Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney — Exceptional: Why the World Needs A Powerful America
An alarming account of US withdrawal from world leadership under the Presidency of Barak Obama. Explains why the Obama administration’s dream of international cooperation as the key to global peace and security is a dangerous dream, and asks whether American policymakers have the will to recover the strategic initiative and shape global affairs as decisively as US leadership did to defeat the twin totalitarian threats of Nazism and Communism in the 20th century.
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