Product Description

This study takes the reader beyond the euphemistic and romantic popular misconceptions of Australia to reveal the often invisible past and the present subterfuge of the country. The author recognizes that since its very beginning the history of white Australia has been shrouded in secrecy and silence. He remarks that it is a country with perhaps more cenotaphs per head of population than any other and not one stands for those aborigines who fought and died for their land. After the bicentennial "Celebration of a Nation" the racial and political tragedy of the aboriginal people, from whom Australia was taken violently 200 years ago, continues. It portrays a country of stark contrasts, of visionaries and criminals whose secrets are exposed. The author has twice won British journalism's highest award, that of Journalist of the Year, for his work in Vietnam and Cambodia. He has won the International Reporter of the Year Award and the United Nations Association Media Peace Prize.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #120365 in Books
• Published on: 1992-05-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 409 pages

Customer Reviews

It shattered me
If you want to know what venal cowards and greedy dirty dealers Australian politicians have been in selling the country out to America and Britain, read this. It'll take away all your illusions about what makes Australia tick. It shattered and shamed me as an Australian. I wish this could be a prescribed schoolbook wherever Australia is taught.

Honest and insightful
Australia has done fantastically well over the last century to promote a highly desirable image - beaches, sun, sport, and serene co-habitation - all encapsulated by Sydney, a breath-taking city. Yet it takes an Australian to reveal the truth beneath this veneer. Pilger takes us deep into the real Australia, a country embarassed by its history and struggling with its future; a country where the lines between politics and business are constantly blurred; a country trying to rid itself of one colonial ruler by prostituting itself to another.

'A Secret Country' was my introduction to John Pilger's uniquely insightful and honest style of journalism. He never fails to cut through the myths we take for granted, and deliver an interesting and challenging perspective; and, with his focus this time on his native land, 'A Secret Country' is no execption.

An exceptional book that is wildly readable.
A book that bares all, that can admit to what others would see swept under the carpet. It is a tale that one knows to be true that does not have all of the answers, a source of debates yet to come. A worth while read for Australians and the world over - it will leave you with more questions than you had at the start.