Part personal narrative, part historiography, novelist, editor and anthologist Pascoe's account of times and places in the Australian experience defies the efforts of colonials to synthesize identity, memory and community. Along with his assessment of the history written by who understood themselves as conquerors, he compares the words and ideas of earlier writers to the ways in which Australians, aboriginal and otherwise, work through the politics of what Australia actually is. Through his efforts to compile a dictionary of a native language he digs through layers of what constitutes real history, and from that, what Australians should do and understand to create an accurate, stable and reliable identity that includes those who were there first. Along with his scholarly work on such issues as dispossession and misappropriation, Pascoe includes moments of his own discover that appeal both to the intellect and the emotions. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation 2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
