Our Republic (1993) By Tom Keneally
 
"This book is our alternative history. "What sort of self-doubt leaves Australians so late in the twentieth century swearing oaths to an institution on the other side of the world? "With empathy for Australians of former generations, whether Monarchist or Republican, Tom Keneally argues that earlier in this century there were cogent - if deluded - reasons for Australians to retain the Monarchy. No such reasons exist anymore, and the tide of history has left Monarchists abandoned on their own continually eroding ground. "Part personal memoir, part call to arms, Our Republic covers the experience of this passionate Australian from a naively Republican childhood through the Forties to the present. It is also a memoir of the Australian soul since 1788. The unacknowledged spirit of Australia's independence was always present, if only as a ghost, at the banquet of Australia's loyalty to the British Crown. "We encounter the xenophobic Republicanism of the 1890s, the conservatism of those who opposed Federation, and the intrusion of the British government in the making of the Federal Constitution. Neither Britons nor Australians, argues Tom Keneally, saw Australia's Constitution as the birth certificate of a sovereign nation. "An account of both a personal and national quest, Our Republic is a blueprint for Australia's future."
 
The author is a passionate republican and this is his partisan plea for the establishment of an Australian republic. His is at once a personal and a national quest which traces our ambivalent attitude down through the years towards the monarchy and empire and shows the extent to which attitudes have changed. The author is best known as a novelist, his works including the Booker Prize-winning 'Schindler's Ark'.
 
Hard Cover With Dust Jacket
242 Pages
In Good Condition