A Study in Black and White

Read the most by: boys and girls

The Aborigines in Australian History Many changes have occurred in Aboriginal history in the last twenty years. This means not only that history has continued to happen since 1988. It also means that there have been sharp challenges to our understanding of the whole of the past, before and since 1988. The past itself has been even more hotly contested than before 1988 as historians and others became embroiled in the so-called 'history wars'. In these circumstances, my original ambition for this book in 1975 and 1988, that it be characterised by 'balance, concision and simplicity', seems today even more naive and perhaps utopian than it was many years ago. This edition has been extensively revised. The two-part structure, Aboriginal Reactions and White Reactions, has been retained. It includes chapters on: The Assimilation Era 1937-1960s; The Rise of Self determination 1960s-1990s; Mabo, Wik and Reconciliation. Four new readings have been included to cover the last twenty years.