Books That Made US

The Books That Made Us by Carl Reinecke has been published as a detailed companion to the ABC television program of the same name. The author provides a history of Australian book publishing in relation to events occurring in Australian history and culture. It is also a study of how Australians observe themselves through time.

Starting with the works relating to convicts, settlers in the bush and then those living in the cities, the author first looks at works of authors including Marcus Clarke, Henry Lawson, Rolf Bolderwood (Thomas Alexander Browne), then Miles Franklin, Joseph Furphy and Henry Handel Richardson (Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson). He looks at the way Federation, the White Australia Policy and World War I were reflected and affected  attitudes to Australian literature. The  challenges for Australian authors to have their work published and accepted in Austalia and overseas at this time are also discussed.

Post World War I authors discussed in the book  include Nettie Palmer, Katherine Susannah Prichard, M Barnard Eldershaw (Marjorie Barnard and Flora Eldershaw), Christina Stead and Xavier Herbert as well as Max Harris, Eleanor Dark, Dymphna Cusak and Florence James, Ruth Park and Frank Hardy in the 1940s. 

Political attitudes in Australia, in various time frames, and their impact on Australian literature form one of the themes of the book, especially in regard to censorship plus the types of characters portrayed in Australian books. The extent of government funding and support available for literary endeavours is also a theme.

Other authors discussed include Patrick White, Nino Culotta (John O'Grady), George Johnstone, Thomas Keneally, Thea Astley, Frank Moorhouse, David Malouf, Helen Garner, Gerald Murnane, Peter Carey, Tim Winton, Andrew McGahan, Kim Scott, Kate Grenville, Alexis Wright, Christos Tsiolkas, Michelle de Krester, Richard Flanagan and Melissa Lucashenko.

In the conclusion, Carl Reinecke states " This book, in examining the stories of a selection of Australian novels, has attempted to chart something of Australia's history. Looking back at Australian fiction and culture from the crossroads of today, new perspectives and narratives emerge. These viewpoints can help us to think again about the broader conflicts and ideas that have defined the history of Australian society..." (p308) This book does not set out to be a comprehensive study of Australian literature but it does help show the growth and role of literature in the understanding of Australian history and culture as well as how attitudes at a particular time impacted upon literature and are reflected in some books.