The Fatal Lure of Politics

Name: The Fatal Lure of Politics
Price: 39.95 AUD
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ISBN: 9781925835748

The Life and Thought of Vere Gordon Childe

Terry Irving

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English

Monash University Publishing
01 May 2020

Biography: historical, political & military; Australasian & Pacific history; Archaeology; Politics & government; Biography - Australian

A new and radically different biography of the Australian-bornarchaeologist and prehistorian, Vere Gordon Childe (1892-1957). In his earlylife he was active in the Australian labour movement and wrote How LabourGoverns (1923), the world's first study of parliamentarysocialism. At the end of the First World War he decided to pursue a life ofscholarship to 'escape the fatal lure' of politics and Australian labour's'politicalism', his term for its misguided emphasis on parliamentaryrepresentation.

In Britain, with the publication of The Dawn ofEuropean Civilisation (1925) he began a career that wouldestablish him as preeminent in his field and one of the most distinguishedscholars of the mid-twentieth century. At the same time, his aim was to'democratise archaeology', to involve people in its practice and to reveal tothem WhatHappened in History (1942), the title of his most popularbook. It sold 300,00 copies in its first 15 years.

Politics continued to lure him, and for forty years the securityservices of Britain and Australia continued to spy on him. He supportedRussia's 'grand and hopeful experiment' and opposed the rise of fascism. HisAustralian background reinforced his hatred of colonialism and imperialism.

Politics was also implicated in his death. There is a direct line betweenChilde's early radicalism and his final - and fatal - political act in the BlueMountains west of Sydney. This is a book about the central place of socialistpolitics in his life, and his contribution to the theory of history that thispolitics entailed.

By: Terry Irving
Imprint: Monash University Publishing
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9781925835748
ISBN 10: 192583574X
Pages: 424
Publication Date: 01 May 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Terry Irving, radical educationist and historian, is Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Wollongong, Australia. His books include Radical Sydney (with Rowan Cahill), The Southern Tree of Liberty, Childe and Australia (edited with Peter Gathercole and Gregory Melleuish) and Class Structure in Australian History (with Raewyn Connell). He was editor of Labour History: A Journal of Labour and Social History and a founder of the Free University (Sydney).

Reviews for The Fatal Lure of Politics: The Life and Thought of Vere Gordon Childe

'Deeply researched and eloquently written, this is a compelling study of a formidable socialist thinker and his intellectual milieux. The Fatal Lure of Politics is a work of prodigious scholarship: penetrating, engaging and authoritative.' Phillip Deery