{"title":"Don Watson","description":"\u003cp\u003eDon Watson’s works traverse a rich landscape of \u003cem\u003ehistory, politics, and culture\u003c\/em\u003e, offering insightful reflections on Australia's past and present. From compelling historical narratives to incisive political commentary, his writing invites readers to engage deeply with the stories that shape a nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on diverse genres including biography, travel, and philosophy, Watson’s books blend thoughtful analysis with vivid storytelling. Whether exploring the contours of Australian identity or presenting accessible accounts for younger readers, his collection appeals to those curious about society, memory, and the forces that influence us all.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-bush-by-don-watson-9781926428697","title":"The Bush","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile most of us live in cities clinging to the coastal fringe, our sense of what an Australian is, or should be, is drawn from the vast and varied inland called the bush. But what do we mean by 'the bush', and how has it shaped us?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eStarting with his forebears' battle to drive back nature and eke a living from the land, Don Watson explores the bush as it was and as it now is—the triumphs and the ruination, the commonplace and the bizarre, the stories we like to tell about ourselves and the national character, and those we don't.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA milestone work of memoir, travel writing and history, \u003cem\u003eThe Bush\u003c\/em\u003e takes us on a profoundly revelatory and entertaining journey through the Australian landscape and character.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46338690285804,"sku":"9781926428697","price":27.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/24612303482873.jpg?v=1743743206"},{"product_id":"caledonia-australis-by-don-watson-9781741667660","title":"Caledonia Australis","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter their military defeat in 1745, the Scottish Highlanders suffered a worse humiliation. They were displaced from their ancestral lands and became curiosities: objects of romantic nostalgia, charity, scorn, anthropology - and emigration. This is a tale of their dispossession.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt also tells the rout of another people, the Kurnai of Gippsland in south-eastern Australia. Prominent among those who did the routing were emigrant Highlanders like the explorer Angus McMillan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDon Watson writes about the frontier on which those two cultures met. It is a story full of tragic ironies and myths which linger to this day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1984 and recognised as a significant revisionist work, \u003ci\u003eCaledonia Australis\u003c\/i\u003e is all the more intriguing and instructive now as debate continues to rage over Aboriginal native title, practical reconciliation and the way Australian history should be written, taught and understood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46343511703788,"sku":"9781741667660","price":23.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2578283482808.jpg?v=1743996416"},{"product_id":"watsonia-by-don-watson-9781760642792","title":"Watsonia","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA definitive anthology that captures the masterful Don Watson at his best—powerful, insightful and funny.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNo other writer has journeyed further into the soul of Australia and returned to tell the tale ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWatsonia\u003c\/em\u003e collects the fruits of a writing life. It covers everything from Australian bush humour to America gone berserk; from Don Bradman to Oscar Wilde; from \u003cem\u003eAnimal Farm\u003c\/em\u003e to the Australian parliament. Wherever Watson turns his incisive gaze, the results are as illuminating as they are enjoyable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eArtfully arranged, \u003cem\u003eWatsonia\u003c\/em\u003e showcases the many sides of Don Watson—historian, speechwriter, commentator, humourist, nature writer and biographer. It also features several previously unpublished lectures and a wide-ranging introduction by the author. This comprehensive anthology—replete with wit, wisdom and diverse pleasures—is essential reading.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46343724335340,"sku":"9781760642792","price":59.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/23814863482814.jpg?v=1744005981"},{"product_id":"watsons-dictionary-of-weasel-words-by-don-watson-9781740513661","title":"Watson's Dictionary Of Weasel Words","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe brilliant and bestselling companion volume to Don Watson's \u003cem\u003eDeath Sentence\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe prime minister speaks of core and non-core election promises, your boss asks you to commit to an involuntary career event (you're fired), and hospitals refer to negative patient outcomes (you're dead). How to fight back?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is a heavy weapon against politicians, managers, and all those whose words kill brain cells and sink hearts. Striking a much-needed blow for truth and clarity, here is Don Watson, author of the international bestseller \u003cem\u003eDeath Sentence\u003c\/em\u003e, at his sobering, scathing, and wickedly funny best.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46355262472428,"sku":"9781740513661","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/19124083482807.jpg?v=1744304062"},{"product_id":"recollections-of-a-bleeding-heart-10th-anniversary-edition-by-don-watson-9781742751993","title":"Recollections Of A Bleeding Heart 10th Anniversary Edition","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf he had never become Prime Minister, Paul Keating's place in Australian history would still have been assured. He was the Treasurer who deregulated the economy; the weaver of Labor's modern story; its heavy weapon in the parliament. He was also the great enigma – a self-educated boy from Sydney's working class and a defining element of the head-kicking Labor right who loved Paris, Mahler and Second Empire clocks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePaul Keating did become Prime Minister. In December 1991, he wrested it from Bob Hawke and the bruises from that struggle were part of the baggage he brought to the job: the other parts included the worst recession in 60 years and an electorate determined to make him pay for it. Keating defied the odds and won the 1993 election, and in his four years as Prime Minister set Australia on a new course – towards engagement with Asia, a republic, reconciliation, a social democracy built on a modern export-based economy and sophisticated public systems of education and training, health, and social security.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWidely regarded as a quintessential economic rationalist, Keating's record clearly shows that his vision was infinitely broader and more complex.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDon Watson was employed as Keating's speechwriter. Though a \u003cem\u003ebleeding heart\u003c\/em\u003e liberal trained in history rather than economics, he became an advisor and friend to Keating. \u003cem\u003eRecollections of a Bleeding Heart\u003c\/em\u003e – based on the diaries Watson kept through the four turbulent and exhausting years of Keating's Prime Ministership – is a frank, sympathetic and engrossing portrait of this brilliant and perplexing man, and a unique reflection on modern politics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTo celebrate ten years since first publication and with the wisdom that hindsight brings, Don Watson has now written an extraordinary Afterword.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46377668083948,"sku":"9781742751993","price":36.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/13421613482808.jpg?v=1744833271"},{"product_id":"the-passion-of-private-white-by-don-watson-9781761422119","title":"The Passion of Private White","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Bush\u003c\/i\u003e, the highly acclaimed story of a fifty-year relationship between a Vietnam veteran and an isolated clan in north-east Arnhem Land – a unique window into Australia’s deep past and precarious present, by one of our master storytellers.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘How to sum up this story? It’s uncontainable. It wrangles worlds. It keeps getting wider and deeper like a stone in a pond. At its heart – an extraordinary telling of an extraordinary friendship.’ – Paul Kelly\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLonglisted for the 2023 Mark \u0026amp; Evette Moran Nib Literary Award\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow in trade paperback, one of Australia’s favourite writers on ‘questions at the heart of Australian history, politics and identity’ (\u003ci\u003eABR\u003c\/i\u003e). Fascinating, funny, challenging and beautifully written – ‘a truly remarkable achievement’ (Peter Carey).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Passion of Private White\u003c\/i\u003e describes the meeting of two worlds: that of the intensely driven anthropologist Neville White, and the world of hunter-gatherer clans in remote northern Australia with whom he has lived and worked for half a century, mapping their culture and history in breathtaking detail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs White began to understand this ancient culture struggling between the demands of Western modernity and the equally pressing need to preserve their lands, customs, laws and language, he was also trying to transcend the mental scars inflicted on the battlefields of Vietnam.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEventually, the scholarly observer crossed the line into activist, advocate, and defender of the clans’ effort to create a safe and healthy homeland, a seat both of traditional culture and contemporary skills and education. The enterprise meant overcoming everything from insatiable mining companies and official incompetence and neglect, to customs that were fundamental in the old way of life but dysfunctional in the transition to the new. When White began taking his old platoon mates to the homeland, two wildly different groups found in each other some of the solutions and some of the therapy they both needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDon Watson has had his own fifty-year relationship with Neville White since meeting him as an undergraduate in Melbourne. This book is the result: moving, enlightening, devastating, and inspiring, it is a towering achievement, a profound insight into both our recent and deep history, the coloniser and colonised – indeed into the human condition itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘A truly magnificent achievement’ – Peter Carey\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘Remarkable, wholly unexpected, and original … [by] one of Australia’s finest writers. It sounds like a lugubrious farce and sometimes it reads that way. But it is a deeply serious enquiry into questions at the heart of Australian history, politics, and identity. \u003cstrong\u003e– Tom Griffiths, \u003ci\u003eAustralian Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘This is the tale of two tribes – one ancient, one modern, both wounded and alienated – and how they came together. It is not, thankfully, a white saviour story: in many ways, it’s Donydji who saves the vets. But it’s also a tale far messier and more interesting than that … about tenacity, commitment, listening – and humanity itself.’ \u003cstrong\u003e– Linda Jaivin, \u003ci\u003eThe Saturday Paper\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘A witty and compassionate book about friendship, Indigenous self-determination and people under stress.’ \u003cstrong\u003e– \u003ci\u003eThe Conversation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46656552698092,"sku":"9781761422119","price":36.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781761422119_f7cf0ef1-9ec4-4e70-84c0-6b94a3fbb9ee.jpg?v=1752482060"},{"product_id":"the-passion-of-private-white-by-don-watson-9781760855079","title":"The Passion of Private White","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Bush\u003c\/em\u003e, the story of a fifty-year relationship between a Vietnam veteran and an isolated clan in north-east Arnhem Land – a unique window into Australia’s deep past and precarious present, by one of our master storytellers.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLonglisted for the 2023 Mark \u0026amp; Evette Moran Nib Literary Award\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Passion of Private White\u003c\/em\u003e describes the meeting of two worlds: that of the intensely driven anthropologist Neville White, and the world of hunter-gatherer clans in remote northern Australia with whom he has lived and worked for half a century, mapping their culture and history in breathtaking detail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs White began to understand this ancient culture struggling between the demands of Western modernity and the equally pressing need to preserve their lands, customs, laws, and language, he was also trying to transcend the mental scars inflicted on the battlefields of Vietnam.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEventually, the scholarly observer crossed the line into activist, advocate, and defender of the clans’ effort to create a safe and healthy homeland, a seat both of traditional culture and contemporary skills and education. The enterprise meant overcoming everything from insatiable mining companies and official incompetence and neglect, to customs that were fundamental in the old way of life but dysfunctional in the transition to the new. When White began taking his old platoon mates to the homeland, two wildly different groups found in each other some of the solutions and some of the therapy they both needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDon Watson has had his own fifty-year relationship with Neville White, since meeting him as an undergraduate in Melbourne. This book is the result: moving, enlightening, devastating and inspiring, it is a towering achievement, a profound insight into both our recent and our deep history, the coloniser and colonised – indeed into the human condition itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46656565412076,"sku":"9781760855079","price":50.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/25937733482814.jpg?v=1752479863"},{"product_id":"the-shortest-history-of-the-united-states-of-america-by-don-watson-9781760643942","title":"The Shortest History of the United States of America","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA compelling history of the world's most powerful country from acclaimed author Don Watson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Shortest History of the United States of America\u003c\/em\u003e is the extraordinary story of the United States, a nation that contains multitudes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Britain's thirteen American colonies declared their independence on 4 July 1776, the United States of America was born. But it was hardly united. In this superbly written book, Don Watson traces how the central conflicts of the US—those over freedom, race, frontiers, enterprise, religion, and violence—play out through its history. A country at war with itself in the 1860s, the leader of the free world less than a hundred years later, and a nation beset by wild division and turmoil in the twenty-first century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a book full of character and humour, told with great learning and insight—a perfect introduction to America, past and present.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46800982966508,"sku":"9781760643942","price":48.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781760643942.jpg?v=1757304661"},{"product_id":"high-noon-by-don-watson-9781760644406","title":"High Noon","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIs the United States disintegrating?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDon Watson offers a report from the United States that catches the madness and theatre of an election like no other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a historically informed, mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a country approaching democratic high noon. From Los Angeles to New York, from Detroit to Kalamazoo, Watson observes America in all its diversity and conflict, reality and unreality. Above all, he sees the threat posed by Trump and his movement, with its blend of menace and glee, Great Replacement theory and electoral malpractice. Do Harris and the Democrats have what it takes? Can America mend its divisions? Do enough of its voters even want to?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"The fact that half the voters in a country that never stops calling itself the world's greatest democracy are cheering on a man with contempt for the law and unashamed autocratic ambitions may be explained by the man's charisma, or by his supporters' derangement. Take your pick. Maybe they all just want to have a good time.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDon Watson, \u003cem\u003eHigh Noon\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis essay contains correspondence relating to \u003cem\u003eQuarterly Essay 94: Highway to Hell\u003c\/em\u003e from Lesley Hughes, Clive Hamilton, David Pocock, Polly Hemming, James Bowen, and Lesley Head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46849260617964,"sku":"9781760644406","price":35.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/23831003482814.jpg?v=1759030959"},{"product_id":"the-story-of-australia-for-the-young-and-the-curious-by-don-watson-9781760641139","title":"The Story of Australia: For the Young (And the Curious)","description":"A modern classic- Don Watson's history of Australia for children of the twenty-first century\n\nHistory told so well it gives us a better idea of who we are - and who we are likely to become.\n \nDon Watson's The Story of Australia is a modern history of our nation that integrates new understandings about Indigenous Australia and looks to the future, asking- where will we go from here?\n \nIn clear, succinct language that both children and adults will appreciate, Watson guides readers from the ancient lands of Gondwana, through human settlement, colonisation and waves of migration, to the challenges facing our diverse nation today.\n \nEach era is brought to life in a series of beautifully illustrated spreads that capture a particular event or development - or give a snapshot of ordinary Australians at the time. He covers the familiar and iconic - Burke and Wills, Ned Kelly and the Eureka Stockade - but also the lesser known, such as Daisy Bates and the Coniston massacres. Each chapter ends with a profile of a person, from the oldest Australian ever discovered, Mungo Woman, to pop icon Kylie Minogue.\n \nThe Story of Australia will be treasured by children and families for years to come.","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46996509786348,"sku":"9781760641139","price":48.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781760641139.jpg?v=1763128764"},{"product_id":"worst-words-by-don-watson-9780857983442","title":"Worst Words","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDon Watson, with his trademark wit and wisdom, says enough already! The English language is complex and evolving, and can win minds, hearts, and nations. Why don't we try using it?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat is cluster deployment, and how can you be sure to engage multiple stakeholders through your strategic delivery channel? What’s the difference between backcasting and backfilling, and could it ever matter?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe language of business and work grows ever more depleted, barren, and senseless. Politicians hide in thickets of endless repeated messages, platitudes, and clichés, or behind such shameless Newspeak as operational matters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe thing is viral—leaping from corporate windows of opportunity, it has taken hold in universities and schools, the public service, hospitals, local councils, fire brigades, the weather bureau. (What is the difference between rain and a rain event?)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDon Watson returns to the follies he described in \u003cem\u003eDeath Sentence\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eWeasel Words\u003c\/em\u003e. With his trademark management-jargon mockery, he will make you cringe and laugh and possibly die of shame. But above all, he will ask you to resist—to fight in the fields and in the streets and in the offices.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000851382508,"sku":"9780857983442","price":37.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12759953482493.jpg?v=1763309909"},{"product_id":"american-journeys-by-don-watson-9780143790990","title":"American Journeys","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAward winning. Bestselling. A superb book about Don Watson's journeys around America. Featured as one of \u003cem\u003eNewsweek's\u003c\/em\u003e 50 'What to Read Now and Why' titles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOnly in America—the most powerful democracy on earth, home to the best and worst of everything—are the most extreme contradictions possible. In a series of journeys, acclaimed author Don Watson set out to explore the nation that has influenced him more than any other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTravelling by rail gave Watson a unique and seductive means of peering into the United States, a way to experience life with its citizens—long days with the American landscape and American towns and American history unfolding on the outside, while inside a tiny particle of the American people talked among themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWatson's experiences are profoundly affecting—he witnesses the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, explores the savage history of the Deep South, the heartland of the Civil War, and journeys to the remarkable wilderness of Yellowstone National Park.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYet it is through the people he meets that Watson discovers the incomparable genius of America, its optimism, sophistication, and riches—and also its darker side, its disavowal of failure and uncertainty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeautifully written, with gentle power and sly humour, \u003cem\u003eAmerican Journeys\u003c\/em\u003e investigates the meaning of the United States—its confidence, its religion, its heroes, its violence, and its material obsessions. The things that make America great are also its greatest flaws.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47072121389292,"sku":"9780143790990","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4626093482239.jpg?v=1765078833"},{"product_id":"death-sentence-by-don-watson-9780143790983","title":"Death Sentence","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart diatribe, part cool reflection on the state of Australia's public language, Don Watson's \u003cem\u003eDeath Sentence\u003c\/em\u003e is scathing, funny and brilliant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'... in public life the language has never been held in less regard. It withers in the dungeons of the technocratic mind. It is butchered by the media. In politics it lacks all qualifications for the main game.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlmost sixty years ago, George Orwell described the decay of language and why this threatened democratic society. But compared to what we now endure, the public language of Orwell's day brimmed with life and truth. Today's corporations, government departments, news media, and, perhaps most dangerously, politicians - speak to each other and to us in clichéd, impenetrable, lifeless sludge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDon Watson can bear it no longer. In \u003cem\u003eDeath Sentence\u003c\/em\u003e, part diatribe, part cool reflection on the state of Australia's public language, he takes a blowtorch to the words - and their users - who kill joy, imagination and clarity. Scathing, funny and brilliant, \u003cem\u003eDeath Sentence\u003c\/em\u003e is a small book of profound weight - and timeliness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47362553544940,"sku":"9780143790983","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4626023482239.jpg?v=1772891563"},{"product_id":"on-indignation-by-don-watson-9780733644214","title":"On Indignation","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCorrosive, mad and frequently fatal, indignation is a great destructive force in human affairs, and just as often a wellspring of mirth and merriment. Don Watson traces this seemingly ineradicable emotion in a journey that takes us, via his forebears, Flaubert and \u003ci\u003eThe Sopranos\u003c\/i\u003e, from the Old Testament to Donald Trump.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTrump's pitch had less to do with offering voters money and security than with offering them vengeance. He exploited the anger we feel when we are slighted or taken for granted, turning the politics of a sophisticated democracy into something more like a blood feud. He promised to restore dignity, slay enemies, and re-make the world according to old rites and customs. He stirred indignation into tribal rage and rode it into the White House.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a scam, of course, but wherever there is indignation, stupidity and lies abound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndignation is both seductive and contagious, and transforms society and politics. Don Watson's essay is penetrating, astringent, witty and disturbing. It must be read, carefully.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003eBARRY JONES\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47383955243244,"sku":"9780733644214","price":19.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5142433482449.jpg?v=1773390353"},{"product_id":"there-it-is-again-by-don-watson-9780143787006","title":"There It Is Again","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpeechwriter, historian, essayist, word doctor; Don Watson has a gift for gently guiding us to the nub of a matter and a grinding of the teeth, an aha or a chuckle with his fine facility with words.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver the years, Don has written on politics and politicians—Australian and North American, sport, birds and nature, horse-racing, history, and military events. Sometimes in celebration of a moment or a creature of beauty and other times because he deplores something he has seen and must take a stand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt the heart of all of his work is the knowledge that words, with meaning, matter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThere It Is Again\u003c\/em\u003e is a testament to his ability to capture both the essence and the complexities of life through language.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47471825125612,"sku":"9780143787006","price":40.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780143787006-there-it-is-again.jpg?v=1775257907"},{"product_id":"the-shortest-history-of-the-united-states-of-america-by-don-watson-9781760645984","title":"The Shortest History of the United States of America","description":"","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47754214277356,"sku":"9781760645984","price":35.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781760645984-the-shortest-history-of-the-united-states-of-america.jpg?v=1781659911"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/don-watson.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}