Reviews

Indigenous Australia for Dummies by Larissa Behrendt

abeyshouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

emwilliams's review

5.0

As a North American who didn't know too much about Indigenous Australians beyond what I've seen in movies like Rabbit Proof Fence or The Sapphires, I found this book thoughtful, cohesive and very thorough at presenting a complete overview of Indigenous Australia history, life and culture, and the challenges facing both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations from the coming of the Europeans and colonial rule to the present day. It includes a lot of useful references to other sources. It's a great jumping off point to learning more about Australia and the Indigenous peoples living there, and has many instructive parallels to the treatment of First Nations people in Canada and Native North Americans in the United States (e.g., the discussions of the Stolen Generations in Australia and the history of residential schools and the Sixties Scoop in Canada). I can't remember how I stumbled across it, but I'm glad that I did.