Richard Flanagan - First Person

The onset of digital news stories is an enigma of the modern age. In the past which may seem like a very distant past, news stories were brief write-ups in a physical paper. There was no room for errors, and you see in lots of current online news stories, they have been updated numerous times, but in the past, once it was out there it was out there in the public waiting to be scrutinised. With the digital news era, there is an onus on opinion pieces, not just a story from an invisible source, but these opinions writers have specialisations in a field, or they are celebrities whose judgement is severely respected. They offer their incite and philosophise about matters that prompt thought in the reader.

David Marr - The Prince: Faith, Abuse And George Pell

One of the most widespread and prevalent religions in Australia is in fact Catholicism. The main answer for this is that there were a lot of Irish convicts brought to Australia, thus bringing their religion and thus it being dominant because we were primarily a convict penal settlement. Marr is an expert in his field of religious criticism and is well known for his observations of the Catholic Church. Some of the weapons at hand for the religious conservatives which they will always guarantee you is their ability to discriminate, and they see that as their right. Thinly-veiled racism and homophobia are the weaponry of the conservatives, and Marr is known for his quote akin to ''Not extending freedom of speech to others is not a right, but a privilege.''

Christopher De Bellaigue - The Islamic Enlightenment

The Koran is a fascinating read, at first glance, it looks like a very Abrahamic text, with members of the Bible referenced in its pages. You could almost mistake the Koran as the Bible it is that similar. There are extreme parts that terrorist groups have harnessed, and it has given these groups reference points, but apart from one or two moments where it is advocating violence, it appears as a very peaceful text, reminiscent of a song or a long poem. The halal diet is very intriguing also, with high ranking doctors like Michael Mosley praising the period of Ramadan and fasting in general as ways ordinary people can seriously lose weight 

Geoffrey Hosking - Russia And The Russians

One thing that every leader should fear, that has repeated itself numerous times throughout history, is the fact a poor people that are oppressed from labour and poverty will rise up and take control. So leaders should not just look to appease the rich of society, but look after all people. They are certainly playing and living life dangerously if they neglect the poor because it has been proven time and time again that poverty leads to violence. The case could be made for pre-war Germany. The abomination of dire inequality leads to people resorting to violence and revolution. Look no further than the Russian Revolution.

Peter Singer - Ethics In The Real World: Eighty-Seven Brief Essays On Things That Matter

Labelling visionaries like Singer radical is trying to escape their scope and belittle their argument. In a time of drastic danger, we need people Peter Singer. How many more years are we going to cope with losing land the size of Scotland every bushfire season? There should be radical changes in our society. With the volunteer fire service members perishing fighting raging infernos, could they cope with again in another bushfire season? That is just in Australia, throughout the world, there will unfathomable catastrophic weather events due to a changing climate. Australia is really at the forefront of the effects of climate change, we really should be leading from the front.

Karen Armstrong - Islam: A Short History

Islam is an easy target of the vitriol from the West, simply because they have no Pope equivalent. They have no representative in the public eye. Many myths that need to be debunked, one is that the Muslim world is seriously engrossed in hatred of the West, but the enemy that has done the most damage to the Muslim world over many years was, in fact, the Mongols. The Moors pioneered things like the astrolabe which measures the stars, and they had gas-lighting in their streets and were highly advanced people, not like the savages portrayed by the Western media.

Peter Singer - One World: The Ethics Of Globalisation

Peter Singer, labelled one of the most controversial philosophers of his time. Many of his works discuss human rights and animal rights intertwined in a sort of living rights. He goes to explore the term ''specieism", where grounds of discrimination are expressed within an animal group towards another animal group. It sort of makes sense to think that the human race sees violence to animals as justified, because they are only animals. He argues that they experience senses like us so they must be capable of the same feelings as people. He expresses the importance of living rights. It is interesting to think that the vegan diet has gained so much importance with the climate crisis also bringing the diet to the forefront of its importance.

Richard Flanagan - Wanting

What is clearly evident and comprehensible in Flanagan's work is this ability to capture real larrikin Australian-isms and the overwhelming vernacular. Some of his even recent stunts include publishing an article for the Guardian, where he pledges to ''Go to jail to save my beloved country.''  He was involved in the Stop Adani protests. Don't think Flanagan because of the fact he writes best-selling books that he is sappy and emotive. He taps into the Australian rebellious culture and attributes akin to that of bushrangers like Ned Kelly. The Australian rebel is hugely popular. Some of the other latest stunts in the Flanagan canon is openly criticising Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and casting him aside like a meek child, labelling him famously ''Scotty from Marketing''.

Henry Reynolds - Forgotten War

Look no further to what the unsettling and unnerving effects of colonialism had on the oldest continuing culture on Earth, a people so at one with the land, with so much intelligence for the natural world. It is alarming to compare the nations of New Zealand with that of Australia. One has a treaty and one has not, and if there should a step towards unity, then a peace treaty with the Indigenous Peoples of Australia, but sadly that won't be enough. To inflict a sort of dangerous violence, indiscriminately on a people who were not used to European standards was volatile. Call it colonial terrorism, for the vision of the Australians, have for the glory of the country, sadly excludes to the original inhabitants. Patriotic Australians see the Aboriginal inhabitants as the enemy and this nationalism and fierce connection to the British, the dangerous foes of basically everyone who is not European, a vast majority of the world. Well, guess what Europeans, you are in the minority.

Robert Service - Stalin

Socialism has got bad appraisals from the West, but let's compare to say, Hitler's Germany. Fascism is about the individual, there is a momentous worshipping of Hitler and all Nazis and neo-Nazis worship Hitler as a central autocratic ruler. Hitler is a discriminatory ruler, it is not like socialism that accommodates all citizens. This is evident in the concentration camp phase of the Third Reich, where many ''different'' people were rounded up and exterminated. Fascism is also very backwards-looking, they aspire to be like the great nations of the past, like Prussia of old, and in the case of Mussolini, ancient Greece. It is evident in socialist countries the quality of life was astoundingly superior to other countries.

Richard Flanagan - The Sound Of One Hand Clapping

The importance of democracy is paramount to human life because criticising governments and fact-checking is astoundedly important. Politicians are getting away with things that ordinary people would be punished for. Saying one thing and doing another. Corruption in supporting the powerful elite who are hell-bent on only supporting themselves. The billionaires are securing their own safety if the world collapsed, and are tightening their grip on the people who control the country. The politicians are merely minions of the doing of the powerful elite. You do not need money to cast your voice and let your voice be heard, this is the basis of human nature. It is a human right. Politicians are ever-increasingly having their decisions made for them, such is the case, they only answer to their master. The importance of criticising the powers that be is the only way people who control the country do not get with anything they want. But they don't like being told how to do their job, so a critic must be valorous.

Greta Thunberg - No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference

We are at a crossroads, there is no doubt about it. The climate activism of youth is interesting because childhood, as we know it, is a relatively new phenomenon. In the past children were coerced into getting jobs and doing work at a young age, whereas today's society protects children as vulnerable, but they are not as gullible as they seem, in fact, Thunberg has genuinely removed the veil from children all over the world's eyes to awaken them from their slumber and show them the carnage of their future. Climate change is a social and rights issue as not only being environmental. The older generations have had their fun and games and are leaving the world in chaos for the younger ones to clean up. Once things like the Himalayas start to melt, things will look very different. If there was anything to scare people into mass unity, extinction would surely shock people into coming together as one entity.

Peter Singer - The Most Good You Can Do

Peter Singer's homage to altruism asks the big questions of altruism. Many of the world's problems could be resolved if people thought not to accumulate material wealth and start seeing the world as a sort of collective, with every person in the great battle of life in it together, not just to rip up and profit from your foes. Many people would be more peaceful if there were fewer limitations on ordinary people from the great blockade of liberal democratic states. Since when do politicians have a precedent of the average citizen? The overall goal of freedom and peace permeate from the writings of Singer, similar to the great minds like Satre and company.

Robert Service - Trotsky

Impressive work on one of the most influential figures of modern socialism. Trotsky was a Jewish intellectual, who won plaudits from the left and the right in his open criticism of Stalinism. He wrote many books and was an astute philosopher. The number of works he has rivalled some of the great writers, and like Che Guevara, they were very well-read. Che Guevara could boast of reading an assortment of books every day, and Trotsky is one of the great Russian authors, he has a massive legacy not only on politics but literature.

Richard Powers - The Overstory

This is a stunning work situated around the oppression of conservation activism, so it is more important than ever. What people can do on an individual level to combat the effects of climate change has been publicised greatly by writers like George Monbiot. He explains to mitigate the effects of climate change on an individual level is to go vegan or vegetarian, because veganism is one-third of the emissions of a regular meat-eating diet's contribution to climate change, and vegetarianism is two thirds. People should also limit the amount of flying in planes and actively engage in green political groups who are actively engaged in protecting forests, which are decreasing more than ever.

Jeff Sparrow - Fascists Among Us

This is a great analysis of the circumstances that a man, not from New Zealand where it happened, this massacre, Christchurch, but how Australia created a monster, a monster that would brag about administering death and destruction to innocent people. To boast that he would film it and sing songs when delivering his carnage. The far-right like Reclaim Australia loved it and even the right-wing politicians were satisfied. The rise of mass violence is associated with fascism perpetrated by politicians because of they, fascists take the word from people like Hitler and idolise him. They pick a vulnerable target and vent hate which is formed into extreme violence.

Richard Flanagan - The Unknown Terrorist

This book is dedicated to David Hicks and really captures the paranoia of Australia post nine-eleven. The day that the world changed, where there were massive security protocols put in place. It has a very Australian crime vibe to it and there is humour dispersed throughout it to lighten it up in a very Australian way. It is a very Kafkaesque, unafraid of delving into regions that may come across as controversial, or give up the role of mediator of a story and start unveiling a political bias. He also scatters great quotes throughout the book. Discover Flanagan if you are interested in a great Tasmanian novelist.

Behrouz Boochani - No Friend But The Mountains

I'm going to deviate from political realism and Scottish history into Guardian and Al Jazeera columnists, and this stunning work by Boochani has captivated many. Winner of numerous awards it chronicles Boochani's voyage to Manus, and he is very particular about describing the conditions and he does this in the way of actually portraying it as a prison, with a typical prison system. With all the aspects of incarceration, and this man has his body thrown behind bars with many others. It is dark, dreary and filthy in the way it describes the setting and the fierce brutality of the guards is expressed well.

E.H. Carr - What Is History?

Machiavelli's ideas would prove influential on neo-Marxism proposed by Gramsci. Antonio Gramsci was a deformed labour organiser and I'm pretty sure he contributed to a socialist newspaper. Anyways he decided to run as a politician and was subsequently jailed. His prison notebooks would lay down the foundations for modern Marxism, which differs from classical Marxism, with Gramsci's invention of cultural hegemony. A person could suffer oppression because of race or religion as well as being a proletariat, in the constant struggle with the bourgeoisie.