Your favourite history book :: NYR 2012

To celebrate the National Year of Reading 2012, we asked you to tell us your favourite non-fiction history books. Now, after a  nail-biting few months of voting, it’s time  to announce your winner. Drum roll, please…

In first place came Michael Flynn’s The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (Library of Australian History, 1993), a tremendous feat of meticulous research into more than 1,500 individuals who were on board the tragic Second Fleet.

It remains a seminal work. It’s also now out of print, but check with your local library, which might have a copy you can borrow, or organise an inter-library loan for you. Click here to find a copy at your library on Trove.

“Many thanks to the readership of Inside History for their support,” says Michael. “Revised versions of the First and Second Fleet books are ongoing, assisted by feedback from some of the thousands of descendants of these early colonists. Coming soon: a website with updates and information to be called Botany Bay Bound.” Stay tuned, we’ll bring you more news soon!

As for second place?

Two runners-up tied equally for silver. The Convict Ships 1787-1868 (first published by Brown, Son and Ferguson, 1959), by Charles Bateson, is an authoritative guide to Australia’s period of convict transportation.

And "In Her Own Words: The Writings of Elizabeth Macquarie" (Exisle Publishing, 2011) by Robin Walsh is an important recent work.

As a compilation  of personal records, diaries and letters written by  Elizabeth Macquarie, it offers fascinating insights into two figures who helped shape the early colony.

Though our list is by no means definitive, we’d like to thank everyone who voted. We enjoyed your suggestions, and even managed to add a few books to our must-read list — hopefully you have, too.

Author Q&A :: Unnatural Habits by Kerry Greenwood

From time to time, we'll be talking to great Australian authors about their local history and what inspired them to start researching and writing their stories.

This week we talk to Kerry Greenwood, author of the Phryne Fisher novel Unnatural Habits released by Allen & Unwin and we're giving away 5 copies of her new book over on our facebook page. Click here to enter!

The Phryne Fisher series includes Cocaine Blues, Flying too High, Murder on the Ballarat Train, Death at Victoria Dock, Blood and Circuses, The Green Mill Murder, Ruddy Gore, Urn Burial, Raisins and Almonds, Death Before Wicket, Away with the Fairies, Murder in Montparnasse, The Castlemaine Murders, Queen of the Flowers, Death by Water, Murder in the Dark, Murder on a Midsummer Night and Dead Man's Chest.

The Phryne Fisher series (pronounced Fry-knee, to rhyme with briny) began in 1989 with Cocaine Blues which was a great success. Kerry says that as long as people want to read them, she can keep writing them. Find out more about the series at: www.phrynefisher.com and follow the brilliant ABC TV series, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

Below we asked Kerry about her writing and happily she answered. You can also find more from Kerry Greenwood in our Issue 10: May-Jun 2012 edition, where Emma Sutcliffe spoke with Kerry about Phryne Fisher and her adventures. Click to buy Issue 10.

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Image courtesy: Andre Elhay Photography

IHM. Q. What inspired you to start researching and writing?

• Kerry: I have always loved stories, and history is a collection of fascinating stories, so I combined the two - and when I have researched enough, the story demands to be told. It's intoxicating.

IHM. Q. Which resources did you find most helpful?

• Kerry: Newspapers. Extra information. What Umberto Eco calls the 'relished inessentials'.

IHM. Q. Favourite website? Kerry: Trove
IHM. Q. Favourite library? Kerry: State Library of Victoria

IHM. Q. What resources did you come across when researching your books that hasn't been widely used by others?

• Kerry: People. I got to interview people who were around in 1928. So I listened to the voices, the accents, the slang, and I also had the privilege of asking questions.

IHM. Q. Was there any information you uncovered that stopped you in your tracks?

• Kerry: I found a brave policeman in Castlemaine who stopped an anti-Chinese riot. He had no name, just a number from a system of which all records were lost, but I found him, gave him his name, and he has a plaque on the wall at the new Castlemaine police station. Until I found him and named him his courage was forgotten...

IHM. Q. Which stories affected you the most in your research?

• Kerry: The miserable cruel lives of the women in the Magdalen Laundry. Reduced me to pulp, and I had to keep on reading.

IHM. Q. Which stories amused you the most in the course of your research?

• Kerry: I really laughed at the method of producing ortolans en brochette in Australia. And I found a minties ad of one man hanging on to another man's shoe which is coming off as they both dangle from a girder high up above the ground. The caption is 'Stop laughing, this is serious!' There's something very Australian about it.

IHM. Q. If you could track down one thing you haven¹t yet managed to find out, what would it be?

• Kerry: I won't know until I start researching the next Phryne. There is always something... Do I get a wish?

IHM. Q. What¹s your best tip for people wanting to write a history book of their own?

• Kerry: Read novels set in the time, then read all the newspapers and magazines you can find, before wandering in and out of a few museums... and see how many voice/oral history tapes you can find. Voices are important. And if you are writing your own memoirs, consider what your audience wants to know ie. what you had for breakfast, who cooked it, what was your school uniform like, how did you get to school, who were your friends... all that sort of thing - and how you FELT... rather than a potted history of your time. There are plenty of them but only you know how you hated wearing gloves, and how that starched collar scored your neck.

IHM. Q. How did you go about bringing the characters to life?

• Kerry: They tell me how to write the book. Imagine them well enough and for long enough, and they'll start talking to you.

IHM. Q. How do you know when you¹ve written a good book?

• Kerry: Someone else tells me and people buy them. I have no judgement at all about my own books.

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"The attack came suddenly. Out of the hot darkness in the notorious Little Lon came three thugs armed with bicycle chains. The tallest lashed his against the crumbling side of a building. It hit a metal sign advertising Dr Parkinson’s Pink Pills for Pale People, which rang like a drum.
‘An ominous noise,’ commented Dr Elizabeth MacMillan.
‘The natives are restless,’ agreed her companion. 
She was the Hon. Miss Phryne Fisher, five feet two with eyes of green and black hair cut into a cap. They were not the target of this assault. They were blamelessly approaching the Adventuresses Club bent on nothing more controversial than a White Lady (Phryne) and a dram of good single malt (Dr MacMillan) and an evening’s exchange of views on weather, politics and medicine. But Little Lonsdale Street was always liable to provide unexpected experiences. However, the person who was fated for a good shellacking appeared to be lone, female and unprotected, which could not be allowed. Phryne turned abruptly on her Louis heel and, putting both fingers in her mouth, whistled shrilly. 
‘Look out, boys!’ she yelled. ‘Cops!...........'"
From Chapter 1 of Unnatural Habits. Click here to read more from the Unnatural Habits, from our friends at Allen & Unwin

Bringing history to life :: Big Byron Bay book giveaway!

Every Friday we giveaway beautiful books from our publisher friends. Why are we doing this? Well we love to read and of course, we love books and it is the National Year of Reading!

Today, we're "Bringing history to life" at the Byron Bay Writers Festival and we have a bumper giveaway today to celebrate! WIN 1 of 20 BEAUTIFUL BOOKS! To enter, simply go to our Facebook page - Inside History Magazine - tell us FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR. Winners will be announced Monday, 6th August on our facebook page, so stay tuned!

Which books can you win?! Well, each of the authors on our  "Bringing history to life"panel today have kindly agreed to give away 5 copies of their latest books each! Here they are:

• Jane Caro: Just a Girl
• Rowan Wilson: The Roving Party
• Michelle Aung Thin: The Monsoon Bride
• Sulari Gentil: Paving the New Road

Hope to see you at the Byron Bay Writers Festival over the weekend! Starts today and finishes on Sunday, August 5. Don't forget to enter the giveaway on our Facebook page - Inside History Magazine!

Jane Caro: Just a Girl - UQP Press

Rowan Wilson: The Roving Party - Allen & Unwin

Michelle Aung Thin: The Monsoon Bride - Text Publishing

Sulari Gentil: Paving the New Road - Pantera Press

Pick your favourite history book :: Our Top 10 shortlist

Earlier this year we asked our readers to nominate which non-fiction works inspired you to fall in love with history, or that contributed to your research. Here, in no particular order, are the ones that made it to the top 10!

From the classics of last century, to the latest in literature, we loved reading about your nominations. Now it's your chance to vote for your number one! We want to know which inspired you the most, or which you'd most like to get your hands on! Click here to pick your favourite.

• Dancing with Strangers: Sydney 1788-1800 | Inga Clendinnen
• Port Arthur: A Place of Misery | Maggie Weidenhofer
• In Her Own Words: The Writings of Elizabeth Macquarie | Robin Walsh
• Pioneers of Martins Bay: Life in New Zealand's Most Remote Settlement | Alice McKenzie
• The Convict Ships, 1787-1868 | Charles Bateson
• A Million Wild Acres: 200 Years of Man and an Australian Forest | Eric Rolls
• Seeing the First Australians | Ian and Tamsin Donaldson
• The Second Fleet: Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790 | Michael Flynn
• Digging for Diggers: A Guide to Researching an Australian Soldier of The Great War | Graeme Hosken
• Private Journal of A Voyage to Australia | James Bell

Pick the book above that really grabs your attention? Click here and have your say in Inside History magazines best 10 history books!

Image courtesy of State Library of Queensland

Love history, love books? What's your favourite history book?

To celebrate 2012 being the National Year of Reading, we want you to nominate your favourite history book!

Inside History magazine is delighted to share in this year-long celebration. We’re one of the partners of the National Year of Reading 2012, a campaign about children learning to read and keen readers finding new sources of inspiration. It’s about supporting reading initiatives while respecting the oral tradition of storytelling. And it’s about helping people discover and rediscover the magic of books. Read more about the initiative at www.love2read.org.au.

Over the next few months, we’ll be asking you to nominate your favourite history and genealogy books! It’s a big call we know, so get thinking about publications that made you love history, or that contributed to your research. Enter as many titles as you wish. Then, in mid-2012, we’ll publish the top 10 nominations and ask Inside History readers to vote for their favourite, to be announced in late 2012. A few rules: the book must be non-fiction, and published in Australia or New Zealand in English.

To nominate a book, you can post on our facebook wall , tweet us or as with all our competitions, email cass@insidehistory.com.au or write to Inside History PO Box 406 Erskineville NSW 2043. Entries close 5pm, April 24.

Photo credit: Image Gosford Library 1951. Courtesy Gosford City Library