Yesteryear: is this viral novelâs time travelling tradwife really âperfect at being aliveâ?
Cottonbro/Pexels Rachel Williamson, Lecturer in English, University of Canterbury The film rights for Caro Claire Burkeâs buzzy debut novel were sold to Amazon MGM Studios before publication. Adaptation plans are well underway, with Anne Hathaway, cited in the acknowledgements as âinstrumental in bringing Natalie to lifeâ, set to star and produce. […]
The Ruiners
 by Ellena Savage A dazzling, subversive debut novel by the acclaimed author of blueberries about love, lust, legacy and the last days of civilisation as we know it. ‘Is there any hope for us? is not a question we can answer, and this book does it brilliantly.â Lauren Olyer, author of No Judgement What […]
The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at HomeÂ
by Wil Haygood Award-winning author and journalist Wil Haygood explores how the Vietnam War became a mirror for the struggle of Black Americansâfighting for freedom abroad while demanding equality at homeâand a powerful lens through which to understand the racial and political divides that continue to shape American life. Drawing […]
Policy by trial and error: how Silicon Valley culture has infiltrated governments
Fleur Johns, Dean and Head of School, University of Sydney Law School, University of Sydney United States foreign policymaking under the second Trump administration is frequently described as erratic and incoherent. Weâve seen the launch of trade wars and actual wars, all without consulting allies first. This administration advances foreign […]
Review:The Meaning of Your Life
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of From Strength to Strength, an account of how the modern world makes meaning so hard to findâand a plan to discover your lifeâs deepest purpose. If you struggle to discern lifeâs meaning, youâre not alone. Millions today describe a growing sense […]
Nations will release an extra 400 million barrels of oil to the market. All we need to do now is not panic at the pump
Tony Wood, Senior Fellow in Energy and Climate Change, Grattan Institute Despite being one of the worldâs top exporters of fossil fuels (coal and gas), Australia has little left of its own oil. Neither does New Zealand. Both Australia and New Zealand sit at the end of a long supply […]
Canadaâs Mark Carney to visit India, Japan and Australia to expand trade partners
Stewart Prest, Lecturer, Political Science, University of British Columbia Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is having a moment. Accordingly, on his visit to India, Japan and Australia, Carney is looking to find partners for his vision. Heâs seeking opportunities to improve relations, expand trade and cooperate on issues of Pacific […]
The Elements of Power
A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth By Nicholas Niarchos The Elements of Power tells the story of the war for the global supply of battery metalsâessential for the decarbonisation of our economiesâand the terrible, bloody human cost of this badly misunderstood industry Congo is […]
A major overhaul of NZâs local government is underway â will it really fix whatâs broken?
Phil Walter/Getty Images Guy C. Charlton, Associate Professor, University of New England With a general election looming, the largest shake-up of New Zealandâs local government system in three decades sits on the table. New Zealanders are being invited to have their say on the draft policy proposal, Simplifying Local Government, which would fundamentally reshape how […]
David Foster Wallaceâs Infinite Jest at 30
Julian Murphet, Jury Professor of English and Language and Literature, Adelaide University Thirty years ago, living in Cambridge, England, I wandered into Heffers Bookshop and picked up a monstrous new novel on the display table. It had a title out of Hamlet, a Simpsons-sky dustjacket, hundreds of endnotes, and ran […]
Hypocrisy and folly: why Australiaâs subservience to Trumpâs America is past its use-by date
(Left)Mark Beeson, Adjunct professor, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney. Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era â Clinton Fernandes (Melbourne University Publishing) Clinton Fernandes has established himself as one of the most original and insightful analysts of Australian security policy. An early career with the Australian Army […]
When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows
This is a brilliantly insightful work that explains how we think about each otherâs thoughts, ad infinitum. It sounds impossible, but Steven Pinker shows that we do it all the time. This awareness, which we experience as something that is public or âout there,â is called common knowledge, and it […]
Yesteryear: is this viral novelâs time travelling tradwife really âperfect at being aliveâ?
Cottonbro/Pexels Rachel Williamson, Lecturer in English, University of Canterbury The film rights for Caro Claire Burkeâs buzzy debut novel were sold to Amazon MGM Studios before publication. Adaptation plans are well underway, with Anne Hathaway, cited in the acknowledgements as âinstrumental in bringing Natalie to lifeâ, set to star and produce. Yesteryear follows self-professed âflawless Christian womanâ and tradwife influencer Natalie Heller Mills, who wakes up one morning to find herself mysteriously transported back in time to 1855 pioneer America. The house and children look similar to her own, but something is off. Her top-of-the-line kitchen appliances have vanished, her husband Caleb treats her with barely contained simmering violence, and the food tastes awful. Part satire, part dystopian horror, Yesteryear shifts between this uncanny version of the past and the present-day. Is this time travel, Natalie wonders. A reality TV show? Or maybe even a test of faith set by God Almighty himself? Unsurprisingly, the bookâs sensational premise combined with its zeitgeisty topic, has generated hype and anticipation, including praise from both BookTokkers and critics. Hathaway has lent her star power to the bookâs marketing campaign, posting glossy videos of herself unwrapping and reading from it. This leveraging of social media celebrity seems particularly apt, given Burkeâs interest in womanhood, performance and fame within the queasy and hypocritical world of Instagram tradwives. Yesteryear is her thought experiment into what happens when we push the tradwife phenomenon to its seemingly inevitable, deeply unsettling conclusion. Caro Claire Burke. AistÄ SaulytÄ/Penguin Random House âAmerica hates womenâ The word âtradwifeâ first appears in the opening pages, when Natalieâs teenage daughter asks what it means. A combination of âtraditionalâ and âwifeâ, the tradwife is a hyperfeminised retrograde social figure, embracing a 1950s aesthetic and return to traditional gender roles. She is a loving wife and doting stay-at-home mum. She bakes her own bread, preserves […]