Books

the Secret history of sharks

By John Long

Published by Ballantine Books July 2 2024

From ancient megalodons to fearsome Great Whites, this book tells the complete, untold story of how sharks emerged as Earth’s ultimate survivors, by world-leading palaeontologist John Long.

“Readers will want to sink their teeth into this.”Publishers Weekly
“Will keep you on the edge of your seat from its first page to its last page.”—Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel

“Dive in to this effervescent, engaging biography of the world’s most misunderstood creatures. Evolving in obscurity almost half a billion years ago, sharks have endured the worst that the earth could throw at them. They were here long before the dinosaurs. When dinosaurs died out, sharks were still here. But will they be able to survive the Earth’s current threat: us?”—Henry Gee, PhD, senior editor of Nature and author of the award-winning A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth

“Every week is Shark Week for John Long, who has spent his life scouring the planet for clues to the mystery of shark evolution. Thoroughly researched and wonderfully narrated, The Secret History of Sharks makes a convincing case that the story of sharks is nothing less than the story of life on Earth. Highly recommended!”—Nate Blakeslee, New York Times bestselling author of American Wolf

Beyond the books:

How numbers are strangling our cultural sector and what we can do to save it

By Heather Robinson

To be published by Wakefield Press, October 2024

Adelaide revels in its festival culture, renowned around the world as part of a glamourous and nomadic showcase of international and interstate performers. Local artists grasp rare opportunities to shine amongst the throng of dazzled visitors. Box office records are reliably broken. The best time is had by all.

Primarily though, festival season is touted as a massive economic boost for South Australia. But what about the rest of the year? What happens once the glitter is swept up, the tourists depart, and the locals are left to get on with their lives? 

This exciting and courageous book dares to look beyond the spreadsheets to examine what the State Library of South Australia produces throughout the year. Using narrative, rather than numbers, Robinson not only captures how the Library is valued by the public, but what it means to their community and their shared futures. She engages young and old, cashed up and homeless, life-long Adelaideans and those just passing through, to present a range of motivations, goals, and expectations for Adelaide’s oldest European cultural institution. Bolstered by insights gained working across the Australian cultural sector, Robinson examines what cultural value means to the public today – the primary yet often overlooked stakeholders in the debates around cultural value and governments’ responsibility for safeguarding and promoting our cultural heritage.

chasing claire adams

By Heather Robinson

In Development

Part memoir, part romance and part movie mystery, Chasing Claire Adams explores how one woman’s remarkable life sheds light on the major social, cultural and political upheavals of the early twentieth century.

Beginning on the wind swept plains of Winnipeg, moving to the music halls of London and onto the heights of the early film industry, Claire Adams was a fascinating woman who navigated the pitfalls and opportunities of the early motion picture industry to find happiness with a classic Hollywood ending in the arms of an Australian, ten years her junior. Today, few people in Los Angeles remember her name. Even fewer in Australia appreciate the scale of her movie success and the impact of her arrival in the small village of Skipton on the eve of World War 2.

Spanning two centuries, several continents and two World Wars, this is the first time her complete story can be told.

Claire Adams Mackinnon: the silent star with a social conscience, written out of history, beloved Melbourne philanthropist and the woman credited with bringing Hollywood glamour and cocktails hour to Western District.

Studio portrait of Claire Adams. Source: University of California, Irvine, Special C ollections and Archives.

Claire Adams and Lon Chaney in The Penalty (Worsley, 1920). Source: Seaver Centre for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Claire Adams with silent screen idol John Gilbert in The Big Parade (Vidor, 1925). Image ©Warner Bros. Source: Author’s private collection.