Michael Streich, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights*

Powerful, moving, simple and forceful, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights speaks to us all — about hope, about our ideals, about the sort of world we want to create and live in.

Bought to vivid life by illustrator Michel Streich, this edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights marries the forceful words of the Declaration with a series of striking yet simple illustrations, making us see afresh the power, hope and idealism contained in these words.

(Allen & Unwin; 72pp; available October 2008; $22.95) MORE INFORMATION

Geoff Boucher & Matthew Sharp, The Times Will Suit Them: Post-Modern Conservatism in Australia

John Howard said, "The times will suit me," and they did. For over a decade John Howard took advantage of international crises and local anxieties to not only stay in government, but to radically reshape Australian public life.

The Times Will Suit Them digs behind the headlines to explain the success of Howard's radical new conservatism. It shows how the Howard government and its small legion of culture warriors responded to deep changes engendered by two decades of economic reform by importing moral agendas from the US. The result was a brand of deeply postmodern conservatism which undermined much that traditional conservatives hold dear.

(Allen & Unwin; 272pp paperback; available October 2008; $35.00) MORE INFORMATION

Peter Andrews, Beyond the Brink

Peter Andrews has been a lone voice in Australia for several years, warning, cajoling and bullying the powers-that-be to change their entrenched and highly damaging attitudes towards the environment. He travels the nation talking to those who want to hear his message — and, more importantly, to those who don't.

Farmer, horse breeder and extraordinary conservationist, Peter Andrew's was the subject of a two-part Australian Story in 2005, Of Drought and Flooding Rain, about his controversial vision for saving the Australian landscape.

(ABC Books; 256pp paperback; available October 2008; $35.00) MORE INFORMATION