Almanac Book Reviews: ‘The Night Was Bright Moonlight and I Could see a Man Quite Plain: An Edwardian Cricket Murder’ – Gideon Haigh

March 1, 2022 by 3 Comments

A murder by cricket bat? Roy Hay reviews Gideon Haigh’s new book, ‘The Night Was Bright Moonlight and I Could see a Man Quite Plain: An Edwardian Cricket Murder’. This review was first published in The Australian newspaper.

Almanac Book Reviews: ‘Not Playing The Game – Sport and Australia’s Great War’ – Xavier Fowler

March 1, 2022 by 2 Comments

Xavier Fowler’s recently released book ‘Not Playing The Game: Sport and Australia’s Great War’ is an in-depth account of how sport was utilised as a means to encourage the enlistment of young men in the war effort during 1914-18. Col Ritchie presents his review of the book.

Almanac Book Review – Ken Haley’s The One That Got Away: Travelling in the Time of COVID

February 21, 2022 by Leave a Comment

Yvette Wroby shares her joy at reading Ken Haley’s latest book and spoke at length with the author to help contextualise a great journey of will, determination and a handful of sheer luck.

Book Review: Bernard Whimpress on ‘Australia’s Game’

February 7, 2022 by 3 Comments

An in-depth review of an in-depth book on the history of Australian Football by Bernard Whimpress – (with thanks to Newtown Review of Books for sharing with the Almanac.)

Almanac Book Review: ‘Games People Played: A Global History Of Sport’ by Wray Vamplew

January 29, 2022 by 2 Comments

‘Games People Played: A Global History Of Sport’ by Wray Vamplew constitutes the fruits of half a century of research and makes an unparalleled contribution to our understanding of sport and the role it has played in the history of the world. In his review Braham Dabscheck states the book is a tour de force which will be a standard work in sports history for many years to come.

Almanac Books: Review – ‘Not Playing The Game: Sport and Australia’s Great War’

November 19, 2021 by 3 Comments

Glen! presents an insightful review of Xavier Fowler’s new book, ‘Not Playing the Game: Sport and Australia’s Great War’.

Almanac Book Review: ‘Australia’s Game: The History of Australian Football’ by Matthew Nicholson, Bob Stewart, Greg de Moore and Rob Hess

November 18, 2021 by 3 Comments

Braham Dabscheck presents a forthright review of the recently released ‘Australia’s Game: the complete history of The Australian game of football’.

Almanac Books: Review – ‘football belongs: Eight Matches That Explain Australia’ – John Didulica

November 12, 2021 by 2 Comments

Roy Hay reviews John Didulica’s book, ‘football belongs: Eight Matches That Explain Australia’, a book that examines significant soccer moments pivotal to the code in Australia.

Almanac Books: ‘Heart and Soul: A History of the Lang Lang Football Club 1900 – 2020’ – A review

November 5, 2021 by Leave a Comment

Bob Utber’s recent release, ‘Heart and Soul: A History of the Lang Lang Football Club 1900 – 2020’ is reviewed in latest edition of ‘The Yorker’ by Trevor Ruddell.

Almanac Book Review: Ashley Mallett’s ‘The Magic of Spin’ by Dan Hoban

October 18, 2021 by 3 Comments

Dan Hoban’s take on Ashley Mallett’s release from a couple of years ago on the great spinners who suited up for the Aussie men’s test team (and some who didn’t but perhaps should have).

Almanac Books: ‘Not Playing the Game’ – Xavier Fowler

October 5, 2021 by 4 Comments

In his new book, ‘Not Playing the Game: Sport and Australia’s Great War’, social historian Xavier Fowler examines the contested place of sport in the war effort surrounding Great War.

Almanac book review – Nick Richardson’s ‘Chadwick: a man of many parts’ by Roger Lowrey

September 20, 2021 by 1 Comment

Roger Lowrey reviews the biography of one of the most influential figures in Victorian sports, business and administration history, Sir Albert Chadwick.

Almanac Book Reviews: ‘Neil Harvey – The Last Invincible’

September 4, 2021 by 2 Comments

Roger Lowrey reviews Ashley Mallett’s wonderful account of a great Australian cricketer, ‘Neil Harvey: The Last Invincible’.

Almanac Book Review – Jason Goldsmith and Lucas Gillard’s ‘Be My Guest’ by Roy Hay

August 23, 2021 by 8 Comments

An interesting and extensive look at the overseas football/soccer players who have visted Australian shores is the subject of Roy Hay’s latest book review.

Almanac Book Reviews – William Westerman’s ‘Merger’ by Jamie Simmons

August 6, 2021 by 6 Comments

Jamie Simmons read William Westerman’s recent release ‘Merger’ on the events of 1996 between Fitzroy and Brisbane and here shares his thoughts.

Almanac Book Reviews: ‘Sacredly Profane’ – Kevin Densley’s poetry collection

May 25, 2021 by 2 Comments

Col Ritchie reviews Kevin Densley’s recent poetry collection ‘Sacredly Profane’.

Almanac Book Review: Ken Haley on Ron Reed’s ‘War Games’

May 24, 2021 by 2 Comments

Ron Reed’s recent release ‘War Games’ has been read and thoroughly reviewed by Ken Haley.

Book Review – Merger: The Fitzroy Lions and the tragedy of 1996 by William Westerman

May 12, 2021 by 1 Comment

Craig Horne reviews William Westerman’s book, Merger: The Fitzroy Lions and the tragedy of 1996.

Almanac Book Review: ‘The Best American Sports Writing 2020’

March 15, 2021 by 4 Comments

“Sport is most interesting when it is not about sport, when it provides a means to peer into ourselves,” writes Braham Dabscheck. “This is especially true with the series ‘The Best American Sports Writing’, which has spent three decades trying to unravel what it is that is America.” Read his review here.

Book Preview: A Season Like No Other by Ashley Browne

March 3, 2021 by Leave a Comment

Long-time football scribe Ashley Browne has written an account of the 2020 AFL season, which was dramatically impacted by the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. The book will be published by Hardie Grant on the 17th of March. As a teaser, you can read a preview extract here.