Books published by UNSW Press

Since the founding of the Communist Party in China just over a century ago, there is much the country has achieved. But who does the heavy lifting in China? And who walks away with the spoils? Cadre Country places the spotlight on the nation's 40 million cadres - the managers and government officials employed by the ruling Communist Party to protect its great enterprise. This group has captured the culture and wealth of China, excluding the voices of the common citizens of this powerful and diverse country. Award-winning historian John Fitzgerald focuses on the stories the Communist Party tells about itself, exploring how China works as an authoritarian state and revealing Beijing's monumental propaganda productions as a fragile edifice built on questionable assumptions. Cadre Country is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the workings of the Chinese Communist Party and the limits of its achievements. 'It takes decades of patient observation, experience and study of China to produce a book like this. Cadre Country is a must read for specialists and the general public.' - Anita Chan, Australian National University'One of the most important books on China written since Xi Jinping assumed power, Cadre Country is a forensic and profound explication of the true nature of the Chinese Communist Party.' - John Lee, Hudson Institute and United States Studies Centre'Everyone interested in China today should read this incisive analysis that explains exactly what China's own leaders mean by describing their country as a "party-state". Avoiding shibboleths like "totalitarian" and never assuming the inevitability of the paths China has taken in the past or will take in the future, Fitzgerald gives us a much-needed clinical description of the fundamental nature of Chinese politics.' - Peter Zarrow, University of Connecticut

The Liberal-National Party Coalition was elected to office on 2 March 1996 and continued in power until 3 December 2007 making John Howard the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister. This book is the final in a four-volume series examining the four Howard Governments.

The first comprehensive history of Australia's university sector, this book explores how universities work and for whom, and how their relationship with each other, their academics and students and the public has evolved over a century.

Reflects on the aftermath of World War I and the commemoration of its centenary. Provocative essays from a diverse group of historians discuss the profound ways in which World War I not only affected Australia's political system and informed decades of national security policy but shaped our sense of who we are, for better or worse.

In the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre of April 1996, John Howard moved swiftly to revolutionise Australia's gun control laws. Gun Control draws on interviews with those who supported and opposed the new laws, and asks whether the aftermath of the tragedy might have been a lost opportunity to achieve much more.

From an army nurse's letters home during the First World War, military families in Southeast Asia during the Cold War and recovering air force war dead to educating Papua New Guinean forces and the experiences of LGBTI soldiers, Beyond Combat is a wide-ranging examination of military operations away from the battlefield.

Since 1967 more than 25,000 students have graduated from UNSW after studying at Duntroon, HMAS Creswell, the RAAF College and UNSW Canberra. In Widening Minds, Tom Frame examines the productive 50-year partnership between University of New South Wales and Australian Defence Force.

Analyses the ADF's "train, advise, assist" missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, the Solomon Islands, South Vietnam and Uganda. With contributions from media commentators, politicians, academics, aid workers and military personnel, The Long Road evaluates the successes and failures of Australia's efforts to help its neighbours and partners avoid armed conflict.

No-one in the Australian government or army could have predicted that in the 25 years following the end of the Cold War army personnel would be deployed to Rwanda, Cambodia, Somalia, Bougainville, East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Solomon Islands. In a constructive critique of the modern Australian Army, On Ops examines the transformation that has taken place since 1999.

Focuses on a range of powerful critical thinking tools drawn from logic, science, ethics, and political and social theory. Sections on terrorism and refugee law have been expanded, climate change is discussed throughout, and new chapters have been added on law and Indigenous people, lawyers' ethics and corporate power.

The history of Aborigines in Van Diemen's Land is long. The first Tasmanians lived in isolation and against almost insurmountable odds for as many as 300 generations after the flooding of Bass Strait. This broad-ranging book is a comprehensive and critical account of that epic survival up to the present day.

The first book to explore the complexities of homelessness in Australia - and the future policies likely to improve the situation.

The poorest men and women in colonial NSW are no longer marginalised, but front and centre in a book that reveals what life was like for them. In this rich and revealing book, Tanya Evans collaborates with family historians - many writing about their own ancestors - to present the everyday lives of these people.

'If only', 'what if' and 'why didn't we' are are phrases that often come to mind when we look back to the past. This exciting and stimulating book looks back at turning points and crucial moments in Australian history.

In this challenging and provocative book, Tom Frame, one of Australia's best-known writers on religion and society, examines diminishing theological belief and declining denominational affiliation. He argues that Australia has never been a very religious nation but that few Australians have deliberately rejected belief.