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  • Published: 21 August 2013
  • ISBN: 9781742537849
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 450
Categories:

Boom: The Underground History of Australia, from Gold Rush to GFC




Boom reveals the history of mining as the Australian story, for better or worse. Insightful, compellingly readable and full of extraordinary characters, it shows how mining and miners have shaped our history and gripped our imagination through boom and bust.

One of our finest writers on one of our most dramatic stories.
Mining divides the country – development against conservation, north and west against south and east, pro-tax against anti-tax. It's an important industry, but why do passions run so high? What does mining really mean to us? And how much do we understand about our underground history?
Although we favour the romantic vision of Australia riding to prosperity on the sheep's back, in reality we have always owed as much to the shovel. The gold rush kick-started the nation, populating our cities and building our regional centres, and our fortunes have since risen and fallen according to what we've been able to dig from the ground.

Boom is not a textbook history of Australian mining, but a narrative of the people behind the facts and figures, from the eccentric loners who staked the first claims to the emergence of the modern mega-magnates. It takes us deep underground with men working in mortal danger by  candlelight, and on the extraordinary journey 25,000 tonnes of the raw Australian landscape makes from the Pilbara to Shanghai.
Boom reveals the history of mining as the Australian story, for better or worse. Insightful, compellingly readable and full of extraordinary characters, it shows how mining and miners have shaped our history and gripped our imagination through boom and bust.
 
'A shrewd and captivating work of history' Weekend Australian
'Knox asks questions on awkward topics and sieves a lot of history in the attempt to provide answers. Even those who disagree with some or many of his conclusions, must concede that he vigorously stirs a pot that is crucial' Geoffrey Blainey, The Sydney Morning Herald
'A must read for understanding the DNA of the nation' Charter
'Eye-opening detail . . . Knox demonstrates a skilful ability to weave together detail, history and narrative, upholding his reputation as a masterful storyteller' Readings

  • Published: 21 August 2013
  • ISBN: 9781742537849
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 450
Categories:

About the author

Malcolm Knox

Malcolm Knox was born in 1966. He grew up in Sydney and studied in Sydney and Scotland, where his one-act play, POLEMARCHUS, was performed in St Andrews and Edinburgh. He has worked for the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD since 1994 and his journalism has been published in Australia, Britain, India and the West Indies.
His first novel SUMMERLAND was published to great acclaim in the UK, US, Australia and Eurpope in 2000. In 2001 Malcolm was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian novelists. He lives in Sydney with his wife Wenona, son Callum and daughter Lilian. His most recent novel, A PRIVATE MAN, was critically acclaimed and was shortlisted for the Commomwealth Prize and the Tasmanian Premier’s Award.

Malcolm Knox is the former literary editor and award-winning cricket writer of the Sydney Morning Herald, where he broke the Norma Khouri story, for which he won one of his two Walkley Awards. His novels include A Private Man, winner of the Ned Kelly Award; The Life; and most recently The Wonder Lover. His many non-fiction titles include The Greatest: The Players, the Moments, the Matches 19932008; The Captains: The Story Behind Australia's Second Most Important Job; Boom: The Underground History of Australia, From Gold Rush to GFC, which won the 2013 Ashurst Business Literature Prize; and Bradman's War, shortlisted in the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Awards.

Also by Malcolm Knox

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Awards & recognition

Ashurst Prize for Business Literature

Winner  •  2013  •  Best Book

FAW Award

Highly commended  •  2013  •  Non-Fiction