| Book Review | Labour History, 96 | The History Cooperative

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to Labor History online. About 240 words from this article are provided below; about 528 words remain.

If you are a individual subscriber to Labour History, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to Labour History, you can:: • subscribe here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of Labour History (82 - present).
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

BOOK REVIEW

Sally Davison and Jonathan Rutherford (eds), Race, Identity and Belonging: A Soundings Collection, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 2008. pp. v + 143. $35.90 paper.

The left-leaning British politics and cultural studies journal, Soundings, has published an edited collection of its recent works on race, multiculturalism and identity. The result is a set of 11 essays that are very diverse and of quite mixed quality, but raise a number of interesting debates about the links between the Iraq war, the war on terror and attacks on Muslims and asylum seekers, populist politicians who play the race card for votes, the links between economic disadvantage and the rise of openly fascist politics and increased racialised violence. Although the essays are predominantly about Britain, many of the themes have a resonance in Australia. Paul Gilroy's discussion of Britain's 'endless fascination with the second world war', for example, will strike a chord with those who recognise a similar place for Anzac mythology in Australian politics – harking back to an idealised, more uncomplicated time when the enemy was known and outside, the nation could be proud of its achievements and any shameful imperial past could remain hidden from view. Although it is difficult to summarise such an eclectic collection when it offers exceptions to every rule, for my tastes at least, the essays in this volume seemed a little rarefied, refined and removed for such an ugly subject matter.

. . .

There are about 528 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.