October 2021
Magazine
The Monthly Essays
US failures in Afghanistan and the folly of Australia’s unquestioning support
The descent of creative arts at Australia’s universities
The search for extraterrestrial minds
That we understand the nature of the cosmos has profound implications in the search for life
The Nation Reviewed
We need to think about post-lockdown rights
Lacking serious debate on the next stage of the pandemic, Australia is ill-prepared
Close to home for Katy Gallagher
Life in quarantine as COVID-19 hits Senator Katy Gallagher’s family
Remembering some of Sydney’s well-known streetfolk
Vox
Arts & Letters
Artful lodgers: The Heide Museum of Modern Art
The story of John and Sunday Reed’s influence on Sidney Nolan and other live-in protégés
An eye on the outlier: ‘Nitram’
Justin Kurzel’s biopic of the Port Arthur killer is a warning on suburban neglect and gun control
The life solipsistic: ‘The French Dispatch’
Wes Anderson’s film about a New Yorker–style magazine is simultaneously trivial and exhausting
Noted
‘Scary Monsters’ by Michelle de Kretser Two satirical stories about fitting in, from the two-time Miles Franklin–winner
‘Bewilderment’ by Richard Powers The Pulitzer winner’s open-hearted reworking of Flowers for Algernon, updated for modern times
