Showing results by publisher "Penguin Random House Australia Audio" in Politics & Social Sciences

Imagine a typical day in the office where threats are constant. You are always protecting something; you are always fighting someone; everything is a secret; any delay in responding is dangerous, or even deadly. A political chief of staff is a curious, high-octane role - little-known to those outside the corridors of power, yet enormously influential within.

Farming sits at the intersection of the world’s biggest challenges around climate change, soil, water, energy, natural disasters and zoonotic diseases. Yet Australia has no national food policy. No national agriculture strategy. Our water policy is close to the Hunger Games. People with means can shop at farmers’ markets and order brunch, by the provenance of their eggs, bacon, butter, tomatoes and greens. But do they really understand the trade-offs required to grow it?

On average, at least one woman is murdered by a current or former partner every week in Australia. Far too many Australian women have experienced physical or sexual violence. Only rarely do these women capture the attention of the media and the public. What can we do to stem the tide of violence and tragedy? Finally, we are starting to talk about this epidemic of gendered violence, but too often we are doing so in a way that can be clumsy and harmful. Victim blaming, passive voice and over-identification with abusers continue to be hallmarks of reporting on this issue.

In 2000, Rebekah Robertson gave birth to twin boys, George and Harry. But as they grew older, their preferences began to show, and by the age of three it was clear Georgie was drawn to anything that was pretty or had a skirt that could swirl. Before long Georgie began to insist that she was a girl and became distressed that she had to hide who she really was when she started school. Soon the bullying started, and she would come home in floods of tears, begging her mother to help her.

Roman Quaedvlieg was always destined to make a mark. As a rookie policeman on the mean streets of Fortitude Valley in the dying days of the Moonlight State, his first arrest was Brisbane's most wanted escapee. Three decades later, he found himself navigating through the corridors of power in Canberra. Tour de Force charts the years in between, during which he truly sees it all.

It should've been the happiest time of Lee Barnett's life. She was married to a man she loved and trusted, Harris Todd, and she was pregnant with her first child. But things quickly turned from dream to nightmare when Harris demanded a divorce. Rich, powerful and well-connected in their hometown of Charleston, USA, he was able to spin the court proceedings in his favour, leaving Lee emotionally and financially devastated. And then came the final blow: she lost custody of her beautiful daughter, Savanna, who was only 11 months old.

A powerful and personal guide on how to be effective, no matter who you're trying to influence. Whether it's the racist relative sitting across the table at a family function, or the CEO blind to the institutional barriers to people of colour in the workplace, award-winning journalist and vivacious leader Antoinette Lattouf has some tips and advice on what to do.

Why is it that children in a family can share the same gene pool, a similar socio-economic environment and experience similar parenting styles yet have fundamentally different personalities, interests and even different careers as adults? Birth order! The implications for parents, teachers and adults involved with children are many. First published in 2003 to great acclaim, this fully revised and updated edition seeks to increase the listener's understanding of birth order theory.

After the tragic loss of his younger brother, Lineen experienced walking's regenerative power firsthand. Grief-stricken and adrift, he set off on a 2,700-kilometre solo trek across the Himalayas. He walked for months until his legs ached and his feet blistered, and by the end of the expedition something had changed in him. He was stronger - not just physically but psychologically and emotionally. What had happened? What had given him this feeling of peace, joy even?

Covens. Girl bands. Ballet troupes. Convents. In all times and places, girls and women have come together in communities of vocation, of necessity, of support. And wherever women gather, magic happens. Female farmers change the way we grow our food. Online beauty communities democratise the intricacies of skincare. Teen girls invent phrases that enter the urban lexicon and choose our next pop superstars. Patriarchal societies have long been content to uphold men's and boys' clubs while viewing groups that exclude men as sites of rivalry and suspicion.

Son of the renowned Sydney obstetrician, Dr William McBride raised the alarm on the anti-nausea drug thalidomide in the 1960s and was later struck off the medical register for falsifying research results in a bid to challenge the safety of another drug. David chose to study Law, firstly at Sydney University and then at Oxford. There he met some British army officers and decided that soldiering was his calling, going on to train at Sandhurst.

Blazing her trail at the dawn of the 20th century, Vida Goldstein remains Australia's most celebrated suffragette and social reformer. Her life - as a campaigner for women's rights and suffrage in Australia, Britain and America, an advocate for peace, a fighter for social equality for all and a shrewd political commentator - marks her as one of Australia's foremost women of courage and principle. In 1903 she became the first woman in Australia to stand for the Senate and the the first woman in the Western world to stand for a national Parliament.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied started out a dynamic, optimistic, naïve, youthful grass-roots organiser and oil rig worker before she found herself taking on the heft of the Australian political and media establishment, unintentionally. From her new home in Europe she brings her characteristic warmth, clarity and inquisitive nature to the concepts of 'the private and public self' and 'systems and society' that structure this collection. In 'The Private and Public Self', Yassmin shares her passions for cars and cryptocurrency as well as the personal challenges around her activism and leaving Australia.

Across history, women were told to sit down, smile, and stay quiet.
Spoiler alert: they didn't. They spoke out, stood tall - and ruined the patriarchy's day. Because of them, women won.

You care what's happening in the world - but you can't help feeling you missed the part where the key stuff got explained. What's a budget deficit? How does voting actually work? What's the deal with the UN? And what does net zero mean again? Thankfully, No Silly Questions is here to lay out the facts and principles behind the day's headlines. Zara Seidler and Sam Koslowski, creators of The Daily Aus - Australia's leading social-first news service - are like your super well-informed mates who you can rely on to quickly bring you up to speed.

Dubai is feted internationally as a beacon of modernity: glittering skyscrapers, a cultural melting pot, even a new player in the space race. The city's ruled by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, an all-powerful multi-billionaire who counts the Queen and Donald Trump as friends. His kingdom's progressive propaganda defies a medieval underbelly. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the Sheikh's own palace, where numerous women have now risked their lives by sounding the alarm about what's really going on in the United Arab Emirates.

As we grow and move through the world, it shrinks us and puts us in boxes - tells us who we should be, what we're capable of, and who to love. As a queer child of immigrants, Maria Thattil knows what it is like to struggle with belonging. To have confusing, disparate identities, none of them fitting traditional ideas of worth, power or success. In Unbounded, she shares galvanising stories of what she has lived and learned through experiencing racism, sexism, financial hardship, intergenerational trauma, homophobia and mental health challenges.

The world's a confusing and chaotic place. We thought lockdown was over...it wasn't. We hoped life would go back to normal...it hasn't. But Nat's What I Reckon knows one thing is definitely still true: jar sauce can get f*cked. So, to help champions keep levelling up their cooking skills and making ripper feeds from scratch at home, Nat has created this collection of 25 shit hot recipes that will get you out of a jam. This is stuff that's simple, easy to follow and tastes delicious, like Honey Bastard Chicken, Get F*cked Roast Potatoes and Frownie Reversal Orange Chocolate Brownies.

What does it take to find courage in the midst of deprivation and devastation? Why are some people able to continue living with purpose, even when faced with loss and despair? How does our community turn challenge into triumph? And what can we learn from the exceptional women in our midst who have done just that? It might feel like we are living in unprecedented times, but ours is not the first generation to withstand upheaval as seismic as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused.

Richard Flanagan's speeches have become unique literary events attended by sellout crowds, reported in national and international media, and a spur to widespread debate and discussion. Gathered here are three of his recent speeches in which he interweaves topics as diverse as troubadour poetry, love stories and the murder of the refugee Reza Barati; his top 10 Tasmanian novels and the Australian Pacific solution; and his much-celebrated National Press Club address where he questioned the militarisation of Australian memory and argued for the need for formal Indigenous recognition.