The Broken Promise of Agricultural Progress by Cameron Muir is shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s History Awards 2015 for the Community and Regional History Prize.
Judge’s comments:
“The book is a timely contribution to recent work in Australian environmental history… Clearly written and organised, with excellent use of images and maps, the book deserves to inform current debates about land usage in inland Australia.”
Praise for The Broken Promise of Agricultural Progress:
“Cameron Muir has produced a brilliant, far-reaching book… a terrific work of historically textured, geographically immersed story-telling.”
– Rob Nixon, author of Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (Harvard, 2010).
“In his gripping account of the failures of European agriculture on the western plains of New South Wales, Cameron Muir challenges our assumptions about the social and environmental outcomes of agricultural progress.”
– Kate Darian-Smith, University of Melbourne, Australia.
“Cameron Muir combines a literary lyricism with meticulous archival scholarship. Using the forensic scalpel of a humanist, he exposes myths, moral sloganeering and the material consequences of the language and metaphors we use to understand the living world. Muir writes the story of the country where he grew up with compassion for its people and hope for its future.”
– Iain McCalman, University of Sydney and Libby Robin, Australian National University.
“An impressive… awe-inspiring pleasure.”
– Barbara Holloway, Australian Journal of Ecocriticism.
“This is an enthralling and very important book that deserves a wide audience.”
– Phillip (Sam) Lake, Emeritus Professor, Monash University.
“A remarkable writer.”
– Michael Cathcart, interview on ABC Radio National.
“A true tour de force.”
– Jan Oosthoek, Environmental History Resources.