Jon Piccini, "Human Rights in Twentieth-Century Australia" (Cambridge UP, 2019)
After the Second World War, an Australian diplomat was one of eight people to draft the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. And in the years that followed, Australians of many different stripes\u2014including activists fighting for Aboriginal rights and women\u2019s rights, communists, and even anticommunists\u2014invoked human rights in their respective political struggles. Yet, despite these Australians\u2019 embrace of human rights, the Australian government didn\u2019t sign the Declaration of Human Rights until 1972, and then it took even longer to ratify it.\nAustralia\u2019s ambiguous relationship with human rights is precisely what Jon Piccini untangles in his fascinating, deeply researched book, Human Rights in Twentieth-Century Australia (Cambridge University Press, 2019). By exploring these many different groups\u2019 invocation of human rights, Piccini, a faculty member at the Australian Catholic University, is able to show how ideas and language can circulate even across ideological divisions. This book should be read by those interested in the global history of ideas and human rights, Australian political and social historians, along with those like me, who know little about Australia but would like to learn a lot more.\nDexter Fergie\xa0is a PhD student of US and global history at Northwestern University. He is currently researching the 20th century geopolitical history of information and communications networks. He can be reached by email at\xa0dexter.fergie@u.northwestern.edu\xa0or on Twitter\xa0@DexterFergie.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law