Aliens and Savages is a hands-on historical record of the racism that underpins Australia’s growth as a nation. First published twenty-five years ago, this new and revised edition asks: what has changed?
As we approach the referendum on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament, Aliens & Savages is still the only publication of its kind – a survey of racism and xenophobia in Australian popular writings before the advent of social media. It is a collection of fiction and non-fiction, of personal narratives and official reports, of diaries and media misinformation. In it, you can hear the unguarded voices of the colonists, the squatters, the politicians; you can see the close relationship between the popular press and the prejudices of its readers.
Can now be purchased via the Books section on this website.
Read the foster.vic.au article for a summary and how the book was written.